Anxi Monkey King (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Flowers, Grass, Violet, Butter, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Orchid, Pleasantly Sour, Citrus, Herbaceous, Jasmine, Mineral, Peach, Soap, Spinach, Stonefruit, Tangy, Vegetal, Coriander, Cream, Honeysuckle, Orange Zest, Parsley, Pear, Peas, Saffron, Vanilla, Fruity, Spices, Metallic, Sweet, Wood, Oak, Potato, Hot Hay, Creamy, Toasty, Grapes, Nuts
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by TeaVivre
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 6 g 8 oz / 231 ml

From Our Community

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54 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I am so thankful for Teavivre’s review contest, I have won a 5 tea sampler pack and that makes me really happy this morning! So to honour them, I have decided to drink one of my favourite of...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “Thanks so so much to Teavivre for continuing to be awesome, for providing me with this tea to sample, and for sending a completely surprise free (!!!) gaiwan with my last pack of samples. I am, of...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “I thoroughly enjoyed this well balanced oolong courtesy of a sample sent to me by the thoughtful Dexter3657. This green oolong has a really nice soft, sweet blend of floral notes...” Read full tasting note
  • “What? I am the first to review this! I am not very good with my descriptions, so please forgive me. Thank you so much Teavivre for including this free sample in my order! I used 3 tsp of leaf for...” Read full tasting note
    96

From Teavivre

Origin: Anxi (安溪), Fujian Province, Taiwan

Ingredients: Evenly and tightly rolled tea leaves

Taste: after brewed, tastes smooth and brisk with sweet aftertaste and long-lasting fragrance

Health Benefits: Monkey-King Tie Guanyin contains lots of vitamins. Vitamin A can prevent from scurvy; Vitamin B can help digestion; Vitamin C can enhance immunity; Vitamin E can resist aging. As the saying goes that rarity enhances value, you will benefit a lot from drinking a cup of it every day.

About Teavivre View company

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54 Tasting Notes

79
639 tasting notes

My package said “Anxi Monkey Picked” instead of “Anxi Monkey King.” But from my messages with Angel, I believe this particular sample is the latter. There’s a dark quality to the dry leaf aroma that intensified once it was brewed. I’m not sure about this one…it’s definitely not the Tie Guan Yin I’m used to.

I can definitely taste the darkness that I detect in the aroma. I’m afraid darkness isn’t a very good term because it has a negative connotation. What I’m tasting here isn’t necessarily negative. It is different. It doesn’t have the fresh, clean, vegetal, buttery flavor that I’ve grown accustomed to tasting in green oolongs. Instead, it has this heavier, oaky, almost roasted kind of thing going on, which I’m calling “darkness” for lack of a better term.

The aftertaste is cooling and refreshing in a unique way. This is certainly interesting. I can understand the appeal to many tea drinkers. I don’t quite think it’s a flavor I would regularly seek out though. I prefer the fresher, greener, creamier oolongs. Still, this is definitely a high quality tea. My rating is only a reflection of my personal enjoyment of it. Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for providing yet another free sample!

Flavors: Oak

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 45 sec
Ysaurella

this kind should be for me

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80
737 tasting notes

Teavivre generously sent me some more oolong samples to review. I love the selection that they carry of oolongs, they definitely have some of the best oolongs I’ve tried so far!
It’s always a privilege to try more!
Right when this tea began to steep, a strong, buttery aroma filled the air.
And the taste was nearly the same as the steeping smell. It’s super buttery, but also mixed with floral notes. So I really am enjoying this one!
Wish there were more floral in this one of course, but It’s still a lovely oolong. I will enjoy sipping down the rest of these samples! :D Thank you, Teavivre for giving me more opportunity to try more of your teas!! :D

Flavors: Butter, Floral

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3225 tasting notes

This is a sample very generously sent by Teavivre for review. I had to send a message and ask, because my sample as labeled Monkey Picked but the website only showed Monkey King. I was assured they were the same.

I tried this both Gongfu and western, and I think I preferred the western style. I made two steeps of it western, so I did get a lot of tea from these leaves.

This is one of the more impressive teas for growing exponentially when steeped. It looked like a very small amount of pellets that went in the Gongfu pot but after the first steep they were fairly bursting out of the top.

The tea has a very strong aroma, VERY strong, mainly of spinach and fresh leafy greens. That is another area where this one really impressed. You would think it might be a little biting when you experience that scent, but I found it to be one of the softer, greener Monkey Picked style teas I have tried. It is smooth, but if you want a brisker tea you can get it by increasing your steep time carefully just a wee bit, not too much or it will be bitter. Even with Gongfu style I used shorter steeps that the site called for.

I had my second western style pot earlier today. The resteep is a slightly paler yellow and is a little more floral than the first, definitely more subdued.

Thank you, Teavivre, for the opportunity to try it!

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83
3986 tasting notes

I’ve been slacking with my free oolong samples from TeaVivre! This is the one that I expect to not like out of the bunch, mostly because I expect it to be floral. The rather eclectically rolled pellets are a lovely range of medium to dark yellow/green. Surprisingly to me, they smell quite grassy and sweet, which is definitely preferred over flowery.

Once steeped, this tea has a very interesting aroma… Yes, there are definite vegetal notes along the lines of spinach, and also a sweet grassiness. There’s also another scent that reminds me of turnips or potatoes – it actually smells starchy. Wow, it actually tastes a lot like potatoes, too! This is definitely something I haven’t encountered before in a tea. There’s also a distinct and almost sharp grassy note, and I find it to be rather energizing. I can taste just a bit of floral at the end of the sip, but it’s a rather mild one and it mixes with a touch of peach flavor. Yum, thanks Angel!

