Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This quality Lishan Hong Xiang milk oolong tea is handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Jinxuan varietal. This milk oolong is naturally processed with no artificial flavoring. The aroma of this tea is very floral and milky, and the taste is intensively and naturally sweet, and delightful milky. The aftertaste is very sweet and long lasting. This tea stands up well to multiple infusions, and it is smooth and delectable with almost no bitterness. A healthy and pleasant milk oolong we recommend.
Lishan Hong Xiang Milk Oolong, also known as Pear Mountain Oolong, is one of Taiwan’s highest mountain oolong teas. Li Shan Mountain is located in Taichung County of central Taiwan, and it is renowned for producing the highest quality high mountain oolongs. The tea plantations of Li Shan range in altitude from approximately 1600 meters. The loose tea leaves are thick and juicy with a rich fragrance.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this Lishan Hong Xiang Milk Oolong from T-Oolong Tea has a very strong aroma that is vegetal with notes of flower. Once brewed, the vegetative notes soften significantly, allowing the floral notes to be expressed more fully.
Ah … this is NICE! I’ve often touted my love for Lishan and Alishan Oolong teas. This one is a perfect example of why I love these teas so much. It’s so sweet and creamy.
Now, granted, sweet and creamy are two generalized tasting notes that you would expect from any Oolong touting a “Milk Oolong” identification. But, let’s face it, some Milk Oolong teas are better than others! And this is one of the very best that I’ve tried. And it’s milkiness is natural, this is not an Oolong that has been flavored to taste milky or creamy.
I combined the first five infusions in one cup, and this cup is absolutely divine. There is a lovely complexity to the tea, with a smooth, creamy taste and texture, an exotic floral sweetness (orchid perhaps?) and mere whispers of vegetal notes.
Currently this tea is not in stock, but this is one of those teas that it’s well worth the effort to check in occasionally with the company to see when it is restocked. It’s so good!
Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty Oolong #3 from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This quality Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty Oolong (#3) is from a very experienced tea farmer. This tea is all natural, handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Qingxin Dapa varietal grown in Hsin Chu county in Taiwan. The aroma and taste of this tea is very fruity, rich, complex and satisfying, and the aftertaste is fruity, sweet and long lasting. It is a very enjoyable Oriental Beauty we recommend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
While Ali Shan tends to be my favorite type of Oolong tea, I’m still rather fond of Oriental Beauty Oolong teas, and I’m really enjoying this Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty Oolong #3 from T-Oolong Tea. I love the fruity quality of this Oriental Beauty! So sweet and delicious!
It is a delightfully complex Oriental Beauty, with delectable fruit overtones that are reminiscent of a sweet, tree-ripened plum, bursting with juicy flavor. There are very subtle hints of earth and wood to this cup as well, and I like the way these notes add to the depth of the overall cup. My first few sips, I could have sworn I tasted a vague smokiness to the tea as well, but, now that I’ve finished my first cup (infusions 1 and 2) and working on my second cup (infusions 3 and 4) I find that the smokiness has disappeared, and it makes me question whether or not I actually tasted a smoky tone or if it was just my imagination.
I love how the flavors develop with this tea. The first cup was light and smooth, and the second cup seems to be richer in flavor. It is still remarkably smooth though. It has a silky mouthfeel. The aftertaste is sweet and lingers. The third cup (infusions 5 and 6) is smoother than either the first or second cup, and the flavors seem to have married into a more seamless kind of taste.
Each new infusion brings a new adventure, and that is why I love Oolong teas. This one is definitely worth trying – and it is one I’d recommend to those that tend to shy away from Oolong teas because of their strong floral notes. This one is much more fruit-like than floral. It’s a beautiful, contemplative cup.
Taiwan Honey Black Tea Oolong from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black … or … Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This high quality Taiwan Honey Black Tea Oolong is all natural, handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Qingxin Dapa varietal, the tea leaves used to produce Oriental Beauty. This tea has an intense honey aroma and taste, very pleasant and enjoyable. The taste is a mixture of black tea and oriental beauty oolong. This tea is very rich, complex, smooth and delectable with almost no bitterness and astringency. The aftertaste is very sweet and long lasting and makes you want another sip.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
At first glance, it might appear that this tea suffers from an identity crisis or perhaps a split personality. At the very least, it probably seems confused.
From what I understand of this tea, the leaves that would generally be used to make an Oriental Beauty Oolong are used to make this tea: fermented to the point of being deemed a black tea. I could be wrong, and if any of my readers know more about this particular tea, please feel free to comment as I’d love to learn a little more about it.
