Know your Alishan Jin Xuan

Jin Xuan oolong, also popularly called “Milk Oolong,” is made from a relatively new cultivar of tea developed by the Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES) in 1981. The tea is fragrant and coats the palate with a creamy sweetness that is highly satisfying. It is easy to steep and relatively inexpensive for a high-mountain oolong, which makes it one of the most popular oolongs in Taiwan.

We are seeing that it is becoming a favorite of many of our customers too; we just had to restock our Alishan Jin Xuan! By the way, Alishan is the name of the mountain in Taiwan the tea comes from and is known for its quality high-mountain oolongs.

The reason Jin Xuan is called “Milk Oolong” is because the tea has a milk-like quality in terms of taste and texture.

Because of its popularity, a lot of oolongs artificially flavored with milk can be found in the tea market being passed off as Jin Xuan. Rest assured, ours is a genuine article. You will enjoy its wonderful floral fragrance and smooth creaminess, without it seeming to be your morning cup of milk rather than tea!

You also don't have to believe in the tea farmer’s yarn about how they water the tea bushes with milk resulting in the tea flavor! Leave that to the gullible traveler.

Jin Xuan literally means “golden daylily,” although the fragrance of the Jin Xuan is closer to the osmanthus flower. Since it was the 12th cultivar developed by TRES, with number 2027 assigned to it during the breeding process, tea farmers also refer to Jin Xuan simply as #12 or 27.

 
Jin Xuan's popularity also has to do with its productivity - the cultivar can be grown in higher altitudes, and has a 20% more greater yield than the traditional cultivars. The popularity of this tea has now gone abroad taking roots in the northern Thailand.

NB: Most of the clayware you see in the pictures are made by our local partner, Kumagama Clay Studio. We are immensely happy and honored to make tea with it.