JinXuan "Milk" Oolong Tea

I have encountered several JinXuan teas, more notably code-named "Milk" or "Silk" or "Creamy" oolongs.

There is little promise of authenticity among this style of tea, as they have been overwhelmingly popular on the global market, and so to keep up with demand, ways of physically altering, flavoring, or scenting the teas has become common practice. I have already had one "Milk" oolong on this blog so far, so let us see how this subject fairs in the tumultuous tasting test.

Gratitude to Teavivre for this sample.

There were several of these red packages inside the large package, basically single serve portions of tea.

I would have liked to see them vacuum sealed, but the other option that this could have went through was a nitro-flush, which would have been acceptable as well. I just know that tea does not stay fresh in small quantities, even when sealed.

The leaves look good, and smell good. They smell just creamy enough, but I can still tell that this is an oolong because of the light, floral notes coming off of it.

The liquor is very clear and the only particles I can see are down from the leaves. No foreign morsels floating around and interfering with my enjoyment of this tea.

The smell and taste of the liquor is sufficient, but a bit plain. There are subtle creamy/buttery notes that are expected with JinXuan teas, but also a very simple "oolong" flavor that green oolongs tend to have. This tea is a bit sweeter than most though, but that is most likely just due to the cultivar.

The leaves, as seen below, are healthy enough and look just as honest. I am in no way disappointed by this tea session, other than the simple fact that this was not a prime, top quality JinXuan. It should have had a much more dynamic in flavor. This tea was flat, but at least it was not lifeless.

In my opinion, this would only be a good buy because of the price, not the taste. This is relatively inexpensive and would probably get you better tea for less money than you could potentially spend elsewhere.

 What I find remarkable is that Teavivre sells both a flavored JinXuan and an unflavored JinXuan. It would be interesting to compare the two to see the difference. Perhaps this is an authentic JinXuan, but just sub-par compared to the province's other productions.


~Billy