Customer Reviews

Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea - Iron Goddess of Mercy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've had and enjoyed the TGY tea in the past so I knew what to expect. This tea was disappointing. The flavor is too strong and of a rather rancid quality. The leaves were very dried out and there was much powder in the tin. This is certainly not authentic TGY, the flavor is quite far off the mark. Other tea's I've under the label "Golden Dragon" have been less then spectacular imitations of other famous Chinese teas. This is by far the worst. I now avoid the all Golden Dragon label tea, it is low quality

This is a cheap tea imported to the western market with a big markup. It is very strong and almost approaches a low quality black tea.

I love this tea. It's very smooth and has a wonderful flavor, hot or cold. Great tea!

Yummy ! This tea is so refreshing and flavorful, it's become my favorite. I could never find Oolong tea at the local markets so I'm going to order more of this so I won't run out!

Like the famously smoky Lapsang Souchong, Oolong tea comes from mist-enshrouded Wuyi Mountains in the northwestern corner of China's Fujian Province (north of Guangdong [Canton] Province), whose greatest tourist draw besides its mountains is its coast line on the Taiwan Straits, and where tea has been grown at least since the Sung Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279).

In terms of production, Oolong tea takes a middle position between the fully fermented black teas (Darjeeling, Assam, Ceylon, Kenya, Lapsang Souchong, etc.) and the unfermented green teas (Sencha, Maccha, Gyokuro, Hougicha/Hojicha, Gunpowder Green), in that it is part-fermented or "brown" tea. Its long, dark leaves' fermentation is stopped when they are about 30% red and 70% green, after which they are rubbed to promote their aroma and texture and then dried over charcoal.

Ti Quan (Kuan) Yin Oolong takes its name from the Goddess of Mercy (Quan Yin), whose statues can often be found in front of Buddhist temples. Quan Yin is a bodhisattva, i.e. a person who has earned the right to leave this world of misery and enter nirvana, but who has volunteered to stay on earth and assist others in their quest for enlightenment. Legend has it that in a village whose temple was adorned by an iron ("ti") statue of the goddess, one night Quan Yin appeared in a local farmer's dream and guided him to a cave behind the temple. There, she told him, he would find a treasure he was to tend and share with others. The treasure he did find when he went to the cave the very next morning turned out to be a small tea plant, which he took home and nursed. When it had grown to its full size, its leaves produced this particularly aromatic tea with the delicate fragrance of fruits and spices and a rich, golden color. As he had been bidden by the goddess, the farmer shared it with his neighbors, and he also dedicated it to Quan Yin in grateful appreciation of her gift.

Goddess of Mercy Oolong makes for a great refreshment at any time of day and also goes well with meals. It can be enjoyed with or without milk (or cream), and its leaves will even yield a second cup when re-infused.

Horrible, gross tasting tea. So bad, I threw it away. The taste is a cross between rancid and dirt. Chicago Tea Garden has good oolong tea. The Zealong is a good choice. His private reserve, "monkey picked" oolong tea is outstanding. Don't waste your money on this junk.

A year ago I decided to drink tea for health purposes. I bought some tea in bags. It was okay. Then, I decided to try the loose tea leaves because they are suppose to have more nutritional value. I loved the taste so much better than the bags. I don't even need to use a tea press with this product. I just strain the leaves through a sieve. It works great. Love this product!!!

I received the item on time and the packaging it came in was great! However when I went to steep and taste the tea, to my dismay it was NOT up to the same caliber as other, better quality, Tie Guan Yin. Instead of a strong flavor usually associated with Oolong it was watery and weak tasting even when I over steeped it. It didnt maintain any kind of consistency through out the brewing which was very disappointing. I usually order from a shop in Orlando called Chinese Tea Culture which has AMAZING tasting Tie Guan Yin but went through these guys because of the amount and price.. I guess that's what you get when you buy through Amazon or buy from other places except quality shops.

This China Oolong tea tastes EXACTLY like what you are served for free in almost every Chinese Restaurant. That's not a bad thing because the taste of such a tea is decent. However, I did not expect that it would taste like this since the product description on the site says "... beautiful and full bodied with a fragrant flavor and fruity, sweet aroma." This tea is definitely full-bodied but it is not fruity nor sweet; instead it has a very faint smoky aftertaste similar to Lapsang Souchong tea but definitely not as strong.

On the plus side, when steeped the leaves unfurl beautifully. It is only because the taste was not what I expected that I give it three stars. I only like the tea in Chinese Restaurants; not love it. Although insignificanat with regard to the product; the description on the tin says "TIKUANYIN China Oolong Tea" not "Tie Guan Yin......" Apparently Amazon got more than the flavor wrong.