An Xi Tie Guan Yin traditional charcoal roast

I love smokies. I love the way they prickle on the tongue and the surprise of sweetness that shows up on the swallow. Sometimes a lot sometimes just a hint.

I love Tie Guan Yin. I love the almost floral freshness of them, the lovely green colour of the leaves and the lightheartedness of the flavour.

Smoky + Tie Guan Yin = ?

What could possibly go wrong here?

Well, I am about to find out, as Cait happened to be in possesion of some and very kindly offered to send me a sample of it when I expressed my curiosity.

The leaves have darkened so they look like an oolong from the darker end of the spectrum. They smell very oolong-y and grass-y, but not really smoky as such. It’s definitely not a ‘normal’ oolong smell, but it’s not really smoke either. It’s more like… a touch of smoke. The memory of smoke. If I search really hard in the aroma, I can find real smoke, but the grass-y oolong-y parts of the aroma are just so strong and insist on being in the foreground at all times.

Tea-making not being an exact science, I think I gave it a slightly longer steep here than what is strictly necessary, so that may account for the appearance. It looks a bit more reddish brown than the regular Tie Guan Yin. The aroma is very oolong-y but with a crisp sort of bite to it. Again, not really smoke. More like… toast. There’s something very fruity here too. Sweet apple-y. Interesting. I’ve never found that in a Tie Guan Yin before.

Oh my ceiling cat!

First sip made me really widen my eyes in wonder. This tea must have gold dust in it, that’s how good it is. It’s not smoky as we know our regular smokies. It doesn’t have that same bite, not at first. At first it’s more toasted than smoky and then the smoke shows up on the swallow. That’s so backwards!

This actually reminds me quite strongly of Genmaichas. There is the same sort of nutty toastedness in it. That apple from the aroma is a bit harder to find but if the tea isn’t too terribly hot, there’s a touch of it for a brief moment when it first hits the tongue.

I’ve got enough leaves for one more pot, but I’ll have to check the vendor because I can’t remember now if they were one of the places to have reasonable shipping to Europe or not. If they do, I will without a doubt need more of this.

Life in Teacup…I must say I am VERY pleased with your customer service!!! I’ve VERY excited to try your tea! This is the first one I will be tasting! I see it’s a well rated cup here on Steepster and now I will be a part of it as well! YAY!!!! This is screaming 2nd (or more) infusion(s)!!! Here’s my first go-around with this roasty-toasty dude…

It’s a gentle smoke scent paired with a little bit of woodsy and almost a natural puckery sweet…maybe apple-scent!? LOVELY…and VERY unique!

WOW.

Oh my…I have to laugh…but for GOOD reason…I see that more than one reviewer on Steepster also added WOW regarding this tea…and I thought it was funny…but there I go saying now…WOW…and I’ll say it again…WOW…I can’t say as I have ever tasted anything quite like this…VERY NICE…Unique is rarely bad in my book.

It’s acting like it’s a sweet type taste and ‘fakes you out’ and ‘changes it up’ into a woodsy type taste…then you can taste the smoke. The smoke is VERY pleasant and makes you all warm and fuzzy inside!!! I am picking up on a Apple/Lemon type flavor as an aftertaste, almost…

I agree with the other posts about this being a different kind of a smoke! It’s not your Souchong type…it’s much different…and very relaxing!!!

This Oolong was a very nice surprise in so many ways!!!!

Mmmmmmmmmm!

My order from Life in Teacup just got here yesterday and overwhelmed me with the shiny foil-wrapped temptations waiting within! I feel like a really need to find some time to sit down and thoroughly taste everything. Today I don’t have that time, but I do have a whole fresh pile of this lovely tea which I already know I love. Mmm, smoky and delicious.

Thank you so much to RABS for sending me this. Yesterday in the Geek Contest Game I ruled another “2” and there was no corresponding package left—I had already had my “2”. Today I ruled a “2” again and decided I could give myself another rule of the die. After all, 3 a day are permitted. My next roll of the die yielded a “3”.

This beautiful package contained two tea samples and I’ve only had one at this point. I just finished my first infusion of this oolong. When I opened the package from “RABS” I got very excited at the word “charcoal.” For me “charcoal” is one of those magical words like unicorn and rainbow and cat and miracle and antidisestablishmentarianism. It’s a word that make my heart leap up, as Wordsworth would put it.

And this tea is worthy of leaping hearts! I have had only one infusion and hope that there are more. Before I started to write this review, I went to the web site of Life in Teacup to place a full-blown order. That in itself should tell you, reader, how much I was enjoying this tea. (Note: They are on holiday until August 1st).

The “charcoal” does not produce a deeply smoky tea, but it does produce what I would call a very “savory” tea which intensifies and focuses fruit and flower and nut aromas. This tea offers an intoxicating dance of flavor. The “charcoal” must refer to the way of toasting the leaf or preparing the leaf. There isn’t much real smokiness in evidence. The play of flavors is very delightful. It’s as if I were sitting at the New York City Ballet watching a quick succession of soloists sequeing their dances precisely: first there is a floral: lavender or lilac in sensation followed by a nice earthy nut which gives way to a pluot (plum/apricot) or a peapear (peach/pear) duet or fruits.

This is one of those teas, similar to Dawn by “The Simple Leaf” that seems to have an outrageously wonderful assemblage of natural flavors which mix and mingle on the palate with the precision of trained performers. It’s wonderful! And I am off to do another infusion.

Rabs, I cannot tell you how spectacularly you have delighted me and thrilled my palate. The Geek Day prize has been a smashing hit. It’s sensual impact is incredible: the visual presentation, the aromas, the tastes of the teas, the heart and soul and spirit that went into the selection; along with the playfulness and the randomness. What you have done is true “performance art”.

