Okay. I’m bad. Got more Mandala Milk Oolong ‘cause nothing has really beaten it so far. And since I’ve had the Tie Guan Yin and regular Jin Xuan three times already, I wanted to try something different. Thank you for the samples!
Anyway, the tasting notes already on the page accurately describe it. I followed Mandala’s Gong Fu guide- 15 second rinse, then a 30 sec steep adding 15 sec consecutively, then 30 in the last two.
Like Liquid Proust, I’ve had the roasted version of this oolong variety with mixed feelings. Now that it is green, I really enjoy the natural light florals it possesses. Lilac and maybe gardenia are the flowers I’m thinking of, especially like a Tie Guan Yin. But the taste tones down those florals with a creamy texture and buttery vegetal quality. As in, fresh butter and fresh greens and spinach-not the vegetables or cooked vegetables. It is borderline brothy, but too thin for me to really label it that way. Like a lot of other tasting notes, it does have a vanilla quality that is unambiguously vanilla albeit a light vanilla. Marshmallow is also pretty accurate to the sugary smell that emanates from the cuo. As for texture, it is more like marshmallow root than marshmallow candy. Every once in a while, caramel and buttercotch pucker out as it is first poured and as it cools down. I even got a caramel cheesecake taste for where my unsoaked leaves were sitting. Yum.
I knew that I would enjoy this one, but I didn’t realize how much I would like it. This tea is creamy and vegetal the way I like it to be. If you want a crispy, fresh example of a green oolong, I highly recommend this. You might be bored because this is a very subtle tea, but the subtlety of the tea makes it all the better. I also recommend Mandala’s Tie Guan Yin, but I also like this one because it s more toned down on the florals and a little bit creamier in my opinion.
Nice!