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Lugu Jin Xuan Oolong (2021)

Lugu Jin Xuan Oolong is a classic Milk Oolong grown at an altitude of 800-900 metres in Lugu Township. Hand picked leaves of the Jin Xuan cultivar produce a bright liquor with a creamy aroma. The mild flavour is creamy and tangy with a soothing aftertaste.

Brewing guide: 2.5g in 250ml water at 90°C for 2-3 mins

£1.40£4.75

(10-50g)

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Origin:Lugu Township, Nantou County, Taiwan
Elevation:800-900m
Cultivar:Jin Xuan 'Golden Daylily' (金萱) TRES #12
Harvest time:August 2021
Sourcing:From the farmer via Taiwanese Tea Master

Description

Our Lugu Jin Xuan Oolong (鹿谷鄉金萱烏龍茶) is a one-off batch of a classic, lightly oxidised Milk Oolong from Lugu Township, located in Nantou County of Taiwan. It produces a characteristically smooth flavour with creamy aroma and a ubiquitous smooth milky mouthfeel. Grown at an altitude of 800-900 metres by Mr Chen, who grows and crafts some of our Competition-grade teas, such as Gui Fei and Dong Ding. This is an August 2021 harvest that was hand picked and processed from the authentic Jin Xuan TRES #12 (金萱) cultivar plants.

Mr Chen mostly creates teas that are more oxidised and more baked to produce complex classic flavours. Due to growing conditions in 2021 the harvest from August was judged to be better suited to make a characterful lightly oxidised Milk Oolong. This is very much a one-off production and he will be unlikely to repeat this again as the focus of his production is normally quite different. While this version from Lugu is great, it is a one-off batch so we are not sure if this tea will be available in our shop again! Nevertheless, we are quite excited to offer this version from a slightly different terroir to our usual ones. Otherwise, we carry three Milk Oolong teas at Curious Tea from different terroirs of Taiwan. The low-grown Award-Winning Organic Milk Oolong from Mingjian Township is the most popular one but the high mountain Gao Shan Jin Xuan Oolong and Award-Winning Alishan Milk Oolong are both beautiful examples of teas from the high mountain terroirs of Taiwan.

Jin Xuan cultivar is also known as the Golden Daylily (Jin Xuan – 金萱) or TRES #12, the number given to it by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station. This cultivar is very popular with farmers since the plants are more hardy and produce a higher yield. From a tea lover’s point of view, Jin Xuan is an attractive aromatic drink with a lovely sweet character. It is particularly popular for the smooth creamy and milky aroma, texture and taste. There are plenty of milk(y) oolongs (whether from this cultivar or even others) that are flavoured either with milk or vanilla in order to imitate or enhance the natural taste that the leaves of this cultivar develop. Any genuine Milk Oolong is always produced from the Jin Xuan cultivar and should not be flavoured or enhanced with additional flavours in any way. All of our Milk Oolong teas, whether they are from Taiwan or Thailand, are only crafted from the authentic Jin Xuan cultivar and are not flavoured in any way.

This Lugu Jin Xuan Oolong has neat, large tightly rolled leaves. It produces a very bright liquor with great clarity and a creamy and slightly floral aroma. The taste is as expected: velvety smooth, with tangy, milky and lightly floral notes. The aroma, texture and mouthfeel all have the characteristic creamy aspect. The aftertaste is very clean and is on the sweet side. The ‘golden’ taste leaves a particularly warm and soothing impression!

It is best brewed at 90°C for 2-3 minutes according to your taste and can be brewed multiple times, increasing steeping time with each next brew if desired.

This Lugu Jin Xuan Oolong tea was featured in our December 2021 Curious Tea Subscription Boxes.