I love the story behind the name of this tea, so I'll start off with the version given on the Norbu Tea website:

"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. "

Norbu Tea packages their Tie Guan Yin in 25 g. vacuum sealed packets. When I opened my sample the hard-packed little portion inhaled and relaxed into a handful of large, tightly twisted leaves about the color of lightly steamed spinach and redolent with a daffodil-like floral sweetness. Years ago I had a really good Tie Guan Yin, sweet in both fragrance and taste, and I've been looking for another that good ever since, through a series of teas that just didn't live up to the memory. The amazing fragrance of these dry leaves was very promising.

This tea is grown in Anxi County in Fujian Provence, which you can locate on the map Norbu helpfully includes on the tea's website listing. It is listed as Diamond AAA grade, and was heat dried, rather than roasted. The 25 g sample was just right for my 8 oz Yixing (pronounced ee-shing) teapot, the traditional vessel for brewing fine oolongs. You can brew oolongs western-style, using a teaspoon or so per cup of water, but I think gong fu-style brewing really makes the most of a good oolong. If you don't have an Yixing pot, you can find directions at the Norbu site on how to do it with a covered cup. It's only an approximation, but can give you an idea of the difference. Brewed in a cup, oolong is a beautiful tea. Brewed gong fu style in a good quality Yixing pot, it becomes the tea equivalent of a liqueur, very rich and concentrated.

I filled and emptied the pot with 190F water to warm it, added the leaves (when using twisted leaves, you fill the pot about a quarter of the way with the dry leaves; with loose, open leaves, you fill it about a third), filled it with 190F water and quickly poured off the 'foot water.' A beautiful fragrance filled the catch basin and the kitchen—daffodils, lilacs, and stone fruit. I refilled the pot, let it stand about ten seconds, then poured my first cup. The liquor was a pale peridot green and smelled fantastic. And I'm happy to say the flavor lived up to the promise, too. Delicate, mouth filling, stone fruit sweet, a little nutty, a little buttery, and very fragrant in the mouth. Breathing out through the nose between sips was a sensory pleasure. As the tea cooled the sweetness of both the fragrance and flavor continued to sweeten, with hints of caramel and hot buttered popcorn appearing.

According to my tea references, a good oolong can often be infused as many as twelve to fifteen times. Returning to the pot, I found the leaves well unfurled now, already crowding the confines of the little Yixing, as they should. The dark green leaves were huge, over an inch long and mostly in one piece. I did a second infusion of about twelve seconds and was rewarded with a cup that easily equaled the first, but there had been a subtle shift in fragrance. It was a little stronger, with a hint of an edge—chrysanthemum? Still very floral. The flavor was more mouth filling, almost seeming to coat my tongue, with not the slightest hint of bitterness, and only the mildest feeling of astringency.

I pushed the next infusion a little and went for twenty second. (As an aside, my terra cotta-colored Yixing had deepened to a rich darker red, which, according to tea master and Yixing expert Lim Kean Siew, is a sign that the tea is well suited to the pot.) The longer steeping resulted in another rich, sweet, fragrant cup, tasting clearly of stone fruit now, with no sign of weakening and again, no bitterness. A fourth steeping of thirty seconds came out smelling more like gardenia. The flavor was mellow and sweet now.

I have a lot of desk work to do today, and I think this one little pot of leaves is going to keep me going until quitting time. This is the Tie Guan Yin I've been looking for. Highly recommended, especially for gong fu brewing.

Addendum: Six hours and seven steepings later, it's still going strong.

— To purchase Norbu Diamond Grade Tie Guan Yin Spring Harvest 2009, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.

Lynn Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Lynn's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Lynn.

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