As my love affair with tea has evolved I’ve found myself favoring oolongs more and more. However, for a while I was convinced that I just did not like Tie Guan Yin. I always found them “fake” tasting but I figured I should give it another shot. My sample arrived in a vacuum sealed pack which was nice because I could immediately tell that the leaves were very fresh. They were mostly whole and bright green in color. They had an intensely floral fragrance that was apparent as soon as I opened the package. I made this tea in a gaiwan using boiling water.
Brewing it in this way this selection was a marathon tea. I actually lost count of how many infusions I made. In fact, there was only a difference in taste between infusions. The taste was multi-layered, floral as expected but also a refreshing aftertaste. The closest I can come to describing it is to say that it tasted like buttery orchids. I now think the selections that I’ve tried before must have been relatively low quality. I might just add it to my regular rotation.