One cold and wintery evening I decided to dive deep into my loose leaf stash and randomly choose one I hadn’t had in a good, long while. The one I choose from the heap was this Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea from Origins Tea which I haven’t been able to locate online for a long time.
Some tea lovers say it’s a perfect middle ground to a black tea and a green tea but it’s actually an Oolong! Tricky, tricky…little fellow…but oh-so-comforting and satisfying!
Other tea fans say that Tie Guan Yin is arguably the most famous oolong tea with an aroma of baked bread with a floral, buttery finish.
I agree with both stances. It’s a little bit green, a little bit black. It’s not too weak and not too strong. It offers that semi-bakey, yet somewhat creaminess, too!
Could this be the Jekyll and Hyde of Oolongs? Perhaps! But for now…I will just call it a solid cuppa and enjoy it for what it is…Tie Guan Yin…a marvelous Oolong!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Origins Tea
Description
Grown in the high mountains of the A Li Shan region of Taiwan, this tea is also known as the “Iron Goddess of Compassion”. This tea will almost certainly become your favorite roasted Tie Guan Yin. Nice deep roasted fragrance, comes off a bit nutty with the charcoal aroma, along with a bit of floral in the background. Really nice mix of floral notes, fruity/herbal terpene complexity, and underlying roasted aroma.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Anxi Gande 2A Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong Tea/ JK Tea Shop. . . . .
Inception tea!
It’s tea within a bag, within a bag! I’m so excited to open this!
First bag opened. Second bag snipped.
Houston we have tea.
Tightly rolled balls of emerald and dark green.
No noticeable smell or at least nothing note worthy.
Tea and water into the gaiwan. I wonder if anyone does water first?
I don’t see that working as well. A very light oolong in both aroma and flavor. Orchid is the highlight for both. With slight, very slight vegetal and grass notes.
The mouth feel is silky. Like most oolongs this one re-steeps quite well.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: JK Tea Shop
Description:
Tie Guan Yin Oolong tea, also called Iron Goddness of Mercy(literally in English).
For this 2A grade Tie Guan Yin, it is light-roasted, enjoying very good light orchid fragrance. After sipping the tea liquid, you can still feel the good orchid fragrance in the whole mouth.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Nonpareil Anxi Qing Yiang Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea by Teavivre . . . . .
I steeped about half the sample packet (or a little over half) in about 10 ounces of water at 212 degrees for about 6 minutes.
It smells indisputably delicious as it starts to brew. Buttery, creamy, smooth, and rich. Also a tiny bit seaweedy/vegetal/grassy, but that’s subsumed by the butteriness.
The packet says to brew 4-10 minutes, which means it’s probably great for resteeping since you only need to steep it about 5-6 minutes in my experience (and with a little less water it would be less). So if you’re in the mood to re-steep, this might be a good choice for you. (As opposed to when you’re on the road or something and resteeping isn’t convenient.)
I started out using a tea ball to contain the leaves, but after a couple of minutes it became clear that wasn’t going to work out because they were just expanding too much so I let them out. Next time I’d just put them directly in the water or use a brew basket. That way I’d be able to watch them unroll too, which is always fun.
After steeping, I ended up with a nice light yellowish-green liquid (hard to say the exact shade though because I was using a green mug). It smells the tiniest bit flowery in addition to the buttery flavor.
The combo of green and creamy flavors reminds me a bit of matcha actually, although it’s gentler here and less vegetal in flavor. This is a very well-rounded flavor profile, with the bright, floral, and creamy notes complementing each other in a balanced and enjoyable fashion. Each sip is amazing. The floral bit catches your nose as you go to take a sip; the creaminess is there the whole time, and you taste the green/vegetal bit during the sip, and afterwards there’s even a slightly sweet aftertaste. And I don’t even prefer unroasted oolongs as a rule, so I’m extremely impressed with this tea and how much I enjoyed it! Teavivre has done an amazing job with this one as usual!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are available.
