I’m not normally a bergamot fan, but my high school partner-in-crime, code-named Tiny Salutations is, so welcome her along on today’s adventure!
This is a delightful blend that ignites the romance at first sight, and pictures don’t do it justice. Beautiful blue corn flowers are sprinkled throughout, which is a special flower that she would grow and send to husband back when they first dated. She says she’s kind of in love with this tea before even drinking it. The dry leaves need to be cross-marketed as an air freshener!
The corn flowers float to the top as it brews and lose their color becoming translucent and elegant like dragonfly wings. That initial carmel smell mellows out as well, and the brew just smells like standard Earl Grey. The combination of small tea leaves and delicate flowers mean the brew time is quick and more caffeine is released into the light amber infusion.
There is not as much flavor as color implies, so it’s great way to get caffeine if you don’t like the bitterness of the tannins. There’s a slight milky aftertaste. It tastes like a Standard cuppa black tea, but you don’t need to add any cream or sugar! (Unless you’re an absolute sugar fiend)
Upon resteeping, the tea still has some oils to give off and it has a good earthy taste but not as much caramel flavor.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Black Tea
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Our Earl Grey Le Creme is a forgiving indulgence essenced with bergamot, vanilla and cream. Go ahead, treat yourself!
Your tea is hand packaged in an airtight tin at no additional charge.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Milky Jinxuan High Mountain Oolong from Oollo Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Oollo Tea
Tea Description:
The true milky Jinxuan oolong tea with natural cream milk accent and luscious texture. The Alishan family farms tea trees that were bought from our family in 1990. They practice zero pesticide natural farming.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s no big secret that I absolutely adore a good Milky Oolong tea. This Milky Jinxuan High Mountain Oolong from Oollo Tea is one of the very best I’ve tried thus far. It’s so delightfully sweet and creamy but the creaminess isn’t heavy. It’s not overwhelming my palate.
I love the texture to this first cup (infusions 1, 2 & 3 – yes three infusions in one cup, I’m using a smaller gaiwan today), it’s very silky and softly creamy. Smooth!
The flavor is sweet with notes of orchid. It’s not sharply floral because the creamy buttery taste helps soften the floral taste without overpowering this delightful flowery essence. It’s not bitter or astringent. It’s just … lovely. Oh so delightful.
My second cup (infusions 4 – 6) still has some of that silky texture, although much of the milky taste has waned. This is much more floral than the first cup. It’s sweet with spun sugar notes. I taste light vegetal notes to this too. I am also tasting a light nutty flavor that almost tastes “popcorn” like to me. As the tea cools slightly, some of the creamy notes seem to develop so it’s not completely without that milky note.
My third cup (infusions 7 – 9) was softer in flavor than the second. Not as creamy as either the first or second cup, but still beautifully floral with more nutty flavors and even a hint of peach can be detected! I still get that light, spun-sugar type of flavor that I really like.
What a lovely tea!
Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong Tea from Tea Ave.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Ave.
Tea Description:
Known to some as milk oolong, around here we think of Alishan Jin Xuan as our dreamy, creamy oolong. An elegant tea with a refined, subtle taste, Alishan Jin Xuan’s fruity and floral aromas complement its smooth, milky mouth feel.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I received the amazing package that I received from Tea Ave., I was most excited about trying this Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong Tea. I mean … hello? Alishan? My FAVORITE! Of all the many different Oolong teas out there, Alishan is my favorite … especially a Jin Xuan (aka milk Oolong).
And given how much I adored the other two Oolong teas that I’ve tried from Tea Ave, I knew that I was in for an amazing treat with this Alishan Jin Xuan. So, I got out my special Alishan YiXing mug and started brewing! 
LOVELY!
I’ve had many different Alishan Oolong teas over the years, and many of them were Jin Xuan. Some were ‘flavored’ Jin Xuan where the milky notes were enhanced with added flavors. Others were not. I’m happy to say that this is one that is not. Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy a flavored Jin Xuan, but there is something just so amazingly, naturally beautiful about a pure Jin Xuan!
The creamy notes are generally more subtle in a pure Jin Xuan, but they are so soft and wonderful. I love how the creamy notes don’t inundate the palate with the flavor so that other characteristics of the tea can be explored and enjoyed. Notes of flower mingle with the notes of cream. The floral notes are not sharp. They are mild and meld beautifully with the creamy flavors. Sweet hints of fruit reveal themselves and develop as I continue to sip.
I was surprised to find that later infusions were still just as creamy as the earliest infusions. Sweet, luscious and thick on the palate. The floral notes softened in later infusions as the fruit notes emerged stronger. It’s difficult to really pinpoint the fruit flavors that I’m experiencing because the sweet notes of the fruit aren’t really present. The sweetness of this tea is more from the creamy notes – almost vanilla-esque!
But the fruit notes taste more like the fruit but not so much of the sugar sweetness of the fruit. It’s like an apricot or a peach that has had it’s sugars extracted from it, quite interesting.
A truly AMAZING Alishan Jin Xuan – this is a tea I’d recommend to all tea drinkers. Not just Oolong enthusiasts! I think that this is a tea that all tea lovers can appreciate and enjoy.
