Milk Oolong 2011

Name; Milk Oolong

Type; Oolong, Un-oxidized oolong, China or Taiwan

Price; £ 3.50 for 50 grams from Better Beverage Company.

http://www.betterbeverage.co.uk/

Review;

 It’s not often I come across a tea I loathe.  Even rarer that I would waste the time to write about it. And it is entirely plausible that I simple haven’t had a good milk oolong. 

As previous reviews of Better Beverage may have suggested they are a business.  A business with selling a product for money is a key component (unlike those that just do it for the passion, or the love of tea or any other reason). So again the age old question of whom to blame; merchant or tea.  I’m doing a bit of both.  I’ve tried a milk oolong in Pekoe Tea, and it was alright.  I wouldn’t buy any, and I wouldn’t write a thank you letter if I received it at Christmas, but I would still drink it occasionally.  This one from Better Beverage is going straight in the bin.  I tried to find out more information but the owner of Better Beverage is rather cryptic saying that he doesn’t know anything other than it passes European health law (to a degree (worrysome?)).  

You know that fake artificial butter that gets put on your popcorn when you go to the movies?  Just imagine drinking a tea cup full of that “delicious” “butter”.  That is the best description I can give.  Milk oolongs are suppose to give an array of flavours, this just tastes fake perfumed.  And chances are it is.  The price was ridiculously low, so I guess I can’t be that surprised.  The worst part about drinking it is that the oil seems to just sit in your mouth, impossible to wash/scrub off.  Might go buy some whisky to solve this problem…

Don’t enjoy!

-Tea Fan

Formosa (Oolong) ((Teaism))

Formosa
Type; Oolong, Taiwan, Un-roasted
Price; £ 9.50 for 50 grams from Teaism.

https://teaism.com/TeaShop/ProductDetails4-75.html

Review; “Formosa” from Teaism, is suppose to be a Dong Ding, or a Milky Oolong, but is impossible to tell due to the lack of flavour. Honestly considering where this tea came from, I have to say this might have possibly been the biggest disappointment in teas I’ve had for a very long time. “This top-quality Formosa oolong has large wiry leaves. Use 2 tsp per 8 ounces of 190 filtered or bottled water. Steep 5-6 minutes. You can infuse several times”. No no no.

“Top-quality”? BS. No que no batman an oolong has large wiry leaves, kinda part of the definition of oolong tea leaves. Infuse several times? Nope hard pressed for the first. I’ve decided to do an experiment where I’m going to let it brew over night and see if more flavour magically appears. Oh, update, looking at the website, spring 2010. Right…might have gone stale except that this tea was purchased November 2011.

Don’t Enjoy!

-Tea Fan

As my flat mate said, “If Tetley made an oolong”

Yellow Gold Oolong/Tie Guan Yin

Yellow Gold Oolong

"There’s a new gold rush in town and while we can’t promise it will make you rich, this Yellow Gold Oolong tea will definitely make you feel like a million dollars. The hand-rolled leaves open beautifully to create a complex mix of sweetness and tangyness topped off with notes of fresh grass."

Type; Oolong, China, Tie Guan Yin

Price; £ 12.98 for 100 grams from Eteaket

http://www.eteaket.co.uk/teaboutique/info_B01.html

Review; As promised, please find delivered my review of Yellow Gold Oolong. There remains two predominant traditional styles of oolongs, if indeed one wants to try and categorize them as such; which can be defined as light and dark. The dark presenting more roasted, higher levels of oxidation. The lights presenting as delicate and floral as buds on a bush. Oolongs are defined, along with being a completely different style to processing tea, as a range of oxidation and fermentation ranging from almost zero like greens, all the way to 90 percent, close to black teas. Yellow Gold Oolong is one of the few teas to have captured my soul. the first time I tried it, I opened the tea pot searching through the leaves for the mysterious source of the fragrance to identify. Years have now passed, the fragrance remains, that of tea. If this review is already seemingly more loopy, and "poetic" than normal, it is a direct testament to this tea. Teas are meant to alter our mind, bring consciousness, invigorate us.

There is literally not a single bad word to be said, floral, delicate, the floral scent first reminded me of a peony, or a gardenia. With such a heady scent, it is truly amazing to realize a tea when it is at its full potential.

I have already done a review upon Tie Guan Yin before for the observant reader to notice. However this one I have felt needs specific notice. For those curious about Tie Guan Yin, this is a surprisingly decent wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tieguanyin. However there has been a growing trend in China to title almost everything Tie Guan Yin. Even greens or blacks have managed to procure the name, as in a failed attempt that the name by proxy deliveries the delicious notes to the palate.

Enjoy!

-Tea Fanatic