Premium Anxi "Huang Jin Gui" Oolong Tea of Fujian

This review is for the spring 2018 harvest. I bought this tea as a possible alternative to Yunnan Sourcing’s premium Tie Guan Yin. (I also bought their fancy TGY, which is a noticeable step down in quality.) I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Dry, the tea smells like lilacs, orchids, cookies, and grass. The first steep has notes of grass, orchids, lilacs, other flowers, cream, cookies, and coriander. The taste is pleasant, but is grassier than regular TGY. The next three steeps have citrus and herbaceous notes, though again, the grass predominates. The profile is similar throughout the next few steeps until it fades into grass and veggies around the ninth infusion.

If I use a lot of leaf, this tea comes close to the premium Tie Guan Yin, but ultimately, it’s not as interesting or satisfying. I guess you really do get what you pay for, at least in this instance.

I bought this tea for a friend looking for some good green oolongs for a fair price and kept some for myself. I feel like the tea shines in its aroma with strong and fairly complex fragrance. The taste has a strong umami and is very grassy. I find it to be much easier to (drink and) enjoy than most Tie Guan Yin. The sourness in the back of the mouth is there in long steeps, but much less so.

The smell of the dry leaves is milky, sweet and green with some mild notes of cookies and sauteed vegetables. In a preheated gaiwan, it smells of cut grass and vegetable soup, while from the wet leaves I get aromas of roasted chicken, fresh herbs and celery. As I mentioned the taste is predominately grassy, but has quite a bit going on in the background too. It has a brothy flavour and a nice nutty finish. Aftertaste is slightly drying and warming in the throat. There’s notes of sweet grass and celery, but over time it becomes a bit more floral. The mouthfeel is silky and smooth, but not very remarkable.

I tried this (very economical) tea because my daily Tie Guan Yin routine was starting to eat holes into my collge student-budget.
It comes in tightly rolled balls and the smell of the dry leaf is very reminiscent of good Tie Guan Yin. It takes about 2 infusions to open up and fully develop flavour. Although it lacks the complexity and freshness of high-quality Tie Guan Yin, it’s very well-rounded tea with a long aftertaste and quite some cha qi.
I started drinking it daily. If you like rather green Oolongs and if you’re in need of an affordable daily drinker, this is a very fitting choice.