Golden Osmanthus Tie Kuan Yin, Golden Tea Shop (Oakland, CA). I picked this up on the recommendation of the proprietress of Golden Tea Shop in Oakland’s China Town. Appearance: tightly rolled loose leaf oolong with minimal oxidation and light green color. This is a scented oolong (meaning the tea leaves are covered with osmanthus flowers and scented, like most jasmine teas, instead of blended). The color of the leaves doesn’t change much as the tea steeps. Liquor: clear, mostly chartreuse yellow but a little darker gold than a color wheel chartreuse. Smell: I really like the smell of both osmanthus and of tie kuan yin, and this is a very pleasant middle ground for those. Meaning, it has the nice vegetal smells of an iron goddess, and the warmth of the osmanthus. Taste: like the smell, this is a nice blend of a lightly oxidized iron goddess with the osmanthus aroma. It’s slightly vegetal from the iron goddess, but slightly soapy from the osmanthus. I find that disappointing, because I get less of a soapy taste when I use straight osmanthus flowers (which I do quite a bit, actually). It’s not terrible, but it just detracts from the taste. Overall, 6/10. It’s not bad, but not good enough I’m going to restock. I will probably keep my eye out for other options like this though.
