Ti Kuan Yin

I’ve had bad experiences with other teas before but if you are looking to get a decent complex, delicate, refreshing flavored inexpensive ti kuan yin tea try the prince of peace brand. because here is my overall experience:

Prince of Peace’s Premium Ti Kuan Yin Tea is actually good. However it has a somewhat medium to mild floral smell similar to Jasmine but the taste is actually pretty good it’s a semi fruity undertones with a mixture of floral herbal taste and a bit of umami mineral like taste.

And the liqour brews to a yellow gold color. It tastes good (sweeten and iced). However you can brew a cup of this hot and sweeten with Honey and it would be a delicious delicate fruity undertone tea.

Yet it claims to be an Ooolong just a “lighter oxidized version” oolong. To be honest it’s more of a Green Tea with fruity and floral undertones. I am exploring the different steep times and temperatures. I’ve noticed instead of brewing it for the typical 5 minutes that you would with an oolong.

I’ve brewed it for 4 minutes and unlocked a slightly different flavor undertone. And strangely it has a slight umami taste to it which I would identify as a mineral like. So basically umamish mineral fruity flavor. I am trying to figure out the fruity undertones.

But it’s hard for me to pinpoint what type of fruit it taste like due to my lack of eating enough variety of fruit lately. People claim an apricot like flavor I cannot say it isn’t either. It’s been awhile since I’ve had apricot flavored goods like candy.

I guess you can say there is hints of an almost apricot like flavor. I wouldn’t say it’s heavy in this tea just a nice subtle almost apricot like flavor. It’s just hard to say the flavors of this tea is monotonous it’s more complex and depending on steep time, temp of water and other factors that come into play while brewing.

The flavor is a mixture of delicate and complex with some umami (l-theanine content). However this pre-packaged tea bags are 1.8 Grams per bag.

I used 2 tea bags (3.6 grams of tea leaves) in 6 ounces of under boiled water. I brewed it for 4 minutes (I’ve experimented with 3 minutes and 5 minutes. I feel like 4 minutes does it more justice due to complex flavors) I also used 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar to sweeten it. I used 2 large ice cubes to cool it down to make it slightly chilled.

I did my best to “clean my palate” and even ate a little bit as I drunk this tea. I feel like it’s refreshing, easy on stomach, great tasting, however the aroma is more on the floral side instead of fruity. But you can sort of smell hints of a sweetness hidden under the layer of floral aroma.

I almost thought the tea had jasmine mixed in but there is none. I am honestly not a fan of jasmine green tea but this Ti Kuan Yin Tea is very good. But mind you the floral aroma might have you cringe as you take your first sip and you realize it’s not too bad.

I cannot say the flavor profile doesn’t contain a floral like flavor it does but it’s not bad as you would think like Jasmine Green Tea. It doesn’t taste like soap. Maybe I just picked up a good batch of Ti Kuan Yin Tea bagged? The tea contained a tiny printed note with a name both in english and chinese of somebody who inspected the tea.

Since it is a Product of China. And it is a commericial brand located in CA. Prince of Peace.

So overall and tl;dr footnotes: “Ti Kuan Yin” pre-bagged tea from Prince of Peace (at least the current batch I’ve purchased).

The overall review is: Medium grade Floral (Jasmine-Like) aroma hints of fruity sweeteness in aroma.

Flavor profile: Light refreshing complex flavor profile that doesn’t dry out your tongue. With a fruity umami mineral semi floral flavor profile. Possibly apricotish undertones. I do detect a floral taste but not overwhelming. Very light floral taste. The tea taste better than it smells if that makes sense? (Ps: I am not a fan of JASMINE Green Teas).

Liqour color: A bright golden color (not urine color).

Overall: I enjoy this tea. I’ve not really bought the Prince of Peace brand before. But it seems if they’ve brought forth a decent variety of “light” oolong and it does have a decent delicate yet complex taste. I might try other varieties released by them. I was shopping and looking for loose leaf decided to pick up a box of this because I seen they had “Ti Kuan Yin” I was like wow I’ve heard about that suppose to be a fruity oolong that’s popular in China. So yeah I actually enjoy this tea. I don’t care for the aroma to be honest I am not a huge fan of floral aromas in tea products. I’ve had a bad experience drinking and trying Jasmine Green Tea never again. I was almost kicking myself when I brewed this “light” oolong due to the fact it reminded me of the Jasmine aroma but surprisingly it doesn’t taste like an overpowered jasmine green tea and taste very interesting, light, refreshing and complex. So yeah I guess it’s almost like some sort of fancy expensive-like tea.