What I do know, though, is that this is delicious! Sweet and rich – with notes of chocolate and caramel throughout the sip. This is reminiscent of a favorite tea that some of us on Steepster probably remember quite fondly: Dawn from the Simple Leaf. The Simple Leaf has since closed shop, but the memories of this tea linger! It was a remarkable tea, and this Honey Black Tea Oolong is, at the very least, equally as remarkable.
The honey notes are profound, and meld deliciously with the caramel-y notes to create a honey-caramel taste that is lip-smackingly delectable. It has a dense richness to it, a creamy sort of mouthfeel with very little astringency. After the first few sips which are indulgently honey-esque, I start to notice hints of fruit and even a floral note somewhere in the distance. These are notes that require a bit of a “slurp” to really detect, because the chocolate-y, caramel-y notes are so forward that the other notes seem quite content to tantalize from afar.
A really delightful tea – if you miss Dawn from The Simple Leaf … try this tea! If you like sweet, naturally chocolate notes in your black tea … try this tea! If you like the mouthfeel of an Oolong but want something richer and deeper … you know what I’m going to say, don’t you? Try this tea!
Shanlinxi Zhu Wan Oolong from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This high quality Shanlinxi Zhu Wan Oolong Tea is handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Qingxin Oolong varietal grown in the mountain areas of Zhu Wan district in Shanlinxi area. The aroma and taste of the tea are intensely floral and sweet, very rich, complex and delectable with almost no bitterness and astringency. This tea also comes with a very sweet and long lasting aftertaste, and stands up very well to multiple infusions. It is a very enjoyable Shanlinxi tea we highly recommend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve often stated that Ali Shan Oolong teas are my favorite type of Oolong, however, I must admit that after trying a few of the Shanlinxi Oolong teas from T-Oolong Tea … the Shanlinxi are offering up some stiff competition to my beloved Ali Shan! This Shanlinxi Zhu Wan is amazing!
It is so sweet and there is a light creaminess to it, but it is also light and crisp, like the sweet, clean taste of mountain air. It has a pleasant floral tone – not sharp or intrusive, it is a very smooth, sweet floral note. The creaminess adds a richness to the texture and taste, but, it isn’t heavy tasting nor does it feel heavy on the palate. It tastes and feels very refreshing and clean.
And as with any Oolong of high quality such as this, this Oolong is ready and eager for multiple infusions. Subsequent infusions delivered a more unified flavor, very smooth and harmonious, with the floral notes and sweet, creamy tones melding in a very seamless way. The floral notes are stronger now and rest on the back of the palate. Still not heavy in any way, the flavor is stronger, but it flows more smoothly across the palate.
If you like Ali Shan, you should do yourself a favor and also try Shanlinxi Oolong teas – they are similar enough that I think fans of Ali Shan can enjoy the Shanlinxi teas too, but they also offer some intriguing differences that are really quite refreshing.
Shanlinxi Long Feng Xia Oolong Tea from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This high quality Long Feng Xia Oolong tea is handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Qingxin Oolong varietal grown in Long Feng Xia district. The aroma and taste of the tea are very floral and sweet. This tea has honeysuckle-like flavors and a sweet long lasting aftertaste, and it stands up well to multiple infusions. It is rich, smooth and delectable with almost no bitterness and astringency. Absolutely a very wonderful oolong we highly recommend.
Learn more about this Oolong here.
Taster’s Review:
I realize that I previously reviewed this tea, but that was last year’s harvest, and this is a whole new harvest! With new harvests come a whole new opportunity to explore new tastes within the tea!
This is so smooth and beautiful! It has a strong floral essence, with foreground notes of honeysuckle that remind me of my gramma’s house when I was younger. She had a honeysuckle bush that grew just outside the window of the bedroom where I would sleep, and on the warm days when the Santa Ana winds would blow, I would be treated to the most amazing honeysuckle essence that not only filled the olfactory nerves but also seemed to tantalize the palate. I also taste a hint of orchid in the distant background.
Like I said, a strong floral essence, but, what I’m liking here is that the taste and texture is so smooth that the floral notes do not taste sharp. They meld into the tea, allowing the other flavors to come forth. The creaminess is not as strong as I remember from the previous harvest, this is more like a rich smoothness rather than a thick creaminess. Fruit notes begin to emerge toward the end of my first cup (which is the combination of the first two infusions), providing more of a sweetness than a real distinct fruit tone.
With subsequent infusions, I find that the floral notes begin to taper somewhat. No… not really taper. That’s not quite the word I’m looking for. The flowery notes are softening, though. They are still very present, but, the layer of floral notes becomes slightly more transparent, allowing for easier tasting of the layers of vegetative notes and a subtle touch of cream. The fruit tones are emerging more now, almost tasting like something between a peach and a sweet grape. It has a very thirst-quenching taste … very calm, very pleasant.
An amazing Oolong that is certainly worth checking out with every new harvest!