Magnolia Oolong

2022 Sipdown 55/365!

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge February 2022: Taiwanese tea

Odd. My previous tasting note for this tea suggests that I’d already finished it; I didn’t realize that I had more than one packet, unless it came from VariaTEA or Sil at some point.

It’s an okay tea – creamy, smooth, lightly floral but just overtones, not like drinking a bouquet. However, not my favourite profile as I prefer more creaminess, less floral. Nothing wrong with it though.

Drinking up this sample tonight mostly western style (200mL teapot, 1.5-2min steeps). Overall, the flavor on this one is lighter than I realized. Opening up the sample bag, I was met with a delicate, sweet floral smell that I can’t exactly describe. This is a flavored tea (as far as I recall!) though the brew came out quite light in both color and flavor. It’s smooth and has a sweetness to it, as well as a gentle floral note. I can’t quite pick up on any flavoring (magnolia?) but overall it’s quite tasty, if not a little light.

Second brew I left in for longer, and definitely got more flavor out of it. It’s a very bright yellow color, and reminds me of a jasmine tea in its flavor profile. Maybe a little bit on the sweeter side, with almost a rose-petal sort of note showing up. Overall, a well rounded mouth feel and generally enjoyable, though I find it to be somewhat underwhelming. Maybe decent for a casual drink, but not that interesting all things considered.

This has been my favorite oolong from Tea Ave so far. It’s a perfect balance of rich and buttery, with bright mineral green and floral notes. It’s just so appealing to smell and taste, super smooth and drinkable. Not too savory, not too sweet. I would definitely order this again.

Received a sample and overwatered it so I’m afraid I missed some flavor.

A delicate, floral oolong as expected. Faint whiff of oatmeal and silky honey. Very comforting and would like to try it with more leaf and something like hemp milk.

Purchased for summer cold-brewing purposes. Didn’t sample before.

I had only one Magnolia Oolong prior to Tea Ave’s – from Tea District – and loved it. I immediately declared this floral oolong to be my favorite cold-brewing tea. I looked forward to trying Tea Ave’s. The base is a higher quality Alishan oolong, which is light and sweetly floral, blending very nicely with the magnolia flowers. (I’m not one to pick out specific flowers in floral oolongs, and that’s as detailed as I’ll get.) Neither overpowers the other.

Overall, I wasn’t disappointed. I got exactly what I wanted: an incredibly delicious and refreshing Magnolia Oolong that detracts from the feeling of high humidity suffocating the self.

I love this one – a perfect combination of creamy, nutty and sweet floral with a hint of fresh green stems. Gorgeous fragrance. Brewed several cups hot and then cold steeped the used leaves in the fridge for a refreshing glass of chilled tea the next day.

This is quite a lovely and interesting oolong from Tea Ave. I got this a few weeks ago and am just getting around to trying it now. Due to being at work, I had to steep it Western style but hope to try the gong fu method soon.

The tea has an Alishan Jin Xuan (milk) oolong base. I definitely get the strong milk oolong element. It reminds me of fresh butter and has a creamy taste; almost decadent. The magnolia flower is light and fresh here and compliments the base tea well. Overall the bouquet of this tea is sweet but I am picking up on a very slight bitterness in the finish. I like this one a lot. It seems like the perfect thing to serve at an afternoon tea party.

The first time I steeped this tea, I think I used too much leaf – I went with 6g for my 100ml gaiwan (because the instructions said 8g for a 130ml gaiwan), and it was ok, but there was a bitter note that I found distracting, and it was more vegetal and less floral than I was hoping for. This time around, 4.5g in the same gaiwan, and that worked way better. The scent of the dry tea is very fragrant and sweet, like candied flowers. I did a quick wash, which I tasted, and it was lightly sweet and floral, just a preview of things to come. :) I think i steeped it for 30sec, then 1min, then added another minute for each subsequent steeping, finally getting bored after the 5min one. It was actually really tasty throughout. Initial steepings were very fragrant and floral, like sticking your nose in a bouquet of flowers. Then some light, fresh, vegetal flavours started coming in, balanced with the floral, so it was like eating the flowers? And then the floral faded even further and the vegetal became crisper with a faint hint of bitterness, as if you’re now munching on tender stems or leaves. So basically it’s like eating a flower, but in tea form, lol. This is a terrible description, but the tea was actually quite lovely. :)

I had a much better experience, both gongfu and western, with this tea (#–3) than with the rose oolong. It’s been a long time since I had a magnolia oolong, so it’s hard for me to compare, but I did really enjoy this one. After using it in our gongfu session last weekend, I had a little over my normal quantity of leaf, but what was I going to do with half a teaspoon? So I used all of it but lowered my steep time to compensate.

I think perhaps the magnolia works better with the base? Here I get the creaminess from the Jin Xuan that I was missing in the rose oolong. The florals are thick and rich, but in no way overwhelming or perfumy. Just that they have body and substance. Magnolia can be slightly jasmine-y in flavor, I find, and I get hints of it here. A little fruitiness. Overall a very nice oolong.

I’m not really sure what a magnolia tastes like.. I did enjoy this tea, however. I’m not really sure I could identify a magnolia flavor – it just tasted floral with a slight sweetness. To me, I would have guessed rose if you asked me what flavor it was. It’s definitely a good experience though :)
Thanks, Stephanie!