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“Drank this on-campus, away from computers, but I carry a little notebook exactly for this reason. The teabag had a sort of dusty, maybe… fishy? Smell, with that greenoolongblack smell. Wet, it...” Read full tasting note
Ti-Kuan-yin Tea is a famous member of the Oolong Tea family. Its unique method of processing gives it an exceptionally rich flavor and aroma, a handsome golden liqor and a pleasing after taste.
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Drank this on-campus, away from computers, but I carry a little notebook exactly for this reason.
The teabag had a sort of dusty, maybe… fishy? Smell, with that greenoolongblack smell. Wet, it smelt… spinagy green. As did the tea, a bit. In an ‘oversteeped green’ way, maybe. Steeped to a dark greybrown with a green layer over top. Smells fairly vegetably, green, though darker.
I almost didn’t want to drink it because it DID smell a bit… off on top of the very strong green smell. Took a sip when it was still quite hot and got a very green taste. I returned to work, and after a minute or so got this HORRIBLE gas after taste. What.
Let it cool, and tasted it again—this weird vegetable taste. Just sort of off. But also oolong in that it reminds me a bit of the oolong I got from Murchie’s. Just stronger. Gas aftertaste again. Disgusting. I don’t know if it’s the water I used (free water on-campus put in a mug then microwaved until it started boiling). Around this point I didn’t want to finish it.
Continued to sip it though, and the gas aftertaste lessened, and it reminded me more of the magnolia oolong. Just stronger, and the tea was darker. I steeped at the recommended three minutes on the package, but I think this would need a shorter steep time than that.
The strength and the weird aftertaste was enough to make me toss the cup (or rather, go outside and dump), and I did use more water from the campus (boiled in the microwave) to make other teas, and there was no gas aftertaste, so maybe it WAS the tea. It was cheap though (1.20). But I’ll try different steep times in the future or something. Yick until then, though.
The few Ti Kwan Yins I’ve tried were sort of characterized by a sort of baked, spinachy-bready flavour – this just sounds icky!
There was definitely a spinachyness in there, but no bread/baked taste that I could tell. Maybe it was just cheaply processed (/located near an oil refinery?). Who knows. All I know is, it cost a buck, and I’ve still got nineteen teabags left.
Garden compost, maybe? I suppose the saying that you get what you pay for might be true in this case. Still I’ve found a few gems in the foreign food sections of grocery stores. I got a 225g tin of an excellent jasmine green for only $4.
Lucky! I just wandered into my local asian market and was faced with a WALL of teas, most of which I couldn’t understand because they were only marked in characters.
There were a few with a bit of English, or the names written out in the Roman alphabet (like this one), or ones that were kind enough to show a picture of the tea on the front (a SEVERAL-pound bag of genmaicha, for example, which I wasn’t about to buy). I decided to go with something cheap(er) that I wouldn’t feel horrible about if I didn’t like it (although I suppose I could have always traded it).
Ahwell, I’ll probably fool around with it a few times (maybe microwaved water just brings out crazy flavours in it?).
I’d advise not using boiling water since this type is one of the greener oolongs. Maybe start somewhere around 80-85ºC.
I should know by now not to listen to package brewing instructions. I’ll try that temperature next time.