Tasting: Fall 2008 Tie Guan Yin

[Richard Kilgore]

eG Society member Greg Glancy, who is the owner of Norbutea.com has contributed samples of tea for three tea tastings here on the eG Forum's Coffee & Tea Forum. This first tasting will feature a Chinese Oolong - a Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province. Greg sent me five samples of this tea, which will go to the first five members who PM me and who 1) have been a member of the eG Society for at least 30 days, 2) have 5 or more substantive posts in the Coffee & Tea forum, and 3) agree to contribute to the discussion. Please PM me with a mailing address and I will send the samples out this week.

Here's some interesting information on this Tie Guan Yin from the Norbutea.com website (used with permission).

This is our first shipment of Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province, which is the birthplace of Tie Guan Yin cultivation. This season's harvest has been excellent so far, and we are really excited to have this particular batch of this season's Tie Guan Yin to offer on Norbutea.com. This is our standard premium grade Tie Guan Yin, but in my opinion the aroma and flavor of this particular batch is head and shoulders above the other Tie Guan Yin teas in its class so far this year.

Traditionally Tie Guan Yin was roasted to produce a toasted, dried fruit type flavor profile and amber cup, but recently the trend in Anxi has been to leave the teas unroasted in order to allow the strong floral notes come through more prominently. This Tie Guan Yin is not roasted beyond the time required to drive out the moisture in the leaves after processing. It produces smooth floral characteristics, a pleasant and lingering bittersweet aftertaste, and a honey green cup when steeped. It is best suited to Gong Fu style steeping, but is also delicious steeped in the western manner. In order to better preserve the striking freshness of this wonderful tea, we had this shipment individually packaged and vacuum sealed at the producer's facility into 50 and 100 gram portions.

The story behind the name 'Tie Guan Yin:'

Tie Guan Yin or 'Iron Goddess of Mercy' is named after the Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara, who in the Chinese context is known as the Goddess of Compassion or Mercy. The name of this tea is associated with a legend: In Anxi County of modern Fujian province there was a rundown temple that housed an iron statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Every day on the walk to his tea fields, a poor farmer would pass by and reflect on the worsening condition of the temple. He did not have the resources to repair the temple, so instead the farmer brought a broom and some incense from his home. He swept the temple clean and lit the incense as an offering to the deity. Over the months and years to come, the farmer would periodically return to take care of the temple and make offerings. One night, Guan Yin appeared to him in a dream. She told him of a cave behind the temple where a treasure awaited him. He was to take the treasure for himself on the condition that he shared it with other people in his impoverished village. In the cave, the farmer found a single tea plant. He planted it in his field and nurtured it into a large bush, from which the finest tea was produced. He gave cuttings of this rare plant to all his neighbors and began selling the tea under the name Tie Guan Yin, Iron Bodhisattva of Mercy.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I have known Greg for two or three years. I originally met him at a presentation he did for The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club of his travels in the tea regions of China, including Tibet. I have no financial interest in Norbutea.com.)

[Edit: criteria changed to five or more substantive posts.]

Edited November 26, 2008 by Richard Kilgore (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

To clarify: the samples are 10 grams each, enough for two gongfu sessions, or about four Western style 6 - 8 ounce first infusions. I have tried this gongfu style, as I reported in the "What tea are you drinking today" topic last week. Either method will produce multiple infusions.

PM me after reading the original post if you want to join the tasting. Should be interesting.

[Richard Kilgore]

eG Society member Greg Glancy, who is the owner of Norbutea.com has contributed samples of tea for three tea tastings here on the eG Forum's Coffee & Tea Forum. This first tasting will feature a Chinese Oolong - a Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province. Greg sent me five samples of this tea, which will go to the first five members who PM me and who 1) have been a member of the eG Society for at least 30 days, 2) have at least 10 substantive posts in the Coffee & Tea forum, and 3) agree to contribute to the discussion. Please PM me with a mailing address and I will send the samples out this week.

Here's some interesting information on this Tie Guan Yin from the Norbutea.com website (used with permission).

