Iron Goddess of Mercy - Ti Kuan Yin - Green

Cold-brewed this last night, three teaspoons to 16 oz for about 16 hours in the fridge. It still has that hay quality and it’s a bit sharp and almost smoky up front, but then the aftertaste mellows into a floral honey flavor. It is so much better this way, and I think that’s how I’ll be using it up. Hot it’s just not for me. It’s obvious to me that this is a good one, though, so I’m bumping the rating up a little.

As a side note, does anyone know if leaves that have been cold-steeped can be re-cold-steeped? They haven’t uncurled entirely and they still smell pretty strong (in fact, the resulting tea is much stronger than I expected). I may try it anyway just to see what happens.

I have been waiting to review this tea, because frankly, it baffles me. I have never tasted another tea with quite this flavor. Not having experienced Ti Kuan Yin ever, I cannot compare this but to different types of oolongs. Having said that, it is quite a tea. The aroma is very vegetal bordering on almost fresh paint notes. (which I like btw)
The smooth yet hardy roasted flavor is more intense than most oolongs I have tasted. I want to say the flavor is almost metallic but not in a bad way. It makes me feel I am drinking something extremely healthy. This is a very complex very good tea. This will definitely become a staple for me.

Backlog. And sipdown (92)! This was quite a lovely oolong, and I will miss having it around. I think it has a nice balance between floral and roasted flavors all at once. For my first steep, the water was a bit hot, so there was an unpleasant metallic, bitter taste in the background, but when I use lower temperature water (maybe around 185-190?), there was no bitterness and the sweetness really shone through. I’m sad to see this one go, but I think I have enough other oolongs to put me at ease for now!

Starts off smoky-sweet and quite smooth. Mineral notes like deep limestone spring water are strongest, next come the toasted woody acidity. Leafy greens like kale add some slightly bitter notes one would expect.

As you progress through infusions, sweet floral notes begin to appear and become more pronounced, sometimes a dash of cinnamon and honey, bitter notes fade into the distant background. Comes a bit earlier if you start with a rinse, which makes a more well rounded start, but I kinda enjoyed the more distinct phases/evolution.

A fun journey with a few unexpected twists and turns, and was a fun brew to show my Mom (who I am introducing to quality teas slowly) how flavor profiles can change dramatically as you resteep.

I really wanted to like this tea. First this I noticed was that it had a solid foundation with a little bit of Iron Goddess character on the nose. 3 minutes in the yixing pot brewed a very pale creamy liquor. First brew was weak. Not much flavor at all. I resteeped it, and the second brew yields nothing. I experimented with different amounts of tea, different temps, and different times. Nothing could fix it. And that’s the biggest problem, a quality TiKuanYin shouldn’t take this much effort. One look at the steeped leaves and I could see part of the problem. They look terrible. Broken up and really torn up on the edges. They have no tensile strength and seemed to come apart just from picking them up. No nose on the steeped leaves, lack of flavor, no complexity and unappealing leaves make my :/ grade the only option I had.