Oolong tea - Tieh Kuan Yin

[Darkmen]

Hi . I am new at the forum so i want to introduce myself. My name is Paul, i am living in Argentina. I bought this tea, for 25 dlrs. At the beggining it was nice, but i started to note some burned like taste. Is not the first time that this happens to me, specially with oolong variety. If some of you could share, some ideas to enlight the reasons of this strange taste... it would be so appreciate. I am alarmed specially , because i've read that this tea variety, has some "floral" taste... and this is not the case. The brand is "Ten Ren Tea".

Thank You very much

[kymidwife]

With oolongs (TKY and others), you can experience a wide range of flavors related to the roasting. It sounds like you have had experiences with more roasted varieties. The more floral ones are "greener" and have minimal roasty flavor at all. I love both at different times, depending on my mood... but I have had a few high-fired teas that were too charcoal-like for my palate. You should try some Taiwan High Mountain Oolong to experience the other end of the spectrum.
Adagio's TKY is actually very green compared to others I've tried... also their Ali Shan and Oolong 18 are both more floral and not much roasted taste at all. There are many other vendors of excellent oolongs you will hear about in the oolong section of this forum, but Adagio is a nice entry point to finding out what flavor profile you really enjoy.
Welcome to the forum!

Sarah

[tenuki]

Could you tell us how you are brewing it, and maybe provide pictures of the dry and wet leaves and the color of the brew?

[gingkoseto]

Ten Ren is a chain store from Taiwan and their TGY is Taiwan Mu Zha TGY, which is entirely different from the "floral" type of Anxi TGY. Mu Zha TGY is very different from heavy roast type of Anxi TGY too.

[Darkmen]

I'm very glad to read those replies thank you very much for the replies...

I will take some pictures of the leaves and i'll post them. I am preparing the tea, in a porcelain teapot. Warming it up first, with hot water, then i put the tea leaves... and pour the hot water trying to dont touch the leaves. And... yes! That's the word i was looking for... It has a 'roasty' flavor, and smell. But i don't know if it's naturally like that, or it's quality is low... Because i think , is a little overpriced. Again.. Thank you very much for your help i will post some pictures.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Dark,

I have tried the exact same tea that you are speaking of, and I didn't find any smoke or toasted flavors in mine, which I find interesting. For the price that you paid, I would be surprised if there was any inconsistency in the quality. Good Luck with your tea drinking in the future, and welcome to the site!

Keep on Brewin'

Bryan

[AlexZorach]

Ti Kuan Yin can be extremely diverse...ranging from very light green teas with barely any roast, to very heavily roasted teas which are very dark and have a strong roasted aroma.

Ten Ren makes a Ti Kuan Yin available in teabags which is among the darkest and most heavily roasted Ti Kuan Yin's that I've tried. They also sell many different kinds of loose Ti Kuan Yin (7 Chinese varieties and 4 Taiwanese) so I'm not sure which one you might be trying. I suspect you might have one of the Taiwanese ones because Ten Ren's Taiwanese Ti Kuan Yin tends to be more heavily roasted than their Chinese...although they sell a "special baked" version of the Chinese as well as a greener version...and then all of these come in different grades.

I'm drinking a Ti Kuan Yin right now that has an aroma that I would describe as very woody with a hint of honey...but not floral. Like I said, it's a very diverse kind of tea and hard to generalize about!

[Intuit]

Did you pay $25 per pound? If so, you probably bought one of the TKYs that was lower grade and charcoal baked. Both the SChina and Taiwanese 3rd Grade TKYs, at $25/b, have a heavily roasted taste, rather than the familiar sweet flavor of the greener, higher grade TKYs sold by TenRen teas.

[Darkmen]

The Pictures

http://img129.imageshack.us/i/moto0059.jpg/
http://img79.imageshack.us/i/moto0060.jpg/
http://img245.imageshack.us/i/moto0061.jpg/

[wyardley]

Just as an aside - Tian Ren wouldn't be my first choice of vendor for any style of Tieguanyin - roasted or green.

[Victoria]

Just as an aside - Tian Ren wouldn't be my first choice of vendor for any style of Tieguanyin - roasted or green.

+1

[Darkmen]

What do u guys think about the pictures?

[AdamMY]

It is definitely a heavy roast, but most heavy roasts look similar, the proof is in the pudding so to speak, as in let your nose and mouth be the judge.

[gingkoseto]

What do u guys think about the pictures?

I think the picture is small
Seeing from the tea can on the picture - it is actually a Fujian TGY, not muzha TGY. It looks like a dark roast (and normally there won't be smokey flavor from green roast anyway). Sometimes by leaving the tea in a unsealed container for a few months, the smokey flavor can be largely diminished. But more important question is, whether the tea has other nice flavors when the smokey flavor is removed.
I also think Ten Ren is very expensive relative to its quality.

[Darkmen]

Thank you very much, to all of you . I'm very satisfied with the replies.