Moongold Oolong from Tin Roof Teas. . . .

One of my coworkers brought this to work specifically for me to try! What a blessing of a day!

This blend, from Tin Roof Teas, contains “sweet, succulent golden orange apricots and a floral green oolong.” It’s the perfect compliment to the day.

Like, wow: this pops. It’s juicy and green and vibrant. Like you’re just gobbling your way straight through an orchard.

Peaches, oranges, and berries are done all the time, but an apricot is kind of rare to me. I love the flavor of apricot. When I was a kid, my mom used to give me apricot-flavored baby food until WAY too late for me to be eating it*, because it was one of the few healthy things I’d eat.**

* (I’m talking teenage years.)

** (I have been told this is gross. I don’t think it’s gross. Baby food is just fruits in a blender. It’s a smoothie.)

So this tea brings me back to our kitchen table with a crack in it. There are cross-stitches on the wall. I’m picking at lunch. My family’s around. It’s warm there.

But now, in the present, I’m a sophisticated adult. I don’t eat baby food. Instead, I drink teas like this.

Nobody will ever know my secrets.

Except, perhaps, the entire internet, now that I’ve posted this.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Oolong
Where to Buy:  Tin Roof Teas
Description

Our Moongold Oolong is a delightful paring of sweet, succulent golden orange apricots and a floral green oolong.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

On Wisconsin from A Quarter To Tea. . . .

There’s a classic scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise’s love interest says “You had me at hello.”

Well, this tea had me at “cow sprinkles.”

My coworker is besotted with it! She had some with almond milk and thinks it’s the bee’s knees. She has made off with my sample. She describes it as “delightful.”

On the other hand, I’m not sure this hit the mark for me. I think this might have been better as a black tea rather than an oolong. The vegetal notes in the oolong are kind of distracting with regards to the “sweet” concept. I tried it both with and without almond milk and couldn’t love it while it was in my mouth.

The aftertaste of this tea is lovely, though. It’s a sweet-splosion.

So while it might not have been for me, through-and-through, it was still a novel flavor, and a molasses-infused treat for the morning.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Oolong
Where to Buy:  A Quarter To Tea
Description

A sweet and creamy jade oolong with sweet honey and cheesecake flavors and cow sprinkles straight from the dairy state.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Milky Oolong from Tea Taxi. . .

When I first started drinking tea, I avoided oolongs at all costs. They were too floral or too green and just not for me. However, over the years, I have found myself more and more curious when it comes to oolongs, particularly milk oolongs which are often so simple and yet amazingly creamy.

This particular milk oolong, Milky Oolong by TeaTaxi, boasts “a subtle taste and a delicate aroma”. I steeped it per the package directions, letting the leaves steep for 3 minutes in 190F water.

At first taste, I found myself worried that perhaps this is too subtle. It came off a touch weak and not all that milky. In fairness, the “milk” oolong I had most recently prior to trying this was Oolong Creme by Sloane Fine Teas and that set the bar quite high. The more I drink, the more flavors I find. There is a definite smoothness here but I don’t know if I would go as far as to say it is “creamy”. On the other hand, I suppose “milky” is an accurate description as it is a little on the thinner side in comparison to the other milk oolongs I’ve tried. There is also a lot of floral notes here which to me appear as almost a shadow of the orchid taste in DAVIDsTEA’s Vanilla Orchid.

All in all, this tea is not bad, but also does nothing to stand out among the sea of milk oolongs. It came to me as a sample in the Generation Tea monthly subscription and the one cup is leaving me satisfied though I probably won’t seek it out again.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Oolong
Where to Buy:  Tea Taxi
Description

A subtle taste and a delicate aroma. This classic tea will make you feel as zen as a yoga session would! Namaste.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Mt. Wudong Mi Lan Xiang Dancong Oolong Tea aka Honey Orchid from JK Tea. . . .

 

Honey Orchid, what an alluring name for a tea.  That just makes you feel like this tea is going to deliver on sweet floral notes.  What that name doesn’t say is this tea is also robust, rich, and full of a slight earthy flavor that mingles perfectly with the honey and floral tones.

This particular oolong from JK Tea, a tea shop dedicated to offering high quality teas to the tea community, doesn’t have any notable aromas when you first open the tea.  But after brewing this tea with fresh water prepped right under boiling and allowing the tea to brew for a few minutes, this tea gives you all the loving you can handle.

Gorgeous rich but subtle earthy notes lay the ground work for these pops of sweet floral touches that you can pick up through each sip.  There is also this underlying fruit note that adds to the sweetness.  I greedily gulped, yes gulped, this tea down.  With all the wonderful flavors being so well balanced, I couldn’t help myself.

Don’t judge this tea by how simple the flavors sound.  This is one of those teas that you need to literally sit down and thoroughly enjoy without distraction to really focus on what the tea leaves are yielding.  Highly recommend this tea for those that are looking for a break in what they normally drink or just to change the pace up a bit. Simply beautiful!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Oolong
Where to Buy:  JK Tea 
Description

When we come to the shape of the Mi Lan Xiang Dancong Tea, if you look for some photos, you can see resemblance with dried seaweed, both in color and it’s twisted, stick-like shape, but the texture of the Tea is a bit firmer and maybe we can even make a comparison with vanilla sticks, if you can imagine them ultrathin and strained. For the taste, it enjoys strong, delicate honey aroma with light floral  aroma as well; sweet taste with lingering after taste sweetness; rich & complex mouth feeling after sipping the tea liquid.  For some people, it is hard to believe that such strong fruity flavor is developed naturally and with such sophisticated process, but this is true.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

VariaTea Enjoys a Caramel Oolong. . . . .

Nine times out of ten I will pass on an oolong. I just don’t love it as a tea base. However, that one out of ten is usually awesome. Some of my personal favorites are A Quarter to Tea’s On Wisconsin, DAVIDsTEA’s Vanilla Orchid, Lupicia’s Melon Oolong, and this one.

When oolong teas are done right, they are just so very right and this is no exception.

The base is floral but velvety which blends nicely with the silky caramel flavor that dominates this tea. The saltiness works as a flavor booster, highlighting the creamy sweetness of the caramel.

Moreover, there’s a smooth butteryness that ties this tea together like the bow on a delightful little present. Yum!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy:  Dammann Freres
Description

This oolong tea’s naturally velvety notes blend with the sweet-salty flavours of caramel. Enjoy a deliciously gourmet cup of this beautifully balanced blend of green and candy notes.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!