94

This is the tieguanyin that I brought back from Beijing. Again, I had a tasting of this one, and this is actually the middle-grade TGY that I tasted. I actually liked it better than the top grade! This is also the inaugural tea for my new Ru kiln tea set. No tea tray yet, so I’m not doing the whole ceremony of washing everything, etc, but I will get to chinatown to pick one up eventually. The woman at the shop packaged this tea into little “normal” sized gaiwan gong fu packets for me, so I wanted to brew this one gong fu style.

The leaves on this tea are tight little bright green balls, and even the quick rinse I did immediately released some amazing aromas, very floral and buttery. After a 10 second first steep a peak inside my tiny pot shows me that the leaves are already very well expanded. This is such a floral TGY, like fresh lilacs or maybe gardenias. It’s got a lovely, rich, thick buttery/creaminess to it, and oh my god so sweet! It is amazing.

Second steep, about 20 seconds, is a little more vegetal but also a little more buttery, I think. Still sweet and delicious. I’m not going to write about all the steeps because they are pretty consistant, it seems, and it’s mainly just growing in vegetal flavors. It’s a really, really nice oolong and I am so pleased with it. I bought more of this than I did the Tan Yang (it packs better!), so I am not quite so angry with the fact that I like it as much as I do.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C
Indigobloom

ohhh there is nothing worse than falling in love with a limited access tea! :/

Dinosara

For real!

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Comments

Indigobloom

ohhh there is nothing worse than falling in love with a limited access tea! :/

Dinosara

For real!

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Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

In my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: Mind-blowingly good, just right for my palate, and teas that just take me to a happy place.
89-86: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
85-80: Pretty tasty teas that I enjoy well enough, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
79-70: Teas that I would probably drink again, but only if there were no preferrable options.
69-50: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.
Unrated: Usually I feel unqualified to rate these teas because they are types of teas that I tend to not like in general. Sometimes user error or tea brewed under poor conditions.

Location

Ohio, US

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