Tie Guan Yin

Favourite oolong… sounds about what I need. (actually what I probably really need is another nap, but I’m tired of sleeping and there’s something on tv in 45 minutes that I want to see)

Teaspring’s is the tie guan yin I’m most familiar with and also, so far, the one I have preferred the most. The interesting legend behind the origins of the tea. The prettiness of the bright green leaves, so clear in colour as if they had been dyed. The aroma so sweet and rich, like a lovely brocoli broccolli broccol green vegetable boiled just to perfection and with just the right amount of butter. The colour such deep yellow, looking like it’s actually a green tea.

The flavour! So round and vegetally sweet and lingering perfection.

It’s just right.

My TeaSpring Ti Kuan Yin order has just arrived! I ordered about an ounce of each of their TKY and will be reviewing them in the coming weeks as soon as I can. First lets start with their lowest priced TKY.

>Dry Leaf Apperance/Aroma
Curled up dark jade leaves, typical Ti Kuan Yin look, nothing out of the ordinary. Floral aroma is really subtle, barely noticeable on the dry leaf but prevalent in the the foil pouch the tea came packed in.

>Brewing Method
Following Teaspring’s directions using a Yixing teapot, freshly boiled water, and 1 min steep time.

> Liquid Appearance
Clear golden green, first cups were very pale.

> Taste/Aroma
I re-steeped this tea 5 times. After the 4th cup I noticed a sharp drop in flavor and decided to end the session after the 5th.

The 1st cup was very light in taste, faintly floral, but with a really smooth taste. Not as “fresh” as other TKY’s. The 2nd cup remained with a similar muted floral taste, but the tea became slightly thicker, almost creamy. In the 3rd cup, the tea had a very nice creamy texture but aroma and flavor was lacking. By the 4th cup, the tea lost most of its creaminess and a subtle green taste began to emerge. The 5th cup was really faint in taste, no aroma, and barely any texture.

> Wet Leaf Appearance
The leaves were mostly medium sized, mostly damaged in some way, but with few stems.

> Overall
Well I really wasn’t expecting much from TeaSpring’s budget TKY. Despite its low price, I don’t think I would purchase this again, even as my everyday option, as I feel the taste is too light and there are much better affordable options out there. I did enjoy how the texture of this tea evolved from light and smooth, to thick and creamy.

On another note, I don’t know if it has always been this way with TeaSpring, but in my last two orders, both my packages came heavily damaged (cardboard box seemed as if it had been under a super heavy item during the whole shipping process). Thankfully the tea itself wasn’t damaged.

This is a wonderful TGY, I’d purchased it last year (2009) and lost it in the back of my tea cabinet, today when I found it I steeped a cup using gongfucha in my gaiwan, I was pleasantly surprised with the strong, sweet, nectar like floral aroma, I could almost smell citrus in the unfurling (mostly unbroken) leaves.

After rinsing my leaves (1st cup is for your enemies :P ) I steeped the tea for 15 seconds, it was extremely good for being a year old, it had a nice depth to it and tasted very sweet, the leaves now had a more sharp scent, less floral and more citrus(y).

The second steep was for 25 seconds, this was the best steeping, the leaves took on a slightly more vegetal flavor, slightly less sweet, but still layered with many different tastes.

The third steeping was for 35 seconds and- surprisingly- smelled a bit like hojicha, the tea took on an almost roasted flavor as well- it lost most of it’s sweetness, but was still a pleasant brew with quite a bit of depth, I don’t think I’ll be attempting a fourth steeping though.