Quest for Tie Guan Yin

[Oni]

I haven`t found my initial topic, but I would like to remind the readers that my quest for experiencing the great TGY, this year I tried many teashops> Funalliance - TGY, Dragon teahouse - Nonprail, and premium charchoal baked, Teaspring - jade TGY, Rich barbarian - supreme TGY (I still need to try their top grade), Jingteashop - Xiang Hua TGY.
I recently ordered from wanling teahouse, I have great expectations from the as they are specialized in this type of tea, I ordered Hong Xin Te Chun Guan Yin Wang, this is their second best wang (king) grade tea, the Can sai jin pin guan yin wang is too expencieve to begin with, but if the second best is really great than I will order this one and teasprings shen yun.
Anyway I found out what the aroma and taste of the TGY breed should be like, but the greatest example of this tea should have a balance of aroma and gan and hui gan, it should fill your mouth with tea oils, it needs intensity , sofar the best was Dragon teahouse with Nonprail grade, but price vs quality Funalliance wins the race.

[Salsero]

Thanks for this quick summary of your experience!

[Maitre_Tea]

wow, thanks for the detailed summary. I haven't met a non-roasted TGY that I've liked yet, but your foray into the waters peaks my interest

[Salsero]

Oni,

What parameters have you been using in testing these TGY teas?

[Oni]

I use one chinese wooden spoon, around 5 grams for 120 ml yixing, I like to fill it only 1/4 full of leaves, so that they can open comfortably, and after a flash wash I use 1 minute, 45 - 50 seconds, 1 min 20 s, 1 m 40 s, 2 min, 3 min. And I use shover and teaboat.

[Salsero]

Thanks!

[Salsero]

I tried the Wan Ling Spr '09 Li Li Xiang Guan Yin. This seems to be one of their "value" offerings at only about 8¢ per gram. I brewed it 4 gr in a 100 ml gaiwan, flash rinse, 20 s, 20 s, 40 s, 1:40 m, 2 m, 3 m. (Oni's brewing influence took over about halfway through. )

I must say, I am really impressed by it. Even in the 6th infusion I am thinking about going back for another one. The broth was nearly clear but the flavors ranged from a light vegetal taste to caramel. Many aromas, but most distinctly I remember that of caramel, warm cream, apple. There was a fine viscosity throughout punctuated with feelings of astringency and sweetness. This TGY is a powerful reminder that the great oolongs of Taiwan descend from Anxi ancestors. I don't remember ever having such a great light oolong at such a low price before ... and very few this good at any price!

• Wan Ling Tea House specialises in fine Tie Guan Yin Oolong teas from the Min Nan (Southern Min) region of China's Fujian province. Especially selected by Wan Ling and her family ... Tie Guan Yin is excellent all-round tea with a green dry leaf colour that produces a golden to almost clear and iridescent liquor.
  
  Wan Ling Tea House signature collection are lightly oxidised (20-30%), Qing Xiang (green, highly aromatic) Tie Guan Yin from the highest peaks of inner (nei) An Xi County.

I got a sampler pack and I'm pretty excited about what the pricier ones are going to taste like!

[wh&yel-apprentice]

I use one chinese wooden spoon, around 5 grams for 120 ml yixing, I like to fill it only 1/4 full of leaves, so that they can open comfortably, and after a flash wash I use 1 minute, 45 - 50 seconds, 1 min 20 s, 1 m 40 s, 2 min, 3 min. And I use shover and teaboat.

1. What temperature?

2. "teaboat" as in 'faircup'? I would wonder if you could use another yixing, poor from the one you do the infusion of tea, into an empty but heated yixing without tea leaves, so as to contain more of the aroma that might be lost by pouring into 'faircup' ? Any one experimented with that?

3. Seems you have changed your mind as to what is the best infusion vessel, going from gaiwan, which both Kam @ Funalliance (<ok, Yixing 1st recommendation) & Wan Ling are recommending, only *much* shorter infusions, near boiling water. You have experimented with those starting point recommendations, and found them lacking???

