Amy oh

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Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea from Teavivre

Amy oh drank Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea by Teavivre

I always thought that a tea labeled Tieguanyin meant it’s an Anxi oolong from China, but this tea is from Lishan mountain in Taiwain, which would make it more of a formosa oolong. Anyway it doesn’t really matter, I was just a little surprised by that.

I decided to do short steepings of this in the gaiwan this morning.

Steep #1: around 30 seconds and yielded a light yellow liquor which is very vegetal and reminds me a bit of celery. There’s a bit of a nutty quality and a slight sweetness in the finish.

Steep #2: the leaves are just starting to open up here. A bit more of a nutty quality is emerging with a nice sweetness in the background. I went to Teavivre’s website to find this tea is baked and 100% fermented.

Steeps 3 & 4: seem about the same to me. Lightly roasted, vegetal, nutty, a hint of sweetness.

This is a nice, average oolong but I can’t say there is anything about it that causes me to feel it stands head and shoulders above the rest. Might need to try giving it a cold steep to see what happens. Not my favorite tea from them so far, but still enjoyable.

Thank you for the sample Teavivre and Angel!

2012-06-16 13:05:38 -0400

180 °F / 82 °C

0 min 45 sec

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K S 2012-06-16 14:05:26 -0400

When I tasted the Fong Mong high mt. oolong, I kept thinking tie quan yin but yesterday’s tasting proved that wrong. Maybe I was close and should thought monkey picked. Point is I had tasted something very similar before. This may be it.

Amy oh 2012-06-16 14:29:10 -0400

I still have the rest of my samples from them I need to try. I always feel like an oolong needs to be gong fu’d at least the first time I drink it, so it may take me a while to get through my sample stash, lol. :)

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My profile pic is of a pink dahlia at Golden Gate Park.

Hobbies include: tea, making art, animals, vegan things, buddhism, nature, creativity, books, writing, cooking, meditation, yoga.

I am a fan of many different teas but my favorites are blacks and oolongs, also like darjeeling and pu-erh. I’n always learning and expanding my horizons!

Dislikes include: bergamot, jasmine, highly tannic or bitter teas, overly judgmental and bitter people. :)

Live in San Francisco, I’m a SINK (single income, no kids) and love the urban life, but traveling out to the middle of nowhere is always fun too.

I tend to not drink things I know I will hate so a lot of my tea ratings are on the higher side. Here’s my rating system, sorta

95-100 I love this tea and would like to keep it around

94-90 An excellent tea which I may or may not repurchase

89-80 Pretty good, above average

79-70 Acceptable

69-60 Mundane – Will probably drink it if I have it

59-50 Ick

49 and below Nasty