Milk Oolong. Truth and fiction

Milk Oolong is one of the most popular Chinese teas. Moreover, when they say the word “oolong”, many of them are the Milk Oolong, and they do not even mean that oolongs are a whole large group that includes tea of ​​various tastes and aromas.

But it so happened that it was from Milk Oolong that they often begin to get acquainted with Chinese teas. After that, starting to delve into and explore the immense world of Chinese tea, we begin to distinguish the subtle flavors of white tea, the piercing freshness of green tea, the mysterious walnut woody notes in puer, the fruity floral bouquets in the flavors of oolongs and other varieties of flavors and tastes. But they start from the milk one, because it is understandable, bright and unassuming, it impresses at the first sip with its simplicity, such a homely - delicious caramelly creamy aroma and usually like by literally everyone. And even people who are indifferent to tea in principle, at least remotely, but have heard that there is such tea - Milk Oolong.

    What is the secret of such popularity?

The first is fragrance. Aroma of condensed milk, familiar and loved since childhood. In different varieties of Milk Oolong, the aroma can be complemented by the nuances of sweet baking, vanilla ice cream, caramel, baked milk, and even toffee. In any case, this aroma is pleasant, immediately causes positive emotions and the desire to quickly try this snack. And when we take the first sip, the taste buds are already prepared for pleasant sensations.

The taste of a good milk oolong is soft, rounded, sweetish - fresh, with hints of fresh cream and caramel ... in general, the taste buds get what they expected - a pleasure without stress and surprises. This tea is similar to mother's embrace, it gives a feeling of comfort, security, peace, brings back memories of a happy and carefree childhood. Naturally, such emotions are pleasant to all, without exception, so Milk Oolong is the first love of almost every beginner.

But, nevertheless, many have a logical question - why does tea smell like milk?

    Flavoring secrets

Alas, tea bushes are not watered with milk; in the process of drying, tea leaves are not sprinkled with pineapple juice, are not soaked in cane sugar infusion, and are not even stored near the dairy plant. And I would not like to disappoint you, but we suspect that not only virgins are collecting it)) Joke.

The most common flavoring called Nai Xiang (Milk flavor) is an alcohol solution in 20 liter cans. It is made in Japan and Germany. Nai Xiang flavor is added after the tea leaf is fermented before being cooked. Only 100 grams of flavoring is used per ton of tea leaf.

There are other lower quality flavors, our chemical industry is excellent. They differ in flavor nuances - it can be caramel, toffee, chocolate and more. The intensity of flavoring is easily regulated, so the saturation and flavor of different milk oolongs can differ significantly.

    How did you get the idea to combine tea aroma with dairy

Taiwanese tea breeders brought a variety of tea that had a light creamy aroma of caramel.

The variety #TTES-12 camellia tea was created by the breeders of the Taiwan Tea Experimental Station in 1980, primarily for the production of poorly fermented oolong (the so-called turquoise teas) received the poetic name "Golden Flower" (Jin Xuan).

European buyers liked the tea, but they began to demand a more saturated creamy aroma and a reduction in the cost of tea. Demand creates supply, so the Taiwanese have no choice but to resort to flavoring. Later it turned out that the cost of tea can be quite lowered using simpler tea, since the delicate creamy notes of the Jin Xuan variety were still lost against the background of the intense aroma of Nai Xiang.

Let's be honest and note that artificial aromatization, in most cases, is exposed to teas from raw materials of mediocre quality. High quality tea does not need a neighborhood of third-party flavors.

There are varieties of tea that have natural caramel notes in taste and aroma, for example, high-mountain Taiwanese Da Yu Lin, but this taste is soft, not assertive, changeable with every harvest and can be appreciated only by sophisticated gourmets. For commercial purposes, this tea is not suitable, besides, its cost is usually too high, and the volume of production is small.

    How to determine the quality of Milk Oolong

Like any other tea, Milk Oolong can be of very high quality. Determining the grade of Milk Oolong is not so difficult - Nai Xiang's aroma should not be too intense, not completely muffle the aroma of the tea itself, twisted leaves in dry form are the same in size and color, not dull, the brewed leaf is revealed large and solid. Accordingly, the cost of a good milk oolong will be higher, since more expensive raw materials and high-quality flavoring are taken for its production.

    Resume - to drink or not to drink?

The idea of ​​milky flavoring of oolong is neutral and does not give grounds for a biased attitude to this tea. Especially in the case when the flavoring is designed to emphasize the virtues of tea, and not to hide its flaws. Choose a good Milk Oolong and enjoy the warmth and home comfort that it gives!

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