how to identify tie guan yin quality (Oolong tea )

[Oolong Tea]

The new Tie Guan Yin is produced by New technology ,
usually the quality couldn't be confirmed by appearance,
but green color is look beautiful

a good tie guan yin ,it must conform to conditions as follows

smell--lid aroma--: taste Tie Guan Yin with Gaiwan . Regarding fragrance sort and stability
(1) pure orchid fragrance (2) orchid france and brisk (very fresh) aroma

look--tea water color:must golden yellow or green ,dark yellow or red color is bad

taste--tea water :smooth ,not bitter,long taste,have good aroma stay in your mouth ,(can tsate 5 times above)

[chrl42]

Thanks so much for the information.

Although I wonder, shouldn't be seperated for Nong Xiang and Qing Xiang?

I meant the color.

I pretty much agree that good Qing Xiang TGY brewed to cobalt blue-ish with

lingering aroma..

[Oolong Tea]

oh sorry ,I have forget full aroma (Nong xiang )
full aroma is also made from flat Tie Guan Yin (usually used old or low grade tgy),we use flat tie guan yin bake 3 times above ,then it can be Nong Xiang ,,,Nong xiang tgy just have little market in China,

I think in usa ,not many luck people can taste good quality tgy .because many tea importer import very low grade tea ,then sell high price in USA

[Geekgirl]

I pretty much agree that good Qing Xiang TGY brewed to cobalt blue-ish with

lingering aroma..

!!!

[hop_goblin]

look--tea water color:must golden yellow or green ,dark yellow or red color is bad

If memory serves me correctly, there is an old style which roast oolong quite heavily. I have tried it and the color was some what reddish brown. I guess it would depend on what kind of TGY we are brewing.

[wyardley]

I pretty much agree that good Qing Xiang TGY brewed to cobalt blue-ish with lingering aroma..

!!!

I think a lot of Chinese people don't really differentiate between blue and green.... both can be called lǜ (绿). I know my girlfriend said her dad mixes them up sometimes. I don't know where the "cobalt" came from, though.

It may be true that most of the nongxiang TGY produced in the mainland is of a pretty low grade or is tea that is stale / couldn't sell, but I like drinking it, and I know that shops in HK and Taiwan still sell it. Also, I imagine some older folks in Fujian (and elsewhere) still like to drink the traditional stuff, so I'd hope that at least someone is doing more traditional production with a higher fire roasting, even if it's hard to get or produced in small quantities.

Whether or not you consider Taiwan grown TGY (grown with the same cultivar, but not grown in Anxi) to be proper TGY, they produce (I believe intentionally) a lot of traditional roast TGY there.

[MarshalN]

The proper word here is qing 青, not to be confused with "clear" which is qing 清. Qing is a colour that is best described as "blue-green", thus the cobalt comment...

[edkrueger]

Taiwanese traditional [dark] TKY: http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... cts_id=901

[Bubba_tea]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

[Oolong Tea]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

yes,you are right :清香 ，浓香，also have韵香，花香，微酸，

in fact ,traditional tgy have been made before 2000years in An'xi ,but in that time ,the tea are not worth money ,it is very cheap ,so after 2000years ,flat tieguanyin are popular ,then the price of tgy is raise ,so many tea farmer become little rich ,,,,I think produce which kinds of tea are decide by market ,
traditional tgy have little little market in China ,so traditional are little ,
then taiwai people like traditional tgy ,so traditional exist

[wyardley]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

Just FYI, I think Marshaln is probably the person who most popularized use of these two particular expressions among the English speaking tea set (and he can speak / read Chinese fluently), so I think he probably has a good idea of what he means, and I know he has a good idea of what he's talking about.

[TIM]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

yes,you are right :清香 ，浓香，also have韵香，花香，微酸，

in fact ,traditional tgy have been made before 2000years in An'xi ,but in that time ,the tea are not worth money ,it is very cheap ,so after 2000years ,flat tieguanyin are popular ,then the price of tgy is raise ,so many tea farmer become little rich ,,,,I think produce which kinds of tea are decide by market ,
traditional tgy have little little market in China ,so traditional are little ,
then taiwai people like traditional tgy ,so traditional exist

Are you sure TGY have been made for 2000 years? I think the original TGY bush in Anxi, Xipin is only around 700 yrs. of age.... After that Anxi tea farmer start rolling their tea to become what TGY looks like now a days? Do correct me if I am misleading. Thanks. T

http://chadao.blogspot.com/2006/03/anxi ... -thsu.html

[Oolong Tea]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

yes,you are right :清香 ，浓香，also have韵香，花香，微酸，

in fact ,traditional tgy have been made before 2000years in An'xi ,but in that time ,the tea are not worth money ,it is very cheap ,so after 2000years ,flat tieguanyin are popular ,then the price of tgy is raise ,so many tea farmer become little rich ,,,,I think produce which kinds of tea are decide by market ,
traditional tgy have little little market in China ,so traditional are little ,
then taiwai people like traditional tgy ,so traditional exist

Are you sure TGY have been made for 2000 years? I think the original TGY bush in Anxi, Xipin is only around 700 yrs. of age.... After that Anxi tea farmer start rolling their tea to become what TGY looks like now a days? Do correct me if I am misleading. Thanks. T

http://chadao.blogspot.com/2006/03/anxi ... -thsu.html

sorry for my mistake ,I means An'xi always produced traditional tgy until 2000 (Year two thousand ,,,,,21 century ) ,,but not means 2000years history

[Bubba_tea]

Marshal -
I'm not sure about that. I think that's the right word - qing in this context is 清- which can mean clear / pure / or light, in juxtaposition to 浓 nong - heavy / thick. Those with better Chinese skills can correct us if needed!

Nong Xiang - 浓香 strong fragrance
Qing Xiang - 清香 lightly scented

Just FYI, I think Marshaln is probably the person who most popularized use of these two particular expressions among the English speaking tea set (and he can speak / read Chinese fluently), so I think he probably has a good idea of what he means, and I know he has a good idea of what he's talking about.

I must have read Marshals post in response to the OP not as a comment regarding cobalt-blue. And heck, what does blue-green fragrance smell like anyways..

[orguz]

Recently I wanted to buy TKY which I'll call nong xiang for convenience sake. The store's owner replied back when asked if he stocked this TKY by asking, in a critical fashion, if I am from Teochew/Chaozhou or native of this region in southern China.

It was implied nobody drinks this type of TKY, it is made from crappy leafs and unfit for serious tea drinkers unlike the Teochew people (quite untrue, they popularised Gong Fu brewing) I was surprised and dumbfounded.

The original post here also stated nong xiang TKY is made with lower quality tgy leafs etc. It seems traditional TKY is getting a bad rap. There surely must be high quality N.X TIE GUAN YIN for sale made by honest tea roasters. I drink this tea daily, I don't know why this version is regarded so terrible. Marketing comes to mind now, less processing means lower cost, so the qing xiang light floral type are released into consumer market faster and cheaper but not necessarily better.