Premium Organic Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Ali Mountain Oolong tea alishan

Brewing Guide: The water used to steep this tea should be about 185-195ºC or 85-90ºF. Use about 2 teaspoons (3 grams) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 milliliters) of water. A steeping time of about 3-5 minutes is recommended with more or less time depending on the desired concentration. As a rough guide, the higher the temperature of the water or the greater the amount of leaves used, the shorter the steeping time should be. The tea leaves should uncurled for full flavor. For the ultimate enjoyment, a traditional Chinese Yixing teapot is recommended for loose oolong tea. The teapot should be half filled with leaves and initially steeped for 45 seconds to 1 minute with the steeping time increased by an additional 15 seconds for each successive steeping. The leaves may be steeped multiple times.

This natural milk flavor is quite subtle, so some processors add flavoring to the tea leaves to increase the milk flavor.

Teavivre’s Jin Xuan Milk Tea is another kind of fine classic Taiwan Oolong.  It belongs to a category of tea often called “Milk Oolong”.  However, this Jin Xuan Milk Oolong is special and unique because its milky aroma is natural, it is not manually added milk when process as other milk teas.  The first three infusion of this tea will have slight milky scent, whereas this scent will gradually reduce for the next cups.

There has been quite a bit of controversy over milk oolongs, mainly in regard to whether the milky fragrance and flavor are natural or enhanced.  Actually, both are true. 

An interesting story exists that attempts to explain the milky fragrance and flavor.  According to legend, this oolong’s milkiness is the result of a sudden change in temperature during harvest time that occurs very infrequently.  The first time this temperature shift occurred was hundreds of years ago at a time when the moon fell in love with a comet as it was passing through the night sky.  The comet passed by and then burned out and disappeared.  The moon, in her sorrow, caused a great wind to blow through the valleys and hills, creating a sudden drop in temperature.  The following morning, the tea harvesters went out to collect the fresh leaves and when the tea was processed, to their surprise, it had developed a unique milky characteristic, which they attributed to the motherly nature of the moon.

“Milk oolong” is, of course, just a name.  In fact, this tea is usually referred to as Jin Xuan oolong (No. 27), which was discovered in 1981 by the Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES).  TRES was experimenting with new tea varietals and apparently asked a local farmer to plant Jin Xuan oolong tea on his farm.  The farmer was curious, so he planted it and eventually shared this tea with his neighbors.  It was an immediate success.  Everyone wanted to know the name of this fantastic tea.  Since the farmer had no idea, he went back to TRES and noticed a sign that read “2027.”  He therefore named the new tea “No. 27.”  Jin Xuan has since become one of the four main tea varietals used for oolong tea.

Naturally grown and processed, Jin Xuan does have a subtle milk fragrance, which can sometimes be further naturally enhanced by a slightly longer period of oxidation and / or a light roasting.  Although the temperature does affect the milky characteristic somewhat, as the above legend brings out, the main factors affecting the milky characteristic are the growing conditions and the processing.  Generally speaking, Jin Xuan tea that is grown in the higher-elevation regions will have a more distinct milky fragrance.  With Jin Xuan grown at lower levels, the milky characteristic is more subtle and harder to detect.

For many of Taiwan’s high mountain tea farmers, it is more financially lucrative to use the Ching Xin varietal rather than Jin Xuan for producing premium-quality goashan cha.  For this reason, naturally grown and harvested, high-quality Jin Xuan is not as common.  The more popular, high mountain teas nowadays are greener, lightly oxidized teas.  However, some tea gardens, especially in the Alishan mountain area, do continue to produce high-quality Jin Xuan oolong, which has a delightful, natural milky fragrance.