This is our first shipment of Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province, which is the birthplace of Tie Guan Yin cultivation. This season's harvest has been excellent so far, and we are really excited to have this particular batch of this season's Tie Guan Yin to offer on Norbutea.com. This is our standard premium grade Tie Guan Yin, but in my opinion the aroma and flavor of this particular batch is head and shoulders above the other Tie Guan Yin teas in its class so far this year.

Traditionally Tie Guan Yin was roasted to produce a toasted, dried fruit type flavor profile and amber cup, but recently the trend in Anxi has been to leave the teas unroasted in order to allow the strong floral notes come through more prominently. This Tie Guan Yin is not roasted beyond the time required to drive out the moisture in the leaves after processing. It produces smooth floral characteristics, a pleasant and lingering bittersweet aftertaste, and a honey green cup when steeped. It is best suited to Gong Fu style steeping, but is also delicious steeped in the western manner. In order to better preserve the striking freshness of this wonderful tea, we had this shipment individually packaged and vacuum sealed at the producer's facility into 50 and 100 gram portions.

The story behind the name 'Tie Guan Yin:'

Tie Guan Yin or 'Iron Goddess of Mercy' is named after the Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara, who in the Chinese context is known as the Goddess of Compassion or Mercy. The name of this tea is associated with a legend: In Anxi County of modern Fujian province there was a rundown temple that housed an iron statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Every day on the walk to his tea fields, a poor farmer would pass by and reflect on the worsening condition of the temple. He did not have the resources to repair the temple, so instead the farmer brought a broom and some incense from his home. He swept the temple clean and lit the incense as an offering to the deity. Over the months and years to come, the farmer would periodically return to take care of the temple and make offerings. One night, Guan Yin appeared to him in a dream. She told him of a cave behind the temple where a treasure awaited him. He was to take the treasure for himself on the condition that he shared it with other people in his impoverished village. In the cave, the farmer found a single tea plant. He planted it in his field and nurtured it into a large bush, from which the finest tea was produced. He gave cuttings of this rare plant to all his neighbors and began selling the tea under the name Tie Guan Yin, Iron Bodhisattva of Mercy.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I have known Greg for two or three years. I originally met him at a presentation he did for The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club of his travels in the tea regions of China, including Tibet. I have no financial interest in Norbutea.com.)

←

There are three samples left. Please PM me if you would like one.

Brew, sip, discuss.

[Richard Kilgore]

Two samples left. Please PM me after reading the first post if you would like one.

Brew, sip, discuss.

[Richard Kilgore]

Only one sample left. Please PM me after reading the first post if you would like one.

Brew, sip, discuss.

[Chris Amirault]

I thought I'd post a bit about my expectations for this tasting. I'm a tea neophyte with an interest in having quality tea at work. I'll be using the this 16 oz ingenuiTEA system to brew it. Not ideal, I know, but I'm sure I'm not the only person interested in tea who has logistical limitations but wants a swell cup.

I'm also finding that I really like oolong teas and will enjoy having my palate stretched toward quality. The oolongs I've enjoyed are a bit roastier (my favorite thus far is the roasted twig oolong from Teance), so a lighter style will be intriguing.

Thanks, Richard, for getting this exciting project rolling!

[Richard Kilgore]

I thought I'd post a bit about my expectations for this tasting. I'm a tea neophyte with an interest in having quality tea at work. I'll be using the this 16 oz ingenuiTEA system to brew it. Not ideal, I know, but I'm sure I'm not the only person interested in tea who has logistical limitations but wants a swell cup.

I'm also finding that I really like oolong teas and will enjoy having my palate stretched toward quality. The oolongs I've enjoyed are a bit roastier (my favorite thus far is the roasted twig oolong from Teance), so a lighter style will be intriguing.

Thanks, Richard, for getting this exciting project rolling!

←

That should work fine, Chris. While the device holds up to 16 ounces, it looks like it should be effective with the smaller volumes you will want to use in order to experiment with the TGY.

*******************************

There's one sample left. Please PM me after reading the first post in this topic.

[Richard Kilgore]

Four of the samples are spoken for now.

There is one free sample from Greg Glancy at Norbutea.com left of this Oolong TGY. If you are interested in it, please read the first post and send me a PM with your mailing address. I'll mail out the samples tomorrow.

