Organic Charcoal-baked Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong

Most of you know my husband prefers to drink oolong, green, or white tea. He likes black but has always needed milk and sugar to enjoy it so he asks for tea that he likes plain to keep it simpler and healthier.

Then I showed him the article about black and puerh tea extracts having efficacy against corona type viruses in a lab setting, just because it was interesting. But he has been super cautious because he is essential personnel and helped oversee setting a quarantine facility for the military as well as a drive through Covid testing site and has to keep working. Two coworkers got sick and were tested but no results have come through. He had little contact with them and isn’t worried, but a nine day hospitalization with near fatal pneumonia years ago has left him cautious, so basically I make black and puerh tea constantly while he is home.

While I am glad he is drinking black tea sans additions now, a wonderful wonderful takeaway from this situation, I was getting the screaming Mimis for something OTHER THAN mild black. So for supper last night, I made this.

I have two sample packs of it, and I desperately hope they still sell this because it was amazing. We tried to order Chinese food just to support the little family at our local restaurant but they have closed for now to stay safer, so I made mushrooms, onions, and red bell peppers in a veggie and soy sauce stock with Asian noodles. Basically it was a veggie lomein. It was delish. I love mushrooms, though, so…

The baked flavor was there, but with food it seemed only mildly roasted. It might be different if it was paired with sweets or served alone. The floral aspect was somehow heightened and oh my goodness, it was silky smooth and easy to guzzle. The food wasn’t heavy but it was substantial in texture and flavor, and yet still the tea managed to shine through and take a starring role in the meal. Definitely a re-order.

This tea is a fairly light oolong with pale amber color and a sweet baked aroma. It has a sweetness and texture that reminds me of apple juice, a nice baked flavor, and floral notes. This is a very tasty tea with a nice complexity to it.

I am eternally surprised how Chinese tea growers come up with so many different variations of Tie Guan Yin. And they are all good! Teavivre calls this tea “slightly roasted” but I found the roast to be pretty strong.

The wet leaf aroma is very distinct, intense and immensely pleasing: a campfire in wet woods, moist grass, sea, mineral. And it is not only leaves: the tea itself is quite fragrant. The taste follows the smell: grass, smoke, minerals, some sourness, some sweetness, a touch of bitterness. It blends together very well. After the tea is gone a long smokey, mineral and spicy aftertaste lingers, and lingers, and lingers… Because the aroma and taste are so well-defined and fairly complex this tea is quite evocative and awakens a swarm of memories and associations.

I usually not big on roasted oolongs because the roast often overwhelms the complexity of the tea, but in this Tie Guan Yin it actually brings together all other elements and creates a distinct and entertaining experience.

This is a pleasant baked tie guan yin. It has a strong charcoal baked and floral aroma. Floral sweet notes, vegetal notes, mixed with the charcoal baked taste. Smoky, light astringency, and some minerality. No bitterness until the last infusion, but it was very faint. The sea sedge and vegetal notes were more pronounced at the later steeps, which I enjoyed.

Gaiwan, 7g, 212℉, 110ml, 5 steeps: rinse, 25s, 40s, 55s, 70s, 85s