Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: deep green, tightly rolled
Ingredients: oolong tea
Steep time: 30 seconds
Water Temperature: 205 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: deep gold
Teance is a tea shop in Berkeley, CA. Although I’ve never been there I have been a fan of what they do for a long time. Their co-owner, Winnie Wu, writes a Tumblr blog called Tea Adventures that I highly recommend checking out during tea sourcing season. Her honesty and insights into the tea world are truly valuable for an avid tea-head like me.
Let me start this review by saying that I have a love/hate relationship with Tie Guan Yin. It can be so wonderful, truly the prime example of a Chinese oolong. A lot of what floods the market these days is just the opposite though. Mass produced, low oxidation, low roast; I tend to call these nuclear green because that is what I think they look and taste like. I am relieved to report that this tea is the very antithesis of that. 60% oxidation with 10+ hours of tradition charcoal roasting? Count me in!
The first thing that struck me about this tea wasn’t the taste but the mouthfeel. It was thick, almost to the point of being syrupy, with no astringency. I couldn’t focus on that for long because my mouth was bursting with the notes of dark stone fruit that this tea is named for. It was positively juicy! Hints of orchid wove their way in as well, especially in the aftertaste.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience drinking this tea. It can take the heat but I liked the slight softness that came with Teance’s recommendation of 205 degrees. Once the leaves were steeped out I put them into a pitcher of water in the refrigerator in order to cold brew. The result was light (since I already had at least 10 infusions) but refreshing and very tasty. It still had those delicious peachy notes too.
I also received a sample of an intriguing black tea named Burnt Sugar Red. I’ll be sure to share that one on the blog too. Have you ever tried any of the teas offered by Teance? I’d love to see your recommendations in the comments!
Tieguanyin Dark Stonefruit sample provided for review by Teance.
I agree that it is very hard to find a good, traditional Anxi TGY so thank you very much for pointing to this one. Most now are so vegital it hurts! You included temperature and time in your notes but what is your leaf to water ratio? And are you certain the oxidation level is 60%? This seems high to me and the photos of the infused leaves suggest a lower level.
My standard for reviews is 6g to 125ml (unless the vendor recommends otherwise). Teance's website does state that it is a 60% oxidation level. I agree with you that the leaves do look a bit green, though.
Tieguanyin is certainly one of the primary riddles of the tea world, a gateway to both the mundane and the excellent, born of craft and sold on legends, it can be a transforming experience or one of questionable origin and the market is thick with all points in between. I was first introduced to the tea as a 3rd party purveyor and buyer for a local shop, where this tea became a benching standard for many who desired to sell to us and the desired cup by our audience was one of similar oxidation and roasting, where the stone fruit quality was distinct and the orchid note was an accent. 10 years later I would be lucky enough to gain access to a flight of Tieguanyin's ranging from direct sources Chinese and Taiwanese varietals, competition grades, carefully crafted and aged/multiple fired, and several oxidation levels…I shared this flight with local tea enthusiasts and the range of flavors blew their minds. It was the Chinese competition winners that I found they 'judged' the quality by the luminous green, lightly oxidized profiles that you alluded to as 'nuclear'. It was there that the orchid notes reigned supreme and the effect was a buttery cup whose floral character was like having the mouth filled with flowers, ripe with white orchid textures and vegetable aftertaste. While not my personal favorite cup, I appreciated finally what the deepest flavor of 'orchid' so often heralded was about and determined that cultures often place differing values on this association and its perhaps the western world whose love of stone fruit flesh find more comfort in the more oxidized and carefully roasted crafts.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Shawn!
Oolong tea is processed according to its own process, is fermented tea, oolong tea rich in minerals such as iron, calcium, enzymes … promote the digestion of food
Regular tea can supplement many vitamins necessary for the body.
Drinking tea is a good way to get the amino acids and proteins needed for the body. Tea is an important factor in the absorption of trace minerals needed by the body.
Tea not only make tea, but also smooth skin by tea.
Sold! Just placed my order, thank you for the referral. Im a Oolong teahead and enjoy higher oxidized tea. 'Nuclear tea', great definition and on point, haha.. As a small business tea owner I have access to lots of tea, however, I still find the best teas can be located at small tea businesses. Small tea shops tend to focus on hard to find and quality teas versus big companies tend to stick with trends. More traditional varieties and better quality in my opinion. If you call a big company and provide tea jargon they usually get lost in translation, But if i call a small tea shop then tend to be very knowledgable. Great pics of the tea, thank you..
Awesome! I couldn't agree more. Small shops, especially if they have a specific specialty, are definitely the way to go. Teance has been in business for a long time and they really know their stuff.
In addition to my order Tieguanyin 'Monkey Picked' Dark Roast. Now I can add another place to visit when i go down to the Bay area. Their online tea room looks amazing..
This AM brewed up the 'Tieguanyin dark Monkey picked' Oolong,OMG fantastic tea. It was brewed in my gaiwan at 195degrees but with short steep times 10-15 secs. Tomorrow I will brew your recommended times/degrees. Amazing taste and color, def enjoying this Spring 2017 tea.. Thank you