[Richard Kilgore]

eG Society member Greg Glancy, who is the owner of Norbutea.com has contributed samples of tea for three tea tastings here on the eG Forum's Coffee & Tea Forum. This first tasting will feature a Chinese Oolong - a Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province. Greg sent me five samples of this tea, which will go to the first five members who PM me and who 1) have been a member of the eG Society for at least 30 days, 2) have 5 or more substantive posts in the Coffee & Tea forum, and 3) agree to contribute to the discussion. Please PM me with a mailing address and I will send the samples out this week.

Here's some interesting information on this Tie Guan Yin from the Norbutea.com website (used with permission).

This is our first shipment of Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province, which is the birthplace of Tie Guan Yin cultivation. This season's harvest has been excellent so far, and we are really excited to have this particular batch of this season's Tie Guan Yin to offer on Norbutea.com. This is our standard premium grade Tie Guan Yin, but in my opinion the aroma and flavor of this particular batch is head and shoulders above the other Tie Guan Yin teas in its class so far this year.

Traditionally Tie Guan Yin was roasted to produce a toasted, dried fruit type flavor profile and amber cup, but recently the trend in Anxi has been to leave the teas unroasted in order to allow the strong floral notes come through more prominently. This Tie Guan Yin is not roasted beyond the time required to drive out the moisture in the leaves after processing. It produces smooth floral characteristics, a pleasant and lingering bittersweet aftertaste, and a honey green cup when steeped. It is best suited to Gong Fu style steeping, but is also delicious steeped in the western manner. In order to better preserve the striking freshness of this wonderful tea, we had this shipment individually packaged and vacuum sealed at the producer's facility into 50 and 100 gram portions.

The story behind the name 'Tie Guan Yin:'

Tie Guan Yin or 'Iron Goddess of Mercy' is named after the Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara, who in the Chinese context is known as the Goddess of Compassion or Mercy. The name of this tea is associated with a legend: In Anxi County of modern Fujian province there was a rundown temple that housed an iron statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Every day on the walk to his tea fields, a poor farmer would pass by and reflect on the worsening condition of the temple. He did not have the resources to repair the temple, so instead the farmer brought a broom and some incense from his home. He swept the temple clean and lit the incense as an offering to the deity. Over the months and years to come, the farmer would periodically return to take care of the temple and make offerings. One night, Guan Yin appeared to him in a dream. She told him of a cave behind the temple where a treasure awaited him. He was to take the treasure for himself on the condition that he shared it with other people in his impoverished village. In the cave, the farmer found a single tea plant. He planted it in his field and nurtured it into a large bush, from which the finest tea was produced. He gave cuttings of this rare plant to all his neighbors and began selling the tea under the name Tie Guan Yin, Iron Bodhisattva of Mercy.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I have known Greg for two or three years. I originally met him at a presentation he did for The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club of his travels in the tea regions of China, including Tibet. I have no financial interest in Norbutea.com.)

[Edit: criteria changed to five or more substantive posts.]

←

The five members of the eGullet Society who signed up for the free samples for the tasting and discussion are ---

baroness

jpr54_

jsmeeker

chrisamirault

naftal

I am jammed up tomorrow, so these will go out on Thursday.

Chris posted about his expectations for the tasting. Anyone else?

[Richard Kilgore]

eG Society member Greg Glancy, who is the owner of Norbutea.com has contributed samples of tea for three tea tastings here on the eG Forum's Coffee & Tea Forum. This first tasting will feature a Chinese Oolong - a Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province. Greg sent me five samples of this tea, which will go to the first five members who PM me and who 1) have been a member of the eG Society for at least 30 days, 2) have 5 or more substantive posts in the Coffee & Tea forum, and 3) agree to contribute to the discussion. Please PM me with a mailing address and I will send the samples out this week.

Here's some interesting information on this Tie Guan Yin from the Norbutea.com website (used with permission).

This is our first shipment of Fall Harvest 2008 Tie Guan Yin from Anxi county in Fujian province, which is the birthplace of Tie Guan Yin cultivation. This season's harvest has been excellent so far, and we are really excited to have this particular batch of this season's Tie Guan Yin to offer on Norbutea.com. This is our standard premium grade Tie Guan Yin, but in my opinion the aroma and flavor of this particular batch is head and shoulders above the other Tie Guan Yin teas in its class so far this year.

