I ordered the free sample of this tea, and it came in surprisingly quickly. The sample was just the right amount to fill a 4oz gaiwan.
It smelled very floral, like a garden of flowers. I poured it into my gaiwan (which filled it about 1/3 full) and then poured about 190F water over it for a rinse, and dumped it out. Then I filled up the gaiwan and let it steep for 30 seconds before pouring it into a cup. The color was a greenish yellow. The smell was very much like the dry leaf, floral and almost fruity. The taste reminded me of gunpowder green tea, only less harsh, and a lot smoother. After I finished the first cup, I re-infused, and found the leaves to have expanded a lot. They were all the way up to the lid of the gaiwan! The next 3 or 4 infusions were done at approximately 30 seconds. They all came out almost identical, and tasted good.
I typically drink ONLY green tea, so an oolong was a nice change. This Tie Guan Yin is pretty green, literally in between green tea and black tea, in both taste and fermentation. It’s a really nice tea if you aren’t a fan of black tea, but like something a little more…“brisk” than light green teas.
