Traditional Tieguanyin

First of all, let me say this – I haven’t actually had a straight oolong in AGES. I make them all the time for my boyfriend (his favorite type of tea) but I haven’t had one in a longgg time. Come to think of it, I haven’t had a gongfu session in a while either! I got all caught up in my flavored teas that my poor straight greens and oolongs and gaiwan have been left to the back of the cupboard :( well, time to remedy that!

This came to me as a free sample from Verdant, thank you! I The dry leaves smelled fresh and green, like buttery greens, as do most oolongs to me. This one in particular reminds me of fall.

I did a quick rinse, then steeped for about 5-6 seconds before pouring into my double wall glass cups. The aroma is delicate and mildly sweet, at first I thought it was cinnamon, but I think it’s the incense coming out. Haha, I just looked at the description and cinnamon is listed, happy I could pick that out!

As for the taste, mmm very nice. At first I honestly couldn’t taste very much lol, my poor tastebuds are used to POW flavored tea POW sweet POW chocolate as of late, but now that it is cooling I am tasting a beautifully refined, delicate oolong. The first steep doesn’t have as much mineral quality as a few other oolongs, or that really strong green oolong flavor, but it’s only the first steeping. It’s mildly buttery and floral, with a trickle of spices somewhere in there too. Not much kettle corn yet, but I imagine it will come. I like it! Hopefully I don’t get too waterlogged tonight having a few more cups of this :) thanks again Verdant for another solid sample tea!

ETA – Yes, there is the kettle corn in later steepings and also the smell! I cannot get over how much a tea can change in flavors throughout multiple steepings :)

I got this tea as a free sample in my Black Friday order from Verdant. I am doubly pleased with this because I believe that my appreciation for traditional tieguanyins is currently on an upswing, and also because it is the base to Master Zhang’s Genmaicha, which I still haven’t tried, but it would be nice to try the base first. And now I get the opportunity! I am also using this tea to christen my new wide bird gaiwan, also acquired on Black Friday. At 5oz, this gaiwan is slightly smaller than my ru kiln teapot (6oz), but larger than my other two gaiwans (3oz), so it sits nicely in my collection. At first I thought I would have difficulty pouring the new gaiwan because it is much wider than my others, but I figured it out pretty quickly and it’s almost easier because I think the lips have a larger flare, keeping my fingers a bit cooler. The only problem is that my strainer that goes over my cha hai (pitcher) is not quite big enough to hold all the liquid when straining (the teapot pours slower), so I get a bit of overflow.

Yup, my love of traditional tieguanyins is definitely growing. I am quite enjoying this tea. I don’t think I am at the point of restocking one but I could see it happening in the future. This one has the light sweetness and breadiness that I have come to really enjoy. I usually say challa, but I could see cinnamon buns (perhaps without the icing? haha). I prefer the first 4-5 steeps… instead of getting more bready, for me this gets more vegetal as the steeps progress, which is less interesting to me. Still this was a fun one to have today, and I look forward to trying its blend as well.

Tieguanyin’s remind me more of spring than green teas do. With their golden liquor & light florals, they are like springtime in a cup. This one is no exception, but it also has a sweet buttery quality & a rich corn-like aroma.
5G + 4oz Gaiwan X 3rounds of 3 sec, 3 rounds of 6 sec, 3 rounds of 12 sec

I love how each of us can have our own tea esthetics, & my current setup for tieguantin includes 3 of these cups & the matching Gaiwan.
http://verdanttea.com/teas/jingdezhen-red-lotus-tea-cup/
I steep the tea in rounds of 3 sets, pouring a little of each steep into one of the 3 cups, & the remainder into a pitcher. Then I drink from each cup (they are tiny, like 1 nice sip each), so that I can taste how the tea changes without having to drink an entire cup. Once I’ve enjoyed all three, I go sit somewhere with the pitcher & sip their combined remainders. Then I come back for the next round. I didn’t used to do it this way, but I really enjoy this process.

So this tea is recommended for 18 steeps. I have to admit, I got bored after 6, lol

Thank you so much Verdant for including this sample in my Black Friday order!

This is an excellent Tieguanyin. It is so buttery, like the butter that drips off of freshly boiled corn on the cob, with some vegetal and fruity notes. I am also getting a slight nuttiness as well as a slightly sweet note.