Flavors: Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Peach, Potato, Vegetal

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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85
1113 tasting notes

Thanks Angel and TeaVivre for the sample!

This is an enjoyable green TGY oolong. SUPER vegetal and a little sweet. It has a lingering floral aftertaste that is pretty enchanting.

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81
19 tasting notes

Dried leaf smells wonderful. Very fragrant.
Rinsed/pause/15/30/45/60/90/120

The leaves smelt like a sweet grass when added to my warmed up gaiwan.
First steeping was sweet with a floral perfume grass flavor very present similar to the smell.

Between the second and third steeping there was a strong sugar cane smell.
With the second and third steeping i noticed a cream buttery aspect to each sip.
Long lasting taste.

After around 5-6 steeping’s I was fairly certain a tea drunk was setting in.
Very floaty, with a warm up feeling also associated with it.
The last couple steeps had a grass, hay, cream taste mixture going on.
Overall great sample.

Flavors: Butter, Cream, Floral, Hot Hay, Vegetal

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 15 sec 2 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML
boychik

Great review !

Marcus reed

This was one of my first loves as far as oolong went.
Easy to review when the sample was of fine quality.

boychik

Teavivre is a great company. Quality and customer service is awesome. Highly recommended!

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818 tasting notes

I think I ordered this as a sample in an order long ago and have since forgotten I had it. I decided to brew it gong fu style. Verdict: amazing buttery, creamy, vegetables!!! There is also a bit of a floral note, but it’s not too overpowering. Yum! I think I might just gong fu all my oolongs from now on. I love it!!

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92
268 tasting notes

I FINALLY finished my presentation for my meeting with my boss tomorrow. I only spent the last day and a half on it….le sigh. But, I recently found out that my boss uses my presentations as examples for how he wants people to put together their data, so I’m a bit pleased :)

Anyway, on to the first Teavivre oolong that I ordered. I ordered this, the iron goddess oolong, bailin gongfu, and the yun nan dian hong golden tips based on the recommendations that TheTeaFairy was kind enough to give me. Thanks for being my Teavivre guide! All her recommendations have been great.

The leaves of this oolong are a jade green and tightly rolled. They smell creamy with a hint of floral, qualities I love in an oolong! They brew up a very light green and produce a really nice, creamy oolong mouthfeel. The taste is also creamy, offset by bright florals that end in a sweet, clean finish. It also has a pleasingly mineral quality to it. This is a great green, floral oolong and was my favorite tea out of my Teavivre order!

Flavors: Creamy, Floral, Mineral, Sweet

TheTeaFairy

So happy you like it!!! We are oolong sisters, it’s also my favourite oolong from Teavivre!!

mj

We should have a virtual oolong party sometime! Thank you again for the recommendations! Your oolong taste is flawless :)

Lariel of Lórien

Yes, oolong chat party.

Cheri

I’d come play if we had an oolong party!

TheTeaFairy

Mj, that’s a great idea! When would you guys want to do that?

Cheri

Not this weekend because I’m busy, but let me know.

mj

I’ll be out of town for Labor Day weekend, and probably a lot of other people will be too. Maybe after Labor Day then? (Labor Day is September 1st, in case the Canadians among us don’t know that).

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86
1737 tasting notes

I brewed these dark green nuggets of Teavivre Anxi Monkey Picked Ma Liu Mie Oolong side-by-side next to the Iron Goddess TGY, using the same water temperature, number of grams, steep time, and volume of water. The nuggets look very similar. I managed to do a blind comparison, because I had poured my 7 gram packets into small clamp jars and affixed the labels to the bottom. Then I shuffled them until I forgot which one was which. After the test, I looked at the labels to see which was which…

The Anxi Monkey Picked oolong nuggets may be a bit smaller and darker, but they are very close in size to the Iron Goddess. The first notable difference emerged upon infusion. The liquor for this tea was quite a bit lighter and more green. I was afraid that I may have understeeped. Then when I tasted the two teas, I immediately found that the Iron Goddess had a more robust flavor. At first I thought that I preferred the Iron Goddess to the Monkey Picked, but then when I took another couple of sips, I changed my mind!

This tea ended up having a slightly richer texture, though I do think that the flavors are quite similar.

(7/29/14)

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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87
278 tasting notes

First, I’d like to apologize to TeaVivre. I was sent several lovely samples to review and I posted this review under the incorrect tea! So I am moving the review to the correct tea listing.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 3 and 10 minutes, ForLife brew in mug strainer

Dry Leaf Aroma: The leaves had only a very faintly floral scent.

Brewing Aroma: Oh, THERE you are! This smells gorgeous! There’s a very strong floral aroma, like jasmine, but not exactly jasmine.

Flavor: Smooth and floral. I steeped for 3 minutes and the flavor was nice, but not that strong. I put the brew cup back in, intending to try again after 2 min, but I got distracted and another 7 minutes had passed!

The flavor was definitely stronger now. The floral is in your face, but I personally like that, so I’m happy. There was a little astringency, and a bare hint of bitterness, but nothing crazy. I will undoubtedly buy more of this to keep at work for grandpa style brewing. It holds up to long steeps extremely well!!!

Thanks to Angel @ TeaVivre for the sample!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Cheri

That does sound good. I’ve never actually done grandpa style brewing.

SarsyPie

I like it for work because my water heating options are limited, but we have a water filter thing that puts out hot water at around 185 degrees.

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