Taiwan Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea
94
Percentile
4 ratings |
|
Commercial Description
...baked slowly by soft fire...The degree of fermentation is 100 percent so that the dried tea can keep a long-lasting fragrance. After brewing, the smell of honey peach and the baked flavor can be perfectly appreciated and the beverage tastes gorgeously smooth.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 4 reviews
90 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5Amanda (338 reviews) on Dec. 8th, 2014
The aroma of the dry and very green leaves is one of those 'just right' combination of notes, it is floral but not too heady, has notes of fresh vegetation without smelling too green, and notes of chestnut without being too nutty. The Goldilocks of smells. It reminds me of morning dew on an orchid, along with the summer aroma of growing things and a touch of sweet nectar at the finish, very lush smelling.
The notes in my notebook for this tea are a little giggle worthy, especially when I use the phrase 'powerhouse of orchid' yep, that sums it up nicely. I find this kind of Tie Guan Yin very relaxing, something about its mixing of strong floral notes, wet and crushed vegetation, and just that hint of buttery chestnut always put me in mind of the feeling after a summer storm. I feel focused and relaxed, very alive and ever so slightly sleepy. The buttery mouthfeel and honey sweet finish mix well with the earlier flavor notes.
87 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5SarsyPie (119 reviews) on Jul. 11th, 2014
Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 3 and 10 minutes, ForLife brew in mug strainer
Dry Leaf Aroma: The leaves had only a very faintly floral scent.
Brewing Aroma: Oh, THERE you are! This smells gorgeous! There's a very strong floral aroma, like jasmine, but not exactly jasmine.
Flavor: Smooth and floral. I steeped for 3 minutes and the flavor was nice, but not that strong. I put the brew cup back in, intending to try again after 2 min, but I got distracted and another 7 minutes had passed!
The flavor was definitely stronger now. The floral is in your face, but I personally like that, so I'm happy. There was a little astringency, and a bare hint of bitterness, but nothing crazy. I will undoubtedly buy more of this to keep at work for grandpa style brewing. It holds up to long steeps extremely well!!!
Thanks to Angel @ TeaVivre for the sample!
80 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Val1 (6 reviews) on Dec. 1st, 2013
Dry leaves look as if green tea, however, the brew is light brown, slightly lighter color than Auspicious Ayame (a discontinued by Teavana oolong, my benchmark for Oolongs for now), good floral taste when cooled, but not as complex as Auspicious Ayame’s.
I brewed it 8 min. as the color did not seem dark enough while in the infuser. Longer brew did not spoiled it.
For a second steep, I added a teaspoon of a harsher variety of oolong, the Mountain Wulong from Worldmarket Cost Plus, to liven it up. This worked out well, just as it used to work with Auspicious Ayame.
77 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Jun. 7th, 2013
An old review that I had planned on posting and that somehow slipped through the cracks.
The dry leaf of this tea was not very aromatic, which was a first for me among teas from this company, which normally are intensely fragrant, immediately when opening them. The tightly-rolled, dark colored leaves had only a faint woody aroma, and the aroma was not totally pleasant. Thankfully, none of the unpleasant tones come out in the brewed cup.
This tea infuses astonishingly fast for a tightly-rolled, full-leaf oolong tea. Brewing with 1 teaspoon of leaf, I found a 1 minute infusion was almost too long. I would be inclined to avoid Gong-fu style brewing with this tea, as I'd imagine it would not produce good results unless you had a lot of skill at fast pouring (which I don't).
I later inspected the leaf and found that, although it consists of mostly whole leaves, the leaves are quite tattered and torn, and they are definitely on the small side as well. Maybe this explains the speedy steeping!
I experimented with brewing and settled on an odd approach, using less leaf than normal, making a 1 minute infusion, followed by a 4 minute infusion, and that's it. I had poor results when I made the infusions much longer or shorter.
Brewed the way I liked best, the first cup was quite delightful, pleasingly aromatic, all-around enjoyable. It had some woody tones and some herbaceous qualities, and was typical for a high-quality traditional Tie Guan Yin.
The second cup was mild, even though I used a much longer steeping. Honey was the dominant aroma, and there were woody qualities as well, with a strangely pervasive suggestion of spearmint.
The tea leaves give out quickly. I really do not like the way this tea infuses so fast. Traditionally, in Gong Fu style brewing, tea is prepared with a rinse, and with this tea I'd be afraid that even the rinse would take away a lot of the flavor.
This tea surprised me a bit, mainly with being so fast to infuse and hard to brew as I like to normally brew oolongs. It produced a good cup though, and the price is quite reasonable. I'd recommend it gladly, especially to people who, like me, typically brew tea once or twice in a mug rather than doing proper gong fu brewing. If you're into gong fu cha, I'd recommend something else, unless you're a master at fast pouring.
Page 1 of 1 page with 4 reviews
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