Taiwan 'Jin Xuan' Jasmine Oolong Tea

A very creamy oolong with the perfect amount of jasmine for me. Not really sweet but still manages to vibe like a cream puff or a jasmine-infused scone with clotted cream. There is this Korean purple rice and yogurt-based drink chain that does something with osmanthus jelly and rice wine (you can also add jasmine jelly). This tea reminds me of that as well: floral, creamy, rice-like, and faintly but pleasantly sour and bitter – in the way of yogurt and certain floral profiles.

Surprisingly, this isn’t really a grassy oolong (I get a hint on the finish in the second steep; it comes out more in subsequent steeps). It does have a vegetal quality but it’s on the milder lettuce & cucumber side of things.

I picked up 25g of this, figuring that it, in combination with 50g of Green Jasmine Dragon Pearls, would last me a while. Sadly, this is not proving to be the case.

Steep Count: 4

Tea from White Antlers, now known as WE ARE CLOSED. As from her email, she is having some difficulties, but I won’t really write down what it is about as it is personal. She will come back later though, as she replied to me.

The tea I had today afternoon in our patio. Prepared grandpa, one teaspoon. I had all afternoon-evening a slight headache; I wonder why, but truth is that I wasn’t drinking much today.

That said, preparing myself a jasmine tea wasn’t the most clever thing probably. The aroma of dry tea was jasmine and bit some florals, orchids maybe. But honestly… everything was somehow mixed way too much together and I am not sure if I have noticed all those.

The brew was typical green oolong with floral notes and mostly jasmine (unexpected). But again, my headache is muting everything. Hopefully it isn’t caused by something terrible and it is only my fault drinking a little.

Overall it was nice, but I need to be ready for this tea.

Thanks SO MUCH for sending these, Kawaii433! I’m very happy I get to try these. It might take me a while, while also drinking other teas, but that is the insanity of my cupboard. :D This is a lovely jasmine oolong. The dry leaves have a slight jasmine scent but also a vegetal scent. The flavor is great, though I’m noticing these What-Cha ‘flavored’ teas don’t have too much flavor to them, other than that awesome sticky rice oolong which might have the most flavor of any tea ever. But I am noticing the jasmine here. Somehow the flavor is not bitter at all, though I feared these leaves might have been after the third steep for three minutes. I’m not saying anything mind blowing about this tea. Not an extensive tasting note, but I did want to write one before this tea was gone gone gone from the cupboard. All teas need a tasting note once, at least to say you enjoyed it!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for smaller mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 14 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
2019 sipdowns: 11

Oooh, first jasmine oolong! Thanks, Kawaii 433 :)

Brewed western for 3 steeps. Same base tea as the Rose Oolong I had a few days ago. Plenty of jasmine and I love the way it blends with the Jin Xuan milky taste. Dominant jasmine and green grass aroma carries through into the mouth with other flavors of cucumber, lettuce, scalded milk, a hint of toasted rice, butter on the swallow. An immediate butter and jasmine aftertaste fades into tart apricot-osmanthus. Oily, medium-bodied, lightly mouthwatering with minerals. Sugarcane returning sweetness. The spent leaf smells like seaweed.

I like the creaminess that the Jin Xuan brings to jasmine. Less heady than most jasmine greens I’ve had.

Swap Sample Sipdown! (13 | 82)

From Kawaii433!

Jasmine again! But this time on a jin xuan oolong base, which sounds amazing…

To be honest, I’m surprised to not quite love this as much as the dragon pearls I had a few days ago. Even though this is a jin xuan base, I feel like somehow it tastes less creamy. Maybe it’s just because the peach flavor is missing?

Anyway, it’s still good! The texture is silky smooth from the oolong, and the jasmine is nice and sweet and fresh-tasting. I’m not sure I get that much flavor from the base per se, perhaps a bit of peach and some additional floral presence. Oddly enough, there’s something combining in a way that makes me think of banana near the beginning of the sip… Definitely not a bad thing, just strange!

Anyway, this is yummy and relaxing. But I do prefer Mandala’s dragon pearls.

There is no way I can possibly add any details to the already great reviews on this tea. I am enjoying it, and next time I’ll use a little fewer leaves because it was a very strong and potent jasmine tea. When I smelled the dry leaves, it was like standing in a garden, a wonderful fresh jasmine flower aroma.

6g, 100ml, 195°F, 9 steeps, 25s, 30s, 35s,40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 1m, 1m5s

Another tea from the backlog that I am steadily making progress toward completely clearing, I finished a sample pouch of this oolong last week. This was the sort of tea that made me wonder what my specific gripe with so many flavored/scented oolongs has always been because, as scented oolongs go, this was great. It was the sort of tea with which I could not find anything to seriously fault.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted a vibrant, powerful jasmine aroma. After the rinse, the jasmine scent was still dominant, though I caught touches of cream, butter, daylily, and sugarcane as well. I could not find anything all that different on the nose with the first infusion. In the mouth, the liquor offered a light jasmine note backed by hints of cream and butter with a touch of vegetal character. Subsequent infusions brought out stronger impressions of jasmine, cream, and butter. The daylily and sugarcane appeared on the palate and new impressions of daylily shoots, lettuce, orchid, coriander, sweetgrass, spinach, seaweed, parsley, mineral, and vanilla joined the fray. I could also detect hints of honeydew, cantaloupe, and pear lurking around the fringes. The later infusions were smooth and mellow with a delicate jasmine character surprisingly remaining on several of them. Notes of daylily blossoms and shoots, sweetgrass, butter, parsley, coriander, sugarcane, and cream were still there too. Surprisingly, the mineral notes never really took charge, though there was a subtle minerality present throughout the last series of infusions.

One of the best scented oolongs I have tried to this point, this was an exceptional, interesting tea. It provided a very pleasant drinking experience throughout and displayed admirable longevity, depth, and complexity. Definitely consider giving it a shot.

This is a frickin’ good jasmine tea. The jasmine scent is very natural, but it is so strong and sweet with the oolong that it made me think of valentine candy hearts. I’ve done this at 1 minute starting using heaping 3 grams in 6 ounces, and a minimal of six small leaves in six ounces for two minutes.

The jasmine is always present, I could taste the oolong itself more in its mouth coating texture and background. It’s very creamy and does have the right milk note that distinguishes the Jin Xuan varietal, and has some mild fruit hints in the very last steeps. There is some evolution in the steeps bringing out a few different variations of creamy leaning more on the vanilla end than on the buttery end, almost being custardy. It is also naturally sweet having a mega green sugarcane note with the powerful florals.

I think this tea might overwhelming for a lot of people and I strongly encourage less leaves. It’s a little strong even for me, but that’s something I can easily remedy with more water. Even though the jasmine naturally fuses with the oolongs natural taste, jasmine is at the front lines at all times. The teas texture and mega creamy quality is what distinguishes it from other jasmine teas as well as its general lack of a lot of grassiness….which is weird considering its a green oolong. Anyway, I definitely recommend it. It’s a 95 on the jasmine tea scale being in my top five, but 85 for me personally because of preference and I honestly don’t know how often I’d drink it. It’s tasty enough to drink everyday for me, but it is too powerful for me to drink everyday because of how buzzed the florals make me. I might raise the rating over time, but I’ll leave it at a good recommendation for now.