I used 2 tsp of leaf and did a quick rinse first.

I only had time for 2 resteeps at 1 and 1.5 minutes. I would have steeped it all day but I went to visit my friend and her new baby. No worries, I will probably order this with my $10 voucher from my Black Friday order.

That got me thinking about my order so I went on the website to scope out the teas I want to order. OH NO……Laoshan Black is out of order! I need more of that beauty of a tea :(

Of course this is a fantastic TGY! Thanks for sharing some with me BrewTEAlly Sweet :)

1/25/14 Tea with dasHusband on a snowy day. 5g in 6oz yixing. Gongfu brewing. I’m pausing after the sixth steep to note this. I may do some more infusions or not – I just want lunch now instead of more tea at the moment. The leaves could definitely support it – still very crisp bodied and not fully unfurled. I’m fighting with the pot a bit on that count – it is a 6oz, but it’s tall and pours slowly, so I think in the future I may use less tea in it and a scanter pour of water.

Very nice progression, but drinking tea with dH is a little distracting, so I haven’t got good tasting notes today. I was really struck by the sweetness of the first infusions. Also really interesting was noting how the boiledness of the water affected the taste — we noticed a flatness creeping into the 5th infusion, and I added fresh cold water to the pot for the next boil, and the 6th infusion was much perkier. Having my little electric boiler at the table with us is awesome for this brewing style.

I have to say this is pretty different from most other TGY’s that I’ve had. I tried a lot of different ones while I was in China and this one still stands out. Rather than the usual floral taste I associate with most oolongs this particular one had a bit of grassiness/seaweed taste that I wasn’t quite expecting. It goes down incredibly smooth and has just the right amount of dryness. The aftertaste is quite sweet and I found that this is where the floral taste I associate with greener oolongs really came through. I would definitely recommend this as an experience to see how TGY’s can vary from vendor to vendor. Really good!

Well, another Verdant Tieguanyin is a complete hit with me… (: I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews for this one.

(First steep, 1 minute)
This one was delightfully sweet with a kettle corn flavor. There’s a slight mineral taste. Very savory at the end; coats my mouth. Rich, full texture. Savory buttery sweetness. Mmmm. (The kettle corn reminds me of Mandala’s Alishan Oolong. The main differences I’m noticing here is that the Alishan is lighter, greener, and more floral, while this Tieguanyin is fuller and more savory.)

(Second steep, 1 minute 10 seconds)
A little less sweet, with a “greener” taste underscored with mineral. It’s lighter than the first steep; immediately after noticing this it takes a turn back to lingering savory- and nutty-ness. Then after THAT, the mineral taste returns. Like clean, refreshing spring water with a touch of sweetness. That was unexpected. I’m eager to see what happens next…

(Third steep, 1 minute 25 seconds)
Even more mineral. I begin to pick out pervading notes of cinnamon and roastiness. There’s a juicy, citrus-like undertone that wasn’t there before.

(Fourth steep, 1 minute 40 seconds)
The sweetness diminishes even more. It seems that the hints of cinnamon I was getting are now gone. (Aww.) There’s lingering, tart, fruity juiciness in the aftertaste.

(Fifth steep, 2 minutes)
Similar to the fourth steep. There’s VERY faint traces of sweet cinnamon and almond in the aftertaste, but overall it’s predominated by tartness and minerals.

High quality oolong. So complex and exciting. I love oolongs.
In conclusion: why haven’t you tried this yet?

I have tried three different Tieguanyin teas today and this one is a little less floral but has a touch of a creamy roast so it doesn’t quite get roasty and keeps that floral edge. Very interesting.
The notes on the Verdant page say kettle corn which I can taste a less sweet kettle corn in there. Also notes of incense, berry, cinnamon, almond, and potato. Potato is there as is a cinnamon astringency but not flavor. This is definitely a menagerie of flavors!!!
Thanks to Terri Harplady for this sample because I am learning so much through tasting!!

A very sad sipdown today. I’ve been exploring a lot of oolongs, and this is one of my favorites so far. I keep telling myself that I need to reorder from Verdant, but after my trip to New York and non-tea Black Friday shopping, my wallet is feeling the blow. On the other hand, I did just get paid for TA-ing…