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Cheryl drank Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” Oolong Tea by Teavivre

136 tasting notes

Revisiting this today, so that I can compare it with the honey version. Many thanks to Angel for the free sample, which has already sparked a purchase of 100g in early April : )

First steep: 2 little-bit-heaping tsps., with honey for 2 minutes at boiling. The brewed leaves smelled very vegetal, like boiled peas. The first sip is very flavorful and strong, not totally vegetal like many greens would be, but similar. Have tried this before sans honey, and it is not sweet on it’s own, so the honey plays nicely in the brew. Floral undertones, yes, but can’t distinquish which. As it cools, it becomes more vegetal. Fell in love with this tea with first sip.

Second steep: My notes say that it was a bit weaker at 2-1/2 min, so upped it to 3 this time. The “wow” factor goes to the leaves after the 2nd steep (lots of full size leaves, mostly opened up now). What started out as a small pile of hard pellets at bottom, now takes up half my 16 oz. IngenuiTEA. First sip: The 3 minute steep time helped, as this is just as strong as the first steep (in flavor). Second steep seems less vegetal, a little more floral, but I can’t detect much of a difference between the 2 steeps. Love this tea : )

This is the only Tie Guan Yin that I have tested/tasted, but would recommend. Teavivre’s customer service and selections are outstanding.

Preparation

Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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TeaBrat
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How do like the IngenuiTEA?

Cheryl
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I love mine. Would recommend. My son put mine through his dishwasher last weekend (no dw here) and it now looks brand new again. Bought 32 oz. one to cold brew (still need to dedicate effort to that, before it gets too hot here).

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TeaBrat
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How do like the IngenuiTEA?

Cheryl
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Bio

Originally started testing teas, to replace a lifelong Coke (Coca-Cola) habit. Now I’m just amazed at all the choices. Still in beginner stage of tea education. Until I get really good at iced/cold tea, the Coke habit remains, but is down to a minimum.

My cupboard here on Steepster was ridiculous, containing each and every sample size that I have been accumulating. It now only contains non-sample size teas. Loose leaf outweighs the bagged teas, but it doesn’t look that way by the list (over 100 samples).

I started my tea journey testing flavored teas. My favorites are chai and mint flavored teas, along with Earl Grey. Also like chocolate, caramel, coconut, almond, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and some others. Most flavors are better with a nice black tea base. The mint ones seem best paired with greens. I’m branching out now to unflavored teas and it is way more overwhelming then the flavored category. Phew.

My (grown) son has decided that he wants to try to find tea that he likes too, so I’ll be passing along the ones I don’t care for to him (with instructions to then pass them on to his sister…evil plot? yes!). So I’ve removed my shopping list from Steepster and moved it to a spreadsheet (swaps are out for now). My shopping list had grown to 197! By going through each one, I was able to split that in half (since many were added in beginning, before I knew what I like/don’t like).

While not swapping, if there’s something in my cupboard that you’d like a sample of, please feel free to ask : )

Ratings (for now):
90s: Must have in personal rotation. Crave it.
80s: Makes me a happy tea drinker. Very good. Unsure of long term relationship.
70s: Like this. Will drink what I have (sample/tin/box), but unsure of whether I’d buy again.
60s: Probably a good tea for what it is. Just not to my personal liking.
50s and below: Do not like…at all. Either poor quality, yuck flavor or … (see tealog).

Old (and still current) obsessions: books, music and fragrances. Hopefully my tea collection stays much more “normal” then those. (too late)