I can't get the forum search software to give me the thread I've found via Google, in the Oolong forum, and every time I try to quote I have to relogin, and can't get to the 1st page, always drops me into the 2nd page: :arrgh:

Funalliance (Yay or nay)
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8292

quoting Oni from pg1:

Postby Oni » Feb 11th, '09, 02:53
I bought my gaiwans from kam, I am more than satisfied, I don`t like yixing teapots that have drawing or writing on it, and his TGY was better than teasprings jade TGY at half the price, he usually has a limited selection of tea but a fair price for decent quality

4. see links:

What wan ling says,

http://www.wanlingteahouse.com/english/ ... onal.shtml

The nearly boiling water should be used to rinse the teawares to ensure that each item, gai wan, tea cups and gong dao bei are at least of a similar temperature. Temperature is critical throughout the process and it should be the case that none of the teawares is significantly cooler than any other. The tea should be added to the gai wan, or lidded pot. These gai wan's come in a variety of sizes such as 7g, 8g, 9g or 10g which indicate the amount of dry tea leaves that can be added. Normally, Wan Ling uses 7g & 10g gai wans. The one shown in this series of photographs is a 10g gai wan. Although you can use scales to calculate the tea this is obviously arduous, as such, the Oolong, Tie Guan Yin tea that Wan Ling sells is usually pre-packaged in 10g or 8g vacuum packs, otherwise it is part of the skill that is developed over time to judge the correct amount.

What Kam says,

http://chineseteas101.com/brewtable.htm

Iron Guan Yin 1st- kungfu sm
ok- gaiwan sm 4:1 1st round 10-20 sec. add 5 or 10 ... etc for infusions after, some drinkers would use up to 2:1 tea leaves, it's up to your own preference.

http://funalliance.com/tea/htm/tea/870101074.htm

^For Dan Cong, Kam's recommendation is about identical to Imen's...very hot infusion, very short steeping times.




http://chineseteas101.com/gaiwan.htm

ALL teas can be brewed with a Gaiwan. But since porcelain loses heat quickly, it's especially appropriate for green tea which brews well in lower temperature.

I haven`t found my initial topic...

, the Can sai jin pin guan yin wang is too expencieve to begin with, but if the second best is really great than I will order this one and teasprings shen yun.
price vs quality Funalliance wins the race.

5. You might be able to find your 'initial' topic by doing a Google search on this site with your username + keywords:

" site: http://www.teachat.com oni Tie Guan Yin " < or other spelling for TKY, etc.

6. You could buy the 'premium' sample package to try all including the CSJPGYW , though the wan ling site does not indicate whether or not you get the Spring or Autumn (I assume Spring?)


7. Did you try either TGY's from

http://www.redblossomtea.com/product.php?sec=anxi

Or

http://www.imperialtea.com/Monkey-Picke ... -P181.aspx

[Oni]

Thank you for the summary I improvised a tea boat beacause I do not own one>


I use the this dish to catch hot water so it heats my yixing from below, I pour carab eye water from a decent hight so it is cooled a bit, I assume it is around 90 - 95 Celsius, first infusion is longer so that the leaves fully open, I use only 5 grams, but if you use more than shorter infusion time is required, but that will result in high floral aroma but less taste, I need a minty gan with TGY, lower quality ones do not have it, second infusion always shorter around 40 seconds, and I never use faircups, because if I skip it I minimize the heat loss, and at the first infusion there is almost no heat loss so steam rises from the cups, I observed that the shape of the cups influences the experience, I used mostly flat cups with wide opening, yesterday I tried tall cups (gyokuro cups), and later I will try those porcelain lined yixing cups, and once I will try sniffing cups too.

[Tead Off]

wow, thanks for the detailed summary. I haven't met a non-roasted TGY that I've liked yet, but your foray into the waters peaks my interest

The best TGY's I've had were on the green side. The Guan Yin Wang I drink now, which I buy here in Bangkok, has got it all. Oni's brewing is just about the same as mine minus the boat. It's almost impossible to overbrew this tea and the aroma and finish are as intense as any tea I know of. Intense plum aroma. Too bad it is not organic.