Topsy Turvy Test-Teas Tuesday

6

Today, one of our volunteer tea testers (@jknguyen) turned the tables on us and brought us a tea to test. So, keeping the spirit of the gift in mind, we threw out the volunteer reviews and will be coming to our own conclusions on today’s tea.

8/6/19

Today we sampled Milk Jin Xuan Oolong.

A bit about this tea from the description:

This is a special hand processed tea that comes from Jin Xuan Mountain in Taiwan. Jin Xuan oolongs are known for their natural rich creamy mouthfeel. Its production requires special attention to time, temperature, altitude and soil conditions. During production; to enhance the natural milky richness, the leaves are steamed with a combination of water and milk powder before heated and dried. This special growing region, and process is what gives this tea its natural creaminess, milk flavor and silky texture. Our Milk Jin Xuan Taiwanese oolong produces a pale yellow infusion, with the milky sweet fragrance and smooth, slightly sweet taste that lingers on and on, this is one tea you cannot forget.

They’re not wrong. Look at that beautiful pale yellow color.
Pale Yellow

Some quick research revealed:

The tea is also known as #12 or as “Milk Oolong” (Nai Xiang).

But enough with the history lesson, right? Let’s get down to numbers.

Smell: 8/10
I like oolong teas, and I didn’t smell much difference between this and the previous Oolong teas we’ve had.

Taste: 9/10
This was smoother than previous oolong teas we’ve tasted. More akin to green than black tea, in my opinion.

Looks: 10/10
Looks like an oolong. Dried (shriveled?) little nuggets of happiness, just waiting for water. This has pretty much become my go-to mental image for what tea should look like

Unbrewed


What have you been drinking? Tell us in the comments!

To catch up, the last review can be found here.

I’d also like to tag @riskybryzness in for their thoughts at this point.