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TKY

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 15:33
by devites
Where can I get the sweetest and floral tasting Tieguanyin?

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 16:32
by betta
I haven't bought anything from teaspring, but their stuffs seem superb to other members here. Adagio has also TKY with high rating.

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 18:45
by edkrueger
For online vender I would suggest Seven Cups Tea. Their Silk Oolong is the best? [at least one of the best] I have have tried. All of my other TKYs have come from local shops.

I would say adagio's TKY is one my least favorite adagio teas. Adagio Pouchong has the profile you say and is a very good oolong, but not a TKY.

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 19:34
by Salsero
edkrueger wrote: I would say adagio's TKY is one my least favorite adagio teas. Adagio Pouchong has the profile you say and is a very good oolong, but not a TKY.
I have to agree about Adagio's TGY. It is a nice tea, but among the darker more caramel-sweet tasting TGYs and not so much of the floral and light style. I suppose it's a little more oxidized than some or maybe it's a bit of roasting that gives it that darker more meaty taste.

I have never tried anything from Seven Cups, though I have heard them praised often. Maybe it's time for me to try them!

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 20:57
by silverneedles
flowery?

i think that would be got from gao-shan "high mountain" oolongs (green ... = you get some green astringency at times)

havent had any roasted tgy/oolongs that have a clear floweryness without some roasted or malty flavor...

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 21:49
by Space Samurai
Just offering my two cents, take it for what its worth.

From what I understand, TGY was traditinally a heavy roasted tea, although that's harder to find now. There's a lot of medium roasted and green TGY's. If you are looking for sweet and floral, I'd look into other rolled oolong, like the gao shan someone else mentioned, or li shan, tung ting (dong ding), or even some of the milk oolongs for a heavy, sweet taste.

Posted: Aug 2nd, '08, 23:43
by chrl42
Space Samurai wrote:From what I understand, TGY was traditinally a heavy roasted tea, although that's harder to find now. There's a lot of medium roasted and green TGY's. If you are looking for sweet and floral, I'd look into other rolled oolong, like the gao shan someone else mentioned, or li shan, tung ting (dong ding), or even some of the milk oolongs for a heavy, sweet taste.
You are talking about Mu Zha Tie Guan Yin from Taiwan, which is said to be the only TGY that perpetuate the traditional method nowadays..:)

Posted: Aug 3rd, '08, 01:38
by Space Samurai
I've found others.

Re: TKY

Posted: Aug 3rd, '08, 10:15
by chrl42
devites wrote:Where can I get the sweetest and floral tasting Tieguanyin?
I recommend you to choose Qing Xiang (so-called green TGY) as apposed to Nong Xiang (high roasted) Tie Guan Yin.

Or Ji Hua (flower-scented) Oolong from Taiwan..

Posted: Aug 4th, '08, 00:57
by devites
Thanks too all I am going to try some Gao Shan. I love Li Shan and Dong Ding. I was not aware of the traditional nature of TGY I just thought they were supposed too taste light and floral like Yunnan Sourcings.

Posted: Aug 11th, '08, 01:36
by wyardley
devites wrote:Thanks too all I am going to try some Gao Shan. I love Li Shan and Dong Ding. I was not aware of the traditional nature of TGY I just thought they were supposed too taste light and floral like Yunnan Sourcings.
Well these days, the style is definitely towards the light style. To me, most of them taste more what I'd describe as vegetal than what I think of as floral, but I guess the bouquet is what most people are talking about when they say these teas are floral. (I will also say that while I've gotten some good teas from Scott, the two TGYs I tried from him were not at all to my taste, and didn't have great durability either).

I don't know if I've just gotten pickier, but I've heard other people say that it's getting harder and harder to find good TGY (either nóngxiāng or quīngxiāng). I think that may just because it's such a popular tea on the mainland right now, and so the genuine stuff is in high demand, and there's a lot of counterfeit (i.e., different cultivar and / or not grown in Anxi) product around.

Gāo Shān (高山) just means "high mountain"; Lí Shān is a specific mountain; a rolled high mountain oolong from Lí Shān (梨山; "pear mountain") would be one example of a gāo shān oolong. (By the way, A Lǐ Shān (阿里山) is a totally different place).

And by the way, while the style for high mountain oolongs is mostly for the light and floral / vegetal stuff these days, these teas can certainly be made with a higher degree of roasting and / or oxidation, and the same is definitely true for dòng dǐng or bāo zhǒng. I think that certain teas were made with higher degrees of roasting and / or oxidation in the past, because they had to travel for longer periods of time, refrigeration wasn't as advanced, etc. etc.. Personally, I usually prefer the taste of the more roasted stuff, though the really high fire stuff sometimes needs a little age on it before it loses some of the charcoal-y taste.

Posted: Aug 11th, '08, 01:53
by Salsero
wyardley wrote: Well these days, the style ... needs a little age on it before it loses some of the charcoal-y taste.
Geez, that's not a post, that's a chapter in the book of tea. Thanks, Will. Again!

Posted: Sep 4th, '08, 14:50
by Bubba_tea
I was just reading through Will post there - and is there a generality as to the effect of oxidation and of roasting on tea? Ie, does oxidation make a tea taste more XXX and roasting make it taste more XXX? Can you just generalize oxidation on the spectrum of green to black (hong)?

Posted: Sep 4th, '08, 15:11
by wyardley
Bubba_tea wrote:I was just reading through Will post there - and is there a generality as to the effect of oxidation and of roasting on tea? Ie, does oxidation make a tea taste more XXX and roasting make it taste more XXX? Can you just generalize oxidation on the spectrum of green to black (hong)?
To me, oxidation gives a tea more fruity notes, and roasting (at least higher fire roasting) gives it more chocolate type tastes and caramel-y notes. But I'm sure others have said it better. I think Guang had a couple articles about it on his web log at some point. Trying different types is the best way to experience the difference.

I suggested a few TGYs that might be worth trying in the comments section of this post (this is not my site; I just made a couple of comments):
http://anotherteablog.blogspot.com/2008 ... n-yin.html