Today’s tea is Jin Xuan Oolong – a lovely milk oolong sold by Eco-Cha, online seller of Taiwanese oolongs. This Jin Xuan Oolong was grown at 400m elevation by a co-op farm that does not use chemical weed killers and little or none chemical fertilizers and water soluble pesticides.
I’ve been feeling in an Oolong mood lately. Last week I reviewed, by accident, all Pu’er teas. After that, I feel I need to go binge on some oolong while I do some spring cleaning.
Dry Leaf
What a smell! Jin Xuan Oolong smells amazing! There is a strong floral creamy butter scent coming from the tight clumps of oolong. Very fresh smelling and intense! Can I have this tea as a perfume?
Steeping Instructions
Eco-cha has steeping instructions for single mug brew, cold brew and gong fu brew. I do love a good gong fu brew, so I went with that using boiling water starting at 45 second steeping, adding 15 seconds to each additional infusion. Around the 5th infusion, I added 30 seconds and at the 10th infusion I added a minute. I went a little lighter on leaf than recommended, 6.5 grams instead of 8 as I was using a smaller gaiwan.
Steeped up, Jin Xuan Oolong comes out a lemon yellow brew that smells like a blooming orchid.
Tasting of Eco-Cha’s Jin Xuan Oolong
First and Second Infusion: Jin Xuan Oolong starts off light and sweet, developing mega buttery flavor. Man, wish I could have this much butter all the time, I will have to cheat the cravings with this tea! Mid sip there is a glimpse of green bean vegetal. Jin Xuan Oolong finishes off with an orchid floral and peaks in intensity end of sip. Throughout the entire sip there is a light silky texture.
Oh the floral in this tea! Jin Xuan Oolong orchid floral is sweet and crisp. I’d say its a 6/10 on the Floral-o-meter – a good, moderately strong floral that is on the perfumey side, yet natural and not over the top. Some sips I swear this couple be tulip in flavor with the mix of the vegetal.
Third and Fourth Infusion: Jin Xuan Oolong is beginning to ramp up. Maybe I should of done a longer rinse? Jin Xuan Oolong shifts its focus from mega butter to orchid floral notes, with the vegetal at end of sip. The tea has steeped up a bit darker as well.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Best infusions! Jin Xuan Oolong clicked here for me – the balance of floral, hint of vegetal and a bit of green woodsyness was a great tea drinking experience. Jin Xuan Oolong also has a great fresh and clean flavor to it.
Ninth, Tenth Infusion: I began having issues with the tea. Jin Xuan Oolong still tasting great, still buttery floral lovely. However, the leaves decided they had enough of my gaiwan, expanding so much lid doesn’t sit right.
I’m not sure how I got tea out of these later steepings. The gaiwan is packed with expanded leaf, plus leaves made my gaiwan sputter out water while it steeped.
Eleventh and Twelfth Infusion: Jin Xuan Oolong has gotten light here with a bit of a woodsy astringency, 1/10 on the Astringe-o-meter.
Cold Steeping of Jin Xuan Oolong
I used about 2 teaspoons of Jin Xuan Oolong and 11oz of water, steeped cold in the fridge for 9 hours. Super buttery in flavor and an also a sweet milky texture. The floral is really tamed down, a 2/10 on the Floral-o-meter, with the vegetal notes blended a bit with the buttery flavor. Jin Xuan Oolong makes an excellent cold brew as it was fun to taste another side of this tea.
Comments
Eco-Cha‘s Jin Xuan Oolong is a delicious buttery floral oolong that would be much loved by floral lovers. As a milk oolong, I found Jin Xuan Oolong more of a classic super buttery flavor than other varieties that are more on the milky sugar side. Overall, a very gorgeous oolong perfect for spring tea drinking both hot or cold steeped!
(tea provided for review)
