Tea of the Month for March-Tai Guan Yin

I went back to the "tea city" where I normally purchase my teas. This time I investigated another shop. The first time I went, the entire place looked gutted, and access to the many shops looked tricky if at all possible so I went to one of the shops with a street access. Prior to going this time, I did a little research and went there with a particular tea in mind and I decided to try another tea shop. Since most of references I checked on the web are in English, I also had to consult a local source (M.L.) for the translation. However, when I got there, I asked for the specific tea, and no one knew what I meant.

So I sat down in one of the shops, where the keepers looked really friendly. Through some pretty good conversation (in English), he found the tea that I set out to try and brought some down [upon my return home, I found another translation for the tea, and it was totally different than the one I had at the shop. I am sufficiently intrigued by the original tea to try again]. The tea he identified as my quested tea was pretty good, but lacked the allure of the two previous teas that I have purchased, and had no real aroma to it.

Since this appeared to be a kink in my plans, I asked Mark, the shop owner, to tell me about his favorite tea. Mark comes from the Fujian province where a great deal of tea is grown. His parents have planted tea, but it sounded as though it might not have been for themselves, but for others- perhaps a state owned operation? I have saved those kinds of questions for my next visit to him. He was very knowledgeable about tea and has now been selling it in Shanghai for six years.

His favorite tea called Tai Guan Yin, not surprisingly from Fujian. He says that not only is it a delicious tea, but it can be drunk at all times of the day. Where he comes from, this is the drink of choice. I tried two different grades, and ended up purchasing the lower grade of the two; the subtle differences, which I could not pick up (remember, I am in the 95% of population with the lesser taste buds per square inch) were not worth the steep difference in price.


It is a blue tea- or part of the oolong family. The tea in its leaf form looks a little blue, but brews out green. Mark says that it is a common misconception to call this tea black. There are six types of teas each categorized by color: black, green, white, blue, read and yellow. In terms of strength of taste, blue teas can be found between green and black. It undergoes the same process as black tea, except that before the tea leaves wilt, they are subjected ton intense steam (as much as 100 degrees). This process gives it the color of the leaves, but when the leaves are unrolled, they are green.

I received strict instructions to boil the water and let it sit for no more than ten seconds. Mark noted also that the leaves can be reused as many as 8 times before discarding. So today, I opened the vacuum sealed 7 gram pack of tea leaves (they are sold this way for freshness, and kept in the freezer- Mark says that this way they can have a "shelf" life of 1 year), put them in the warmed teapot, poured the boiling water over the leaves, and counted to 10. The result is a very light green cup of tea. It is very fragrant, but the scent defies description. It has some floral notes - a bit like Jasmine- but also some grass and potato scents. You can also taste the floral notes; the tea is light like the color and has the same after taste as a really high grade green tea. Completely delicious and very subtle. I have never tasted anything quite like this. Some of the web sites state that it has an orchid scent and a potato scent and taste. It did remind me of Russian Caravan, but far less strong.



Tai Gwan Yin is also called Iron Goddess of Mercy and has many different spellings. They grow it in China, but also in Taiwan. The original production of this tea is attributed to Xiping village in Anxi county, in Fujian province. They have been growing this special variety of Camellia Sinensis for over 200 years. There is a legend associated with this tea, and you can read it here. Wow... who knew this tea could be so interesting!! For those of you in Vancouver, check Chinatown for this one; your efforts will be well rewarded.

I also bought this nice clay tea canister from one of the vendors in the Tea City, that I will be using to keep my Keemun tea, once I buy a little bit more of it. It almost makes up for breaking the lid on my 20 year old Japanese Tokoname pottery tea pot.