Magnolia Blossom Oolong is a floral scented oolong from Upton Tea Imports.
Life has been weird lately. My husband adopted a turtle. We unexpectedly bought a new fridge and deepfreeze on a trip to the hardware store to build a pond for Turtimer. The kitchen was in disarray as said new fridge doesn’t fit where the old one was (and barely got into the house). All the moving around of the kitchen and surrounding areas to get the fridge into the house made me move my tea stuff out of the way, so I’m disorganized. The bonus is I have a water filter and ice maker built in! No more brita pitchers with flying lids and icecube trays.
I’m feeling like having a tea that is straight forward, yet lovely. I’ve had a magnolia oolong before, but from a different tea company, and I really enjoyed the floral. I went to buy more, but it was a tea seller that wasn’t convenient for me (ie, high shipping and only one thing I wanted.) I bought a sample of this tea from Upton Tea Imports too check it out. Time to crack open my packet of Magnolia Blossom Oolong!
Dry Leaf: Classic green oolong appearance – tightly balled leaves snuggling in delicious oolong tea flavor. The leaves smells slightly sweet and grassy.
Steeping Instructions: Upton suggests 190F for 3 minutes. I followed their instructions, steeping my tea in a gravity steeper. I could see this tea doing well in a gaiwan.
The goldenrod vibrant tea smells buttery with a hint of floral – what a combo!
Taste: First sip, the oolong is light and grassy, but quickly develops into a silky buttery flavor. The tea finishes off with a sweet floral that has a slight fruity tang to it. The silky texture lingers after sip. The floral level is fantastic – 5/10 on the Floral-o-meter – I can easily pick out the magnolia floral flavor, is the main flavor, but not overpowering and I am able to enjoy the oolong base.
The floral is quite different. It is much lighter than jasmine and lacks that “pow” intensity. It is also sweeter and much easier to drink. The “tang” present is fantastic – it is like a singer hitting a highnote to pull me out from drowning in buttery floral.
Resteep: I did a 4 minute resteep – the leaves fully opened up after this steeping! Nice sized leaves, I’ve seen bigger but the size is pretty good.
Magnolia Blossom Oolong flavor changed slighty with the butteryness losing most of its texture. The floral is much lighter, 2/10 on the Floral-o-meter, and backed with some grassy notes from the oolong. The tang is much sharper with a bit of a sweet grapefruit citrus note, but not tart. Very interesting resteep!
Resteep 2: The tea has gotten pretty light – just gentle dance of floral, citrus tang, sweet and grassy. Despite being light, it is still very good.
Cold Steeped: I did about 24 hours, but I think it should be steeped at least overnight. Magnolia Blossom Oolong is crisp at first sip that develops to buttery savory mid sip. End of sip the tea is sweet floral, a 4/10 on the Floral-o-meter – less floral than hot. I think I prefer this tea hot but cold is pretty good.
Comments: Upton Tea Import’s Magnolia Blossom Oolong is another floral lover’s treat! Upton has some fantastic prices – I snagged a sample of this tea for $2.50 and I’m very tempted to buy more.
I’d also suggest Magnolia Blossom Oolong to tea drinkers who want to give floral tea another shot. The floral is softer, sweeter and not very potent – lighter than jasmine and rose. A great everyday tea!