Traditionally Tie Guan Yin was roasted to produce a toasted, dried fruit type flavor profile and amber cup, but recently the trend in Anxi has been to leave the teas unroasted in order to allow the strong floral notes come through more prominently. This Tie Guan Yin is not roasted beyond the time required to drive out the moisture in the leaves after processing. It produces smooth floral characteristics, a pleasant and lingering bittersweet aftertaste, and a honey green cup when steeped. It is best suited to Gong Fu style steeping, but is also delicious steeped in the western manner. In order to better preserve the striking freshness of this wonderful tea, we had this shipment individually packaged and vacuum sealed at the producer's facility into 50 and 100 gram portions.

The story behind the name 'Tie Guan Yin:'

Tie Guan Yin or 'Iron Goddess of Mercy' is named after the Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara, who in the Chinese context is known as the Goddess of Compassion or Mercy. The name of this tea is associated with a legend: In Anxi County of modern Fujian province there was a rundown temple that housed an iron statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Every day on the walk to his tea fields, a poor farmer would pass by and reflect on the worsening condition of the temple. He did not have the resources to repair the temple, so instead the farmer brought a broom and some incense from his home. He swept the temple clean and lit the incense as an offering to the deity. Over the months and years to come, the farmer would periodically return to take care of the temple and make offerings. One night, Guan Yin appeared to him in a dream. She told him of a cave behind the temple where a treasure awaited him. He was to take the treasure for himself on the condition that he shared it with other people in his impoverished village. In the cave, the farmer found a single tea plant. He planted it in his field and nurtured it into a large bush, from which the finest tea was produced. He gave cuttings of this rare plant to all his neighbors and began selling the tea under the name Tie Guan Yin, Iron Bodhisattva of Mercy.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I have known Greg for two or three years. I originally met him at a presentation he did for The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club of his travels in the tea regions of China, including Tibet. I have no financial interest in Norbutea.com.)

[Edit: criteria changed to five or more substantive posts.]

←

The five members of the eGullet Society who signed up for the free samples for the tasting and discussion are ---

baroness

jpr54_

jsmeeker

chrisamirault

naftal

I am jammed up tomorrow, so these will go out on Thursday.

Chris posted about his expectations for the tasting. Anyone else?

←

For a variety of reasons I have not gotten these out yet, so given the pressure of the holidays I will wait and ship them later in the month and we can pick up the discussion in 2009.

[jsmeeker]

I have my tea now! Thanks, Richard.. Now, I just need to brew up a cup.

I'll check out the Gong Fu guidelines at Norbu Tea's website, but I'll probably wind up brewing it "Western Style"

[Naftal]

Hello-I have mine,too. Thanks Richard

[jpr54_]

Thanx for the sample!

my furniture has not arrived yet to Florida-

the tea was my first mail!!!

i have brewed the tea once gongfu style

i do not like it as much as others i have drank

not too much of floral aroma-not bitter

i thought the brew was just average in my humble opinion

joanne r.

the new floridian

[Richard Kilgore]

I was surprised when you described it as not very floral, Joanne, so I gongfu brewed some and got an interesting result: mine is much less floral than it was even a week ago.

I'll have to do a mea culpa here. I opened the vacuum package and divided up everyone's samples back in early December, but only got them shipped last week. So the tea has had a chance to lose it's fresh-out-of-vacuum-packaging floral intensity.

Green TGY is much like Japanese green tea in its sensitivity to air. That's why the good stuff of both is vacuum packed in country and shipped to the US. It's best drunk within a couple of weeks of opening.

So, my apologies. It's still good, but looks like it has declined from my delay.

Well, that's a mistake I will not make again.

I took a few photos that I'll post later.

[Richard Kilgore]

Here are some photos from my gongfu brewing today of this Fall 2008 TGY contributed for the tasting by Society member Greg Glancy of Norbutea.com. I measured 4 grams of leaf into a very small 50 - 60 ml gaiwan. Water at 195 F. 10" rinse, 30" rest, 1: 20", 2:15"; 3:30". This could go for several more infusions. Not great images, but it will show how the whole leaves unfurl from small rolled balls.

