There is no doubt that the Tie Guan Yin cultivar and its processing skills were brought to Taiwan from southern Fujian, China in late Qing dynasty. However, when you look at how its processing skills and its market has been evolved on both sides, you would be surprised by how different they are.

One of the most prominent characters of the “Tie Guan Yin” cultivar is the exuberant and intense fragrance of the leaves after the oxidation step during processing. Few cultivars can compete with Tie Guan Yin on its fragrance at this stage. Interestingly, while this unique character becomes an advantage in its development in China with Anxi as the center, it is regarded as a potential, if not a disadvantage, in its development in Taiwan. How could such an intense fragrance become a disadvantage? And what are the reasons behind the divergence in its fate?

Taiwan’s processing skills of Tie Guan Yin largely preserve the old tradition of southern Fujian. Tie Guan Yin’s intense fragrance is considered as overly exaggerating and less refined. And the fact is, without proper post-processing and roasting, Tie Guan Yin can be harsh to the stomach. I have heard people praising the fragrance of Anxi Tie Gian Yin but at the same complaining the uncomfortable feeling in their stomach after drinking it.

In China’s current tea market, “Nan Cha Bei Zhou” – meaning southern’s tea leaves, and northern’s tea fashion – is becoming the prevailing trend. Not only Anxi’s Tie Guan Yin, but Fo Shou (Budda’s Hand) of Yun Chun, Fujian also moves away from the traditional heavy wood-roasting style to the light-oxidation, light-roasting fashion.

The expression of yun by Taiwan’s Tie Guan Yin is really exceptional. The aroma is rich and vibrant, concentrated, ripely fruity, and enhanced by the solid roasting “fired” feeling. This is a tea that can be not only enjoyed now, but also great for aging for several years (may need re-roasting after to reduce humidity) to enhance mellowness. You can enjoy it day and night without the worry of having a stomach.

Which one is better? The exuberantly fragrant Anxi TGY or the superbly mellow Taiwan TGY? I am sure both have their die-hard followers. But isn’t it a blessing to be able to look through Taiwan’s Tie Guan Yin to find what the old wisdom was and how it is still living?

Guang

There is no doubt that the Tie Guan Yin cultivar and its processing skills were brought to Taiwan from southern Fujian, China in late Qing dynasty. However, when you look at how its processing skills and its market has been evolved on both sides, you would be surprised by how different they are.

One of the most prominent characters of the “Tie Guan Yin” cultivar is the exuberant and intense fragrance of the leaves after the oxidation step during processing. Few cultivars can compete with Tie Guan Yin on its fragrance at this stage. Interestingly, while this unique character becomes an advantage in its development in China with Anxi as the center, it is regarded as a potential, if not a disadvantage, in its development in Taiwan. How could such an intense fragrance become a disadvantage? And what are the reasons behind the divergence in its fate?

Taiwan’s processing skills of Tie Guan Yin largely preserve the old tradition of southern Fujian. Tie Guan Yin’s intense fragrance is considered as overly exaggerating and less refined. And the fact is, without proper post-processing and roasting, Tie Guan Yin can be harsh to the stomach. I have heard people praising the fragrance of Anxi Tie Gian Yin but at the same complaining the uncomfortable feeling in their stomach after drinking it.

In China’s current tea market, “Nan Cha Bei Zhou” – meaning southern’s tea leaves, and northern’s tea fashion – is becoming the prevailing trend. Not only Anxi’s Tie Guan Yin, but Fo Shou (Budda’s Hand) of Yun Chun, Fujian also moves away from the traditional heavy wood-roasting style to the light-oxidation, light-roasting fashion.

The expression of yun by Taiwan’s Tie Guan Yin is really exceptional. The aroma is rich and vibrant, concentrated, ripely fruity, and enhanced by the solid roasting “fired” feeling. This is a tea that can be not only enjoyed now, but also great for aging for several years (may need re-roasting after to reduce humidity) to enhance mellowness. You can enjoy it day and night without the worry of having a stomach.

Which one is better? The exuberantly fragrant Anxi TGY or the superbly mellow Taiwan TGY? I am sure both have their die-hard followers. But isn’t it a blessing to be able to look through Taiwan’s Tie Guan Yin to find what the old wisdom was and how it is still living?

Guang

In Part I, we tried to demystify Da Hong Pao and gave our tribute to the person whose courage and passion prevented one of the most precious tradition in Chinese tea culture from extinction.

This reminds us the fundamental difference that separate wuyi (in fact, all oolongs) from pu-erhs. For pu-erhs, more precisely for traditional pu-erhs, the “cultivar” has never been a core concern regarding their quality or characters. When tea trees grow wildly, including those in long-abandoned “semi-wild” kinds, they propagate sexually by seeds. Each child plant from the seed bears some characters from the father, and some from the mother.

But for Wuyi, “cultivar” is vitally important. Vast amount of effort in yen-cha’s heritage have been spent on finding and identifying the most promising tea plants from the wild. Yes, originally those plants were also from seeds. But once the plant’s quality and character were proved to be very worthy, it was propagated asexually by cuttings or layerings.

So you may have heard people saying “this is the XX generation of Da Hong Pao”… the saying is meaningless at all. By asexually propagated, the seedlings are identical to the mother plant.

However, the prevailing opinion on the market about “Da Hong Pao”, as reflected by the interview of Hong Kong’s famous tea entrepreneur Mr. Huang Jing-Zhi (Pu-erh Tepot Magazine, No. 19, page 48~54), is that “nowadays, it’s ok to call all premium quality wuyi yen cha as Da Hong Pao”. … hummm ??? If that is true, Mr. Yao might a well spend his spare time on the rice farm reading Chairman Mao’s red book, instead of worrying about those dying whatever tea trees!

I am very glad to know the gentleman who is listed as one of the Heritage Inheritor. Few of China’s tea producer is so willing to spend hours on the phone with a buyer who purchases only several pounds of his teas. I have met too many people who initially was very courteous to me, and once we moved on to business and he realized my order was in the unit of pounds not tons, I was like on the “do not call” list forever!

We are offering two of his 07 Spring yen cha, Rou Gui and Da Hong Pao. Both were done 100% by hands, not using any machine step. And both are 100% as what their name say, no blending. Enjoy!

Guang