AliShan Milky Oolong Tea from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
Intense creamy taste with floral undertone. A one-of-a-kind tea from Taiwan with a fantastically creamy flavor resulting from its unique roasting process. Our Ali Shan Milky Oolong offers you great depth of flavor that lasts into even the fifth brew.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! AliShan! Seriously … is there anything better?
Yeah, I’m sure there are. And I have other favorite teas that I like at least as well as an AliShan Oolong. But when I’m indulging in an AliShan, it’s as if I’m drinking pure liquid gold and everything is right with the world. AliShan is definitely my favorite Oolong tea.
And this AliShan Milky Oolong from Teasenz is absolutely divine.
It’s so sweet and creamy. And take note: this isn’t going to taste as creamy as some Milk Oolong teas you may have tried. That’s because these creamy notes have been derived naturally, not by adding flavoring to the tea. I have tried both types of Milk Oolong and I’ve enjoyed both natural Milk Oolong teas and Milk Oolong teas that have been flavored to get their creaminess. So, I’m not here to try to tell you which you should like better or why you should prefer one over another. It’s all subjective because no two palates are the same. I’m just offering an explanation to you as to why this isn’t going to be quite as milky-creamy as a Milk Oolong that has been enhanced with flavoring.
That said, this is amazing. I love the soft creamy notes of this tea. It’s warm and comforting – like warm milk. Sweet and floral. There is a hint of nutty flavor in the distance that melds beautifully with the warm milk notes.
To brew this tea, I grabbed my gaiwan and my YiXing mug that is designated for AliShan Oolong tea! My mug fit five infusions in it, so my first cup was infusions 1 – 5 (after discarding the rinse!) I heat the water to 180°F and infused the rinse for 15 seconds, discarded the liquid, and then started brewing! The first infusion was 45 seconds and I added 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion.
And this mug is filled with tea that is a little bit like perfection. And since this is an Oolong, I decided to go for a second mug (infusions 6 – 10). That’s one great thing about Oolong teas – they keep going and going!
My second mug tasted even creamier than the first. The floral notes began to emerge a little bit. It was smooth and sweet. Very little vegetal taste, mostly this cup was all about the milky/creamy flowery taste! I think I liked the second mug even better than the first so get all that flavor out of these leaves and keep on infusing!
A really wonderful tea! Teasenz is a great company, I highly recommend them!
Honeysuckle White Tea from Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Description:
In China, there are over 100 species of wild Honeysuckle. highly prized for its medicinal vale, Honeysuckle is used in China and Europe to cool the body, alleviate headaches, sooth sore throats and contains anti-inflammatory properties. This tea is lovingly made with “White Peony King” White tea and combined with wild honeysuckle blossoms for an enchanting cup of tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Honeysuckle White Tea from Phoenix Herb Company is sweet perfection. Sourced from Shang Tea, one of my favorite tea companies, Honeysuckle White is sweet, relaxing, lovely, scented, and buttery. There is almost this milky mouthfeel to it. Its an enchanting tea. The color is gorgeous! A very light vegetal flavor comes out in the after taste. It is also slightly nutty but each steep brings forth different notes. The vegetal flavor mixed with the buttery milky flavor remind me of buttered green beans. Yes I put butter on my green beans, don’t you? Honeysuckle White is pure ecstasy. That is if your idea of ecstasy is a creamy mouthfeel, sweet florals, buttery light vegetal flavors, and an undertone of nuttiness.
When I was a kid there were a lot of honeysuckle bushes around my neighborhood. You could pick the blooms of the honeysuckle bush and pull out the middle section, the stamen I believe, and there would be this shiny wet dew on the stem of the stamen. This was honeysuckle sap. It was sweet and delicious just like this tea but a natural sweetness of course, no where near as sweet or sappy as honey. This tea evokes those memories for me. A time very early in my youth that followed me into my own children’s youth as they too would learn the secret of the honeysuckle bush! I love a tea that can evoke a memory.
This tea is soothing, calming, almost meditative. The color is so beautiful – a bright sunny golden amber. The aroma makes the eyes open brightly with the lovely smell of honeysuckle blossoms, then the eyes shut with a soothing Ahhhhhh feeling of release. Since this tea is made with the White Peony King tea base you will pick up subtle nuisances of fruity undertones in later steepings.
This tea is a forgiving tea in the sense that you can play around with brew times if you wish to have your tea a bit stronger or a bit lighter. I steep mine for a good 3 to 4 minutes on the first steep and 5 or more on the following steeps, yet you can go as little as 1 to 2 minutes and still get a lovely flavor. Note the directions to bring water to a boil, then let rest one minute before immersing leaves to steep. You will find this tea can easily be steeped 3 to 4 times and still give a high quality enjoyable flavor palate for your palate!
This playful tea has the quality to be snobbish yet lets everyone enjoy its bounty, at 8.15 USD per ounce which I consider a fair price for such a lovely tea. Every time I enjoy this tea I will think of the years past, running around my neighborhood, picking honeysuckle and lapping up the sweet nectar of life and remembering times doing the same with my own little saplings!