The dry rolled TGY leaf.

The wet leaf and tea liquor after the first infusion.

The almost fully infused leaves after the 3rd infusion.

[baroness]

I brewed my sample Western-style for 5 minutes. Very floral fragrance with a hay-like note; reminded me of walking into a good florist shop.

The brew was very pale and delicately flavored. I can't imagine many foods that wouldn't overpower this tea.

Verdict: Interesting, but I prefer the darker, more robust Ti Kuan Yins.

[Naftal]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

[jsmeeker]

I brewed a cup western style last night.

1.5 tsp for 8 oz. water. Water at 190 F. Steeped 4 minutes, then poured into a mug.

It looked like a green tea. But this is an oolong, right? Anyway, based on just the color of the tea, it had more flavor than I expected. Understand, I am new to tea. Until recently, the only tea I drank was iced tea. And since I started drinking quality hot teas, I've been drinking mostly black teas.

Anyway, back to this TYG. This type of tea is pretty different than the black teas I've been drinking lately. But I am having a hard time describing the flavors. I want to say "It tastes kind of like <blank>".. But I can't come up with what <blank> is. I have plenty left, of course. So, I'll try it again.

[Richard Kilgore]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

←

That's interesting, Naftal, since I got three infusions yesterday during the day and another later. We must be doing gong fu differently. Can you say more about how you are brewing? Time, temp, leaf-water ratio? Gaiwan or Yixing?

[Chris Amirault]

Using my ingenuiTEA set-up here, I just brewed 5g in 400 ml of 194F water for 4 min. That's my standard first steep. I'll start with my own impressions without having read those of the others and then comment.

I really like it, though it's a lot more delicate than the oolongs I've been used to drinking. The color is a pale straw yellow, with almost a shale gray tone. I really like the aroma on this, with lilac, lemongrass, and kaffir lime notes. The color may be having an effect on my nose, but I also think I can detect sweet grassy elements like freshly cut hay. It tastes very smooth and slightly sweet at the end.

I just read Richard's first post with the notes about production, and the lack of roasting really does have a big effect. That comment about floral notes being retained (and the dried fruit flavors left undeveloped) makes sense to me.

Just read that some folks have green tints, which I don't really have. I used tap water here, which I've found produces a better cup than the spring water we get delivered. Can the different water quality can have that effect?

I'm just finishing the cup now and realize that its lack of off-notes is very striking to me. I've been drinking Tealuxe and Tradition oolongs at work, and there are nearly always elements that leave the taste less smooth. I suppose that this is precisely what one gets for the extra bucks, eh?

[Naftal]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

←

That's interesting, Naftal, since I got three infusions yesterday during the day and another later. We must be doing gong fu differently. Can you say more about how you are brewing? Time, temp, leaf-water ratio? Gaiwan or Yixing?

←

Hello-I guess one would say I used a Gaiwan, though I actually used a small pot for brewing.The second steeping was 3 min. I think a third steeping went longer, but I was not as impressed with the second or third steep. That is what I meant when I said "it didn't hold up", perhaps I should have said that I was not impressed with the results of my resteepings. Or perhaps I should have let steeping #2 go for a longer period of time.

[Richard Kilgore]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

←

That's interesting, Naftal, since I got three infusions yesterday during the day and another later. We must be doing gong fu differently. Can you say more about how you are brewing? Time, temp, leaf-water ratio? Gaiwan or Yixing?

←

Hello-I guess one would say I used a Gaiwan, though I actually used a small pot for brewing.The second steeping was 3 min. I think a third steeping went longer, but I was not as impressed with the second or third steep. That is what I meant when I said "it didn't hold up", perhaps I should have said that I was not impressed with the results of my resteepings. Or perhaps I should have let steeping #2 go for a longer period of time.

←

Thanks, that helps to clarify the differences. You are using longer steeping times and mine are much shorter -- your second infusion was 3 minutes and mine was 20 seconds.

Next, what temperature was the water?

