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“Sip down I topped this off yesterday before heading to the Canton, Ohio “Italian Festival” for much of the afternoon/early evening. TGY was the first tea that brought me out of my soda daze. I...” Read full tasting note
Jade Tie Guan Yin (清香鐵觀音, Qīng Xiāng Tiě Guān Yīn, “Clear Fragrance Iron Guan Yin”) – One of the most famous oolong teas in China, Tiě Guān Yīn hails from the mountains of Anxi in Fujian. This tea is one of the most well-known and celebrated Chinese teas, and as such suffers from overproduction as tea companies try to capitalize on its renown. Grown from a robust cultivar of the same name known for its broad, deeply-serrated leaves, this tea was traditionally heavily oxidized and roasted with charcoal. More recently, the low-oxidation Qīng Xiāng 清香 (“Clear Fragrance”) version of this rolled oolong has eclipsed the traditional style in popularity. This is not only due to its remarkably abundant floral fragrance when lightly oxidized, but also the fact that the low-oxidation process lends itself well to machine-processing. During West China Tea Company’s first four years in business, we had a conspicuous gap in our inventory for not having this tea in stock. Try as we might, we had never located a version of this tea that we were happy with. After 5 determined days of searching through the tea markets of Anxi, we had tried dozens of Tiě Guān Yīn but nothing remotely drinkable. Discouraged and literally ill from trying so many chemical-laden teas, we went to the tiny hot spring town of Longmen, just south of Anxi county, to convalesce. Lo and behold, in a tiny hotel we were served the best low-oxidation Tiě Guān Yīn we had ever tried. When we asked the elderly innkeeper where she got it, she told us that she made it herself, in the hotel, with her husband. Sure enough, she showed us the tiny tea production operation they run out of their hotel – a whole wing of rooms dedicated to withering and drying, and tea-processing equipment in their first floor by the riverside. This emerald green rolled oolong has the rich perfume and balanced, satisfying mouthfeel that make Tiě Guān Yīn a classic.
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Sip down
I topped this off yesterday before heading to the Canton, Ohio “Italian Festival” for much of the afternoon/early evening. TGY was the first tea that brought me out of my soda daze. I realized that tea could taste of something more than the occasional bland Lipton or overly sweetened Arizona’s Arnold Palmer (which I admit, there are cravings for it once or twice each year).
This session was packed with florals and soothing, gentle tasting notes that I didn’t get too deep into. I wanted a moment to drink tea while I spent time reading Rumi’s Essential Poetry and journaling. I noted that it was a “refreshingly sweet and floral” tea, perfect for the warm day ahead. If I had more, I’d probably make it iced for future sessions. This is the perfect tea to cold brew or grandpa style in a thermos. It was refreshing and still reminds me that tea can be far better than non-tea drinkers give credit to the beverage.
