The second tea in the Madame Flavour winter trio is Madame Flavour Caramel Oolong, an ‘oolong leaf tea’ with ‘caramel pieces, natural caramel flavour, [and] sunflowers’. As with all oolong teas, it’s fascinating watching the tightly rolled leaves unfurl. The box suggests the ‘naturally sweet and buttery’ flavours of oolong tea as a natural complement to the creamy caramel flavours.

Steeping 1 one tea bag in 200 mL of water at 85°C for 3 minutes, the infusion was a very pale yellow colour liquor that’s cloudy from the dissolved caramel cubes. While the smell of the tea suggests a richly sweet and buttery caramel, the caramel notes in the head are pleasantly mellow and balanced by the slightest sour notes from the sunflowers, and complement the natural caramel notes typical of oolong tea. The richness of the caramel builds in intensity towards the finish to create a tea with a smooth mouthfeel, before lingering in the aftertaste with slight astringency.

This Madame Flavour Caramel Oolong contained 10 tea bags. The tea originated in Sri Lanka and was purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2015.