Taiwanese butter tea

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com12/18/06 12: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Nope. no idea. The cucumber thing brings good Bao Zhong to mind, and the butter thing, Gyokuro. Am I moving closer or further out? Michael

I know there has been some discussion of this tea in the past. There is information on the Internet. I've been waiting for an independent verification of the buttery taste. It's been on my radar for awhile and I think the perfect Christmas gift to myself. I think this is also known as Taiwan milk tea not to be confused with Boba.

Jim

Lewis Per> I've recently been drinking a tea that's very unusual, at least in my > experience.

I'm afraid it isn't like either of those.

/Lew

Right, you mean Nai Xiang, which I think is made with the Jin Xuan cultivar identified on the bag this tea came in. That possibility had occurred to me, but I didn't want to prejudge this.

/Lew

I'd think it's the "milk" tea as well. I've had it before, and while interesting, I thought it got boring quickly.

MarshalN

Sounds to me like you managed to buy yourself a nice grade of some "nai xiang" (milk flavored; as you describe) wulong. It is just another type of Taiwan wulong and come to mention it, I have also seen some mainland Tie Guan Yin that was nai xiang. As for how natural it is, I have heard various sources say both sides; natural/unnatural.

I tried a tea with distinctive if noit strong buttery taste (almost texture) once in China, the "buttery" was very distinctive. I would not compare it with Nai Xiang, which I like very much but IMHO is not buttery at all. I understand that the comparison of Lew's tea with Nai Xiang is coming from milk-cream-butter logic, but once you try that buttery taste in tea you will probably agree that its not nai-xiangy at all. And the aroma is not milky at all. That is - in the tea I tried. Lew can tell us if this is the same case with this tea.

Sasha.

Yes, exactly. It's really a texture rather than a taste. I can't comment on Nai Xiang, since I've only read about it; it just seemed plausible because of the name.

/Lew

I'm sure Lew has done this. If you plug the characters for JinXuan and NaiXiang into Google you see them almost being used in the same sentence.

However I suspect that 'buttery taste' is sufficiently different than 'milk fragrance' as you both suggest. If anyone knows of the Chinese characters for 'buttery taste' I'd like to know what they are. I'm going to order some JinXuan NaiXiang after the New Year. I hope it taste more like butter and smells less like milk.

Jim

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:

I've had both of these styles of tea before, I think. There was a specific pick of Tie Guan Yin in the 2005 batch from Xi Ping that my friend let me try that reminds me of what you have said above. I just figured since Lew said his tea was from Taiwain, it was more than likely Nai Xiang because some of the high mountain stuff can come across having that texture.

I might be wrong here, but I believe that jinxuan is the cultivar, and naixiang is a descriptive term for that cultivar meaning that it smells like milk.

Butteryness (if I am following) is something different entirely, like (back to wine) Chardonnay can be sometimes. I would say that a wine, or a tea, was buttery when the mouthfeel is very filling and almost oily. I've drank a lot of Taiwanese oolongs, and noted a wide range of milk-like tastes from the milkshake smell of jinxuan to the occaisional cream smell of luanze. I've never noticed myself thinking that one of them was "buttery", but they do vary widely in the heaviness/smoothness of the texture.

It would also be interesting to know how you (Lew) steeped it to get the butter out.

Correct. I was just wondering if there is a term for 'buttery taste' that would compliment the fragrance of milk. If anyone would know I would expect it to be you. I notice in the links you want the JinXuan NaiXiang that comes from the Taiwan Tea Research Institute. The buttery taste might be the really good stuff.

Jim

Alex wrote:

...blizzard...

I'm sure you're right about that.

No churning was needed. I used water a bit less than boiling, 5g of leaf, and 4 fluid ounces of water. Fairly short steeps for the first four, then a minute or longer with boiling water.

/Lew

Precisely. But also the word texture has so many meanings in different contexts (for instance - rock texture is a pure geometric feature, while textile texture has a "feeling" component). You also use the word texture with a feeling component, and thus being blissfully unscientific. But if these guys found teh way to attribute statistically meaningful relation between certain compounds of tea and the way our palate reacts to them - this good IMHO. Can I be so rude as to ask you to save some for us to try during our next meeting? :)

Sasha.

Well, ignorance *is* bliss.

Agreed.

If you're trying to be rude, you'll have to try harder. Of course you can have some! And please convey my thanks to Denis.

/Lew