Then, how much leaf and how much water in the pot?

[Naftal]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

←

That's interesting, Naftal, since I got three infusions yesterday during the day and another later. We must be doing gong fu differently. Can you say more about how you are brewing? Time, temp, leaf-water ratio? Gaiwan or Yixing?

←

Hello-I guess one would say I used a Gaiwan, though I actually used a small pot for brewing.The second steeping was 3 min. I think a third steeping went longer, but I was not as impressed with the second or third steep. That is what I meant when I said "it didn't hold up", perhaps I should have said that I was not impressed with the results of my resteepings. Or perhaps I should have let steeping #2 go for a longer period of time.

←

Thanks, that helps to clarify the differences. You are using longer steeping times and mine are much shorter -- your second infusion was 3 minutes and mine was 20 seconds.

Next, what temperature was the water?

Then, how much leaf and how much water in the pot?

←

Hello-Other TGY info:the water was 175-195 degrees F., leaf to water ratio was approx. 3g leaf to 8 oz water.

[Richard Kilgore]

Hello-I brewed mine gong fu- style. It tasted very light and crisp. It did not hold up to a second steeping.

←

That's interesting, Naftal, since I got three infusions yesterday during the day and another later. We must be doing gong fu differently. Can you say more about how you are brewing? Time, temp, leaf-water ratio? Gaiwan or Yixing?

←

Hello-I guess one would say I used a Gaiwan, though I actually used a small pot for brewing.The second steeping was 3 min. I think a third steeping went longer, but I was not as impressed with the second or third steep. That is what I meant when I said "it didn't hold up", perhaps I should have said that I was not impressed with the results of my resteepings. Or perhaps I should have let steeping #2 go for a longer period of time.

←

Thanks, that helps to clarify the differences. You are using longer steeping times and mine are much shorter -- your second infusion was 3 minutes and mine was 20 seconds.

Next, what temperature was the water?

Then, how much leaf and how much water in the pot?

←

Hello-Other TGY info:the water was 175-195 degrees F., leaf to water ratio was approx. 3g leaf to 8 oz water.

←

Thanks. That helps clarify things further. I would think of this as western style brewing, Naftal. With 3 g to 8 ou I would expect only one or two infusions. You could try 3 g to 4 - 6 ou water, 195 F, for 1'30" for the first infusion and see how that does for you. Then extend the steeping time for additional infusions. (Perhaps 2: 2'30", 3: 4', etc.) Adjust for whatever works for you.

[Richard Kilgore]

Using my ingenuiTEA set-up here, I just brewed 5g in 400 ml of 194F water for 4 min. That's my standard first steep. I'll start with my own impressions without having read those of the others and then comment.

I really like it, though it's a lot more delicate than the oolongs I've been used to drinking. The color is a pale straw yellow, with almost a shale gray tone. I really like the aroma on this, with lilac, lemongrass, and kaffir lime notes. The color may be having an effect on my nose, but I also think I can detect sweet grassy elements like freshly cut hay. It tastes very smooth and slightly sweet at the end.

I just read Richard's first post with the notes about production, and the lack of roasting really does have a big effect. That comment about floral notes being retained (and the dried fruit flavors left undeveloped) makes sense to me.

Just read that some folks have green tints, which I don't really have. I used tap water here, which I've found produces a better cup than the spring water we get delivered. Can the different water quality can have that effect?

I'm just finishing the cup now and realize that its lack of off-notes is very striking to me. I've been drinking Tealuxe and Tradition oolongs at work, and there are nearly always elements that leave the taste less smooth. I suppose that this is precisely what one gets for the extra bucks, eh?

←

Thanks for the comments, Chris. There are a number of isues you have touched on, so I'll try to address them in separate posts. For now let me say that your note on aroma of "lilac, lemongrass, and kaffir lime notes" and "sweet grassy elements like freshly cut hay" may be good examples of aromas and tastes being associations to other tastes that are familiar. Two people are likley to label the same aroma differently depending on past experience. Much like wine in that way. For my part, I would have said lilac or something similarly floral and hay, but have not had a lemomgrass or kaffir lime association to the aroma. But now I'll have to watch (or sniff) for that.