Tie Guan Yin
Tie Guan Yin
Tie Guan Yin
Fujian · China

Tie Guan Yin

Iron Goddess of Mercy

Complex floral and orchid character.

Regular price $24.00
Sale price $24.00 Regular price
Unit price

  • Estimated deliveryJul 02 - Jul 06

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About

This ball-rolled oolong is grown from its own cultivar and processed in a distinct style.

Tie Guan Yin, or Iron Goddess of Mercy, is named after Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. This premium oolong from Anxi County in Fujian Province, southeastern China, is one of the most famous teas in the world. Grown from its own dedicated cultivar, it is processed by techniques particular to this one tea.

In the modern Anxi style it is lightly oxidised and rolled into tight, jade-green pellets that unfurl slowly in the cup. The dry leaf already carries a scent of orchid; brewed, it opens into a bright, sweet liquor – intensely floral, with a hint of roasted chestnut, a creamy texture and a long, clean finish.

Tie Guan Yin rewards attention. It re-steeps many times, each infusion shifting a little, and is at its best brewed gong fu with a small pot, plenty of leaf, short repeated steeps – though it makes a fragrant, easy cup brewed the Western way too.

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Tie Guan Yin

Tie Guan Yin

Tasting

Leaf

Tightly rolled into dense, dark-green pellets, often with a short stem attached in the ball-rolled style of Anxi oolong. Glossy and jade-toned, heavy in the hand. The leaves unfurl slowly into large, whole pieces over successive steeps.

Aroma

Intensely floral orchid and lilac above a sweet, buttery base, with a faint roasted-chestnut note underneath. Fresh and green rather than roasted, in the modern Anxi style. Clean, sweet and lingering, with no grassiness.

Liquor

Pale gold with a green cast, bright and clear. Light to medium body, smooth and almost creamy, with very low astringency. Orchid and chestnut carry a sweet, buttery depth, finishing long and clean lingering aftertaste called "yun."

Profile
Tea Type Oolong
Processing Ball-Rolled
Caffeine Medium
Perfect For Afternoon
Milk Option Milk is not suitable for this tea.
Origin

Fujian

Elevation ▲ 300-1500m
Country China

Fujian sits on China's subtropical southeast coast, where a warm, humid climate and a mountainous, high-rainfall interior suit the tea plant well. Steep, mineral-rich hillsides are why the province grows such a range of styles and tea processing was mastered here long ago.

Fujian is home of white tea, grown mainly in the northern counties of Fuding and Zhenghe, where Silver Needle is made from unopened buds. As well as being home to two distinct schools of oolong: the heavily roasted rock oolongs (yancha) of the Wuyi Mountains in the north, and the greener, more floral Tie Guan Yin of Anxi in the south.

Fujian is also widely regarded as the birthplace of black tea – Lapsang Souchong, first made in the Wuyi area in the 1600s, was the original, and the model for the black teas later grown across India and Sri Lanka.