Resteeps 2 and 3: Strong, fresh, vigorous. Delightful as the first time. I already know what to anticipate so a bit of the “WOW” factor is down, but I would not change my rating at all. I am going to steep number 4 for 4 minutes.

Having this one today. It reminds me a lot of Heritage Honey Oolong from Mountain Tea. That one is from Taiwan. This is Fujian. Very nice cup. I was expecting heavy smoke or roasted notes. Nope. It is fresh and fruity with hints of osmanthus, ginger, and cinnamon, all wrapped in nuts and orchids.

I’d love to try steeping this tea gong-fu style one of these days but since I don’t have a scale sensitive enough to weight out 5 grams nor an appropriate teapot/gaiwan, this time I had to do my usual method of 1 teaspoon in my strainer mug. I did follow the directions that recommended a quick initial rinse and short, high temperature infusions.

I have a soft spot for Tie Guan Yins and in my opinion when they’re good they’re really good.

This is a really good oolong.

It starts off sweet and floral before changing into a richer roasted or baked flavour with some nice fruity notes. I’m not tasting the smoke that other people seem to be, or maybe I’m just interpreting it differently, but given how good this tea is I’m not fussed. It has good staying power too – I did three infusions and could have done more if it wasn’t getting so late. It’s quite good at keep its flavour, though I noticed that the second steep was a bit more floral and the third one was a bit more fruity.

A+ for this one.

Lushly, verdant, toasty…faintly floral aroma. At first sip, the taste is mildly green, “humid” and smoky—like steamed and roasted banana leaves. Pretty typical of the oolongs I’ve tried in the past.

Fresh gardenias push forward, upon further sips. Faint essence of buttery vegetables in the background. A delicious, savory “grilled” aroma prevails throughout. Reminds me of grilled eggplants brushed with olive oil. On a table redolent with fresh jasmine and gardenias!

I’m actually getting pretty hungry while drinking this—I’m finding myself craving some eggplant parmagiana, right now. Finished off with some steamed sticky rice topped with mango and drenched with coconut milk…served on a banana leaf.

Yummy tea. Rumbling tummy.

Off to make some lunch!! :)

This tea’s note is gonna have to jump the line in front of my Shakespeare one. Oh, what a joyous tea-drinking day! The Shakespeare tea (to be named later) was a revelation. This tea (I’m not even done with the first infustion) had me doing this (the PG tips intro for those who haven’t seen it — I’d be the monkey): http://www.pgtips.co.uk/

I’ll probaby do some editing on this note later to add info on the further steeping times and give it a rating. I was planning on having a lazy tea/book day and then I got a call to do an interview for a temporary summer library gig to help me get more hours/$. So I didn’t really do anything special with this tea. I plopped the whole packet into my large teapot (I know — sorry fellow oolong lovers, but I needed an oolong STAT and propriety flew out the window), but I did take 20 seconds to rinse the tea.

The smell was like a whammy to my scent memory (both the dry and infused tea). There’s something in my childhood it evokes. I think that I’ve narrowed it down to the church potlucks my family used to go to. They were held in a basement (sorta creepy but cool at the same time), and there was always a section of hot vegetable dishes. That’s this smell mixed with something else. I keep thinking that the something else has to do with early elementary school. I think that it may be the smell of the little boxes I used to keep my pencils, scissors and crayons in (like a cigar-box, but for school supplies). Weird, but true. If I hadn’t had oolong before, then it’d probably scare me off. But sweet baby jeebus on a pogostick: sip one and I was floored. This is oolong joy in my mouth! It’s got depth, a sweetness, a floralness, just yummy oolonginess! TG

ETA: getting ready for the 10th large cup infusion. This is ridiculous (but in a good way). I’ve been drinking this tea since around noon and it’s almost 10 hours later and it’s still pretty dang good. The flavor has definitely mellowed, but I love the sweetness that remains. ::sigh:: I love you tea!

Last oolong in the cupboard to taste and write an initial note about! Except that it’s not. Apparently, I’d already written a note about this one, and I thought I hadn’t? Perhaps it was because I was leaving off rating it.

So let me revise that to last oolong in the cupboard to rate — that’s better.

Awesome. Now all that is left in that category is pu erh.

On that front, I must make a correction. I thought I would only have 3 left after today but I discovered another cake that I apparently entered into the Steepster data base but didn’t place in my cupboard. And there are those pesky pu erh samples I haven’t tried all of yet.

So, current count:

Pu erh cakes: 4
Pu erh samples: 15

If you count the bagged, flavored pu erh from Lupicia, I guess it is really 16.

But back to this tea. It’s a special one. The color, and the slighly roasty/smoky aroma in the tin made me think this would taste like a dark oolong.

But no! It’s not. It’s more like a very full bodied green oolong with a hint of smoke.

Gaiwan. Rinse. 195F for 15 seconds, adding 5 for each additional steep. I did five steeps. I might have done more but I have a craving for a black tea and I don’t want to drink it too late in the day.

In any case, this is a special tea. It’s got the sweet, floral notes, and even the dairy notes of a green tie guan yin, with a smoky/toasty note as well.

Honestly, I could drink this one all day.

Got this sample from Life in Teacup a while ago, and I found it while reorganizing my stash today.
The charcoal roast in the name scared me a little bit, mostly because I was not sure I’d like it – given my tendencies to hate anything with a charred flavor – but when I tasted it the flavor reminded me mostly of hojicha, though it’s not as…dark as hojicha. It’s roasted more in the way of the green – and as it cools a lighter flavor kind of takes over and that’s where I get some vague flowery scents and taste.
This tea nicely stands up to extended steeping times, getting stronger rather than bitter. I’m glad I was able to find this on a day when I had plenty of time to sit and appreciate it. :)