Spring Tie Guan Yin from the legendary birthplace of this famed tea - Xiping village. Balances creams and sponge cakes with fresh young coconut, apple and honeysuckle.
Finding a Tie Guan Yin each year is always fascinating because, while they have a distinctive character, they vary quite considerably - from creamy and sweet to bright, zingy and fresh
I am always looking for a variety of key characteristics when selecting Qing Xiang (modern style) Tie Guan Yin.
First, of course, we need a tea brimming with bright florals and fresh spring aromatics, which are instantly enlivening. Honeysuckle and pomelo blossom provide sweetness and zestiness.
But we need tea, which also has a rich character in the mouth, from body to taste, and finally to the all-important Yin Yun.
Body needs to have some depth and texture (often lacking in Tie Guan YIn). This batch is a medium-bodied tea with a hydrating puckering.
The taste needs to have balance. Too many Spring Tie Guan Yin's are one-sided - green and vegetal. This one has the bracing freshness of sea air, the fruitiness of green apple and guava, and the velvety roundness of coconut cream.
There is also a noticeable sponge cake, warm sweetness which I very much associate with Xiping village and probably comes from their unique (more traditional) way of processing the tea to oxidise a little longer while maintaining fresh florality.
And last, but most importantly, this tea has that gorgeous Yin Yun twang which is the greatest giift of Tie Guan Yin. This is a returning taste of guava and natural yoghurt that lasts long after your sip.
Brewing
To get the best out if this tea I recommend using the Chaozhou crushed leaves method which will provide the richest tea experience. Crush about 15% of the dry leaves that you ware using and combine with the whole leaves in the pot or gaiwan and then brew with short infusions.
The crushed leaves will add intant body and aftertaste to the first few infusions and the short steeps will preserve the optimum aromatics.
You can, of course, brew as usual but I find this technique adds that extra shine to your tea experience.
Origin
This is an ancient tea whose first claim to fame was that it was rumoured to be loved by Emperor Qian Long (18th Century). There are a couple of origin stories for this tea. One is that a farmer passed a rundown temple of Guanyin (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) and took it upon himself to tidy the temple. As a reward, was given a vision in his dream by Guanyin which led him to find a tea plant growing in a cave behind the temple.
The other story involves a scholar who discovered the tea plant by Guanyin rock and presented the resulting tea to Emperor Qian Long who declared that it has the weight of iron and the appearance of Guan Yin.
Area
The historic origin of Tie Guan Yin is Anxi county in Fujian which is split into Inner and Outer mountain villages. Much of the Tie Guan Yin on the market is not actually from Anxi but from nearby Zhang Zhou with huge tea plantations. This is not surprising the massive demand for this tea but Anxi tea is generally higher quality.
Variety
Tie Guan Yin is the name of the preferred variety of tea plant used in most Iron Goddess although there are others which are used to make this type of tea (Ben Shan, Mao Xie, Huang Dan and others).
Processing
Tie Guan Yin follows a fairly standard picking and processing for Oolongs (pluck, wither, cool, shake, oxidise, roll, dry, refine and roast) but there are a couple of main different styles of Iron Goddess.
Traditional Tie Guan Yin (Chuan Tong) is oxidised more and at room temperature, whereas the more modern light Tie Guan Yin (Qing Xiang) borrows the more Taiwanese approach of cold room withering and lower oxidation.
This is why modern Tie Guan Yin tends to have a more flowery and rich aroma compared with the thicker texture of traditional tea.
There are many more intricate definitions of the different types of Tie Guan Yin so watch this video to learn more!
