Tie Guan Yin Master Grade

Tie Guan Yin Master Grade Oolong Tea from Yezi Tea is an Oolong from the famed tea growing region of the Nanhu Mountain Range. To brew this beauty I decided to go all out, sitting outside on a warm sunny day with my Yixing pot, my vintage Chinese tea bowl, and all my fancy Gong Fu tools. I don’t use my Yixing nearly as often as I would like to, something I plan on rectifying in the future. The aroma of this Tie Guan Yin is nothing short of heavenly, very floral and sweet. I mainly notice orchids and honeysuckles but for an extra treat I can pick out the aroma of scuppernongs. As an afterthought there is a tiny wisp of green, similar to spring time vegetation and an even more scant ghost of honey. This tea’s aroma very much so embodies ideal of Spring.

I was very fortunate to get multiple awesome steeps out of this tea, so I will start with the first soaking of the leaves. The aroma of the brewed leaves is slightly nutty with strong floral notes. There is also a tiny hint of a roasted aroma in the leaves. The liquid is mostly floral, primarily orchid, but there is also a slight hint of vegetal, like spinach. The taste is very smooth and mild! Intensely floral like honeysuckles or possibly lilacs. The tea tastes very clean and fresh, just like a tiny bit of spring time in my mouth. The aftertaste is one of orchids.

The second steep brings in more of a roasted aroma to leaves and a stronger floral aroma to the liquid. The taste of the tea brings in more of a green, vegetal tone. Somehow the tea seems cleaner, like it purifies the water. It reminds me of fresh spring water with a tiny taste of the moss growing near it. Having drank from a mountain spring (it was significantly colder than hot tea) the similarity is surprising.

The third steep brings in even more of a roasted chestnut aroma and it is very heady. The liquid has the aroma of orchids, but instead of being freshly opened these are orchids that have been sitting in the sun for hours and start to have that old flower sickly sweetness. The taste is intense! Best steep of the set, it manages to be intense but still mild (ah the magic of Oolongs) the flavor is mildly roasted chestnut at first and then it fills your mouth with intense orchid. The aftertaste is mineral-like, bringing in the mountain spring imagery from the previous steep.

The fourth and final steep, I notice that the leaves have lost most their aroma but what is left is sweet and evocative of honeysuckle. The taste is sweet and floral bringing out the honeysuckle notes that were in the aroma. There is also a slight mid taste of roasted chestnut and then lastly an aftertaste of mineral spring water. This tea was fascinating and very enjoyable, it was like I journeyed through early Spring with the first steep and traveled through to Midsummer. I recommend seeking this tea out if you want a very different experience with each steep.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/10/yezi-tea-tie-guan-yin-master-grade.html

This is one seriously floral oolong. It’s very light, very sweet, almost entirely devoid of savory notes. It’s got that unidentifiable jasmine-but-not-jasmine thing going on, floral-wise—I shared this sample with my mom, and she said the floral note (which I’ve gotten in lots of other green oolongs, although never quite to this extent) is honeysuckle, so there you go. Although I’m generally all for floral, I’m finding it a bit much here. I’m used to TGYs being more savory and having a bit more depth, and I do prefer them that way.

In a shocking break from my usual, I did NOT brew this one western style—I actually followed Yezi’s instructions. It’s nice to brew like this once in a (very long) while I suppose, but mostly I was reminded of why I do prefer western style. I just really like settling in with a large (or even mid-sized) cup of tea and relaxing; I don’t find all the measuring and timing and general activity enjoyable. Anyway, this time I did four steeps, and I can’t say I noticed a ton of difference from steep to steep. I feel bad for not loving this tea, but I just didn’t. I can tell the quality is high, though, and I can see someone with different oolong preferences really enjoying it. Thanks for the sample, Nicole_Martin!

These thick leathery leaves have a very clean and smooth taste to them. I’m picking up granny smith apple and clementine notes mixed with warm cream, quickly changing to a honeysuckle finish that lingers.

Light oolong that has a strong floral aroma. If you like floral oolongs, this is the tea for you. It has a strong floral taste to match its aroma. It is smooth and has the right amount of sweetness, but it is a little too floral for my taste.

Lovely stuff! Ridiculously thick leaves give off an incredible floral aroma; the dry leaves are nothing short of intoxicating.
The tea’s liquor is buttery are soft; light but compelling.
Highly recommended.

Thanks Yezi!

Oh my goodness. This tea!
I only steeped it for like 2 minutes and it’s crazy strong!
The steeping aroma smells faintly of butter, but not much else. So I wasn’t expecting it to have such a strong flavor.
I’m so glad I was wrong! The buttery notes take the edge off of the floral flavor which dominates this tea. It makes it a lot smoother, even though it’s not a real strong flavor in this.
I just love floral oolongs. They make me so happy! So happy to have gotten a sample of this one. Beautiful oolong. I thought I was gonna try a few of the samples I’ve gotten today, but I find myself hung up on this wonderful tea! ^^

I haven’t reviewed on Steepster in a bit, so I figured I’d write a new one.

This Master Grade Tie Guanyin has all the makings of a Tie Guanyin, the buttery vegetal quality, the foresty and floral notes typical of Taiwanese high mountain oolong. As Tie Guanyins go, this one registers on the softer and more mellow side of the scale. There’s a gentle (and I really mean gentle) honey sweetness to it and a really soft vegetal flavor, reminding me slightly of spinach and zucchini. It is definitely floral. I can see the ideas others have offered of orchid or honeysuckle, but they are not quite on the mark from what I’m getting. Anyway, it’s hard to attribute other flavors to a tea in any case, so those are probably close enough, maybe a bit of a jasmine-like quality is there too.

What’s odd to me about this tea is that it is the Master Grade variant Tie Guanyin that Yezi offers, and it has less prominent and memorable qualities to me than the High Grade Tie Guanyin, which is a step down in grade and pricing. I’ve drank both today, so I have them fresh in memory to compare. Where the High Grade had the unmistakable scent of holiday spices and hints of camphor, the Master Grade is more round and no flavor or scent sticks out to me distinctly. It does seem more buttery than the other.

If it comes to personal recommendation though, I actually prefer the High Grade to this one as I think the “spiced” quality and camphor notes are what make that one really wonderful to me.

My first tie guan yin! Very floral and perfumey. Loved it <3

Followed the steeping time on the website and started with 45 seconds and worked up. By the 3rd infusion, I thinking it would haven been better to add 15 or 20 seconds rather than 10, but now at least I know for next time :)

i enjoyed this tea.