This lovely red heart tieguanyin is grown in the Muzha region of Northern Taiwan, and roasted to the traditional level. This is a taste of tieguanyin from days gone by, and done very well (and at a very nice price point)! It is tested to comply with Taiwanese pesticide standards and meets ISO quality standards. This tea has long been provided by a Hong Kong dealer, and is something I've been drinking for years. I didn't initially understand this tea or how Taiwanese tieguanyin differed from Anxi tieguanyin, so I didn't understand how great this tea really is for the money!
Hongxin tieguanyin is the original, heirloom cultivar of tieguanyin, and in 2019, much less hongxin is produced in Anxi because of the lower yield. Qingxin is now the dominant cultivar on both sides of the Taiwanese Straits. Qingxin is the cultivar used for the finest high mountain oolongs in Taiwan (which I no longer purchase, because of the environmental issues that result from high mountain oolong cultivation in Taiwan and Southeast Asia).
This tea has classic tieguanyin flavor, along with lovely mineral notes that I find in shuixian, as well as light and pleasant huigan. This is a roasty tea (as tieguanyin always was, until very recently in the history of the tea). It is smooth, clean, and calming. This tea is truly exceptional value and a very nice alternative to Anxi tieguanyin, and at a very nice price point! While there are fancier Muzha tieguanyin teas produced, at this price point, this is something you can drink every day and it definitely won't break the bank!
Please note as with many Taiwanese oolongs, you may need to let the tea breathe: Taiwanese teas are sometimes packed too dry since handling and storage are much more carefully controlled in Taiwan in many cases. Just opening the bag for an hour or so once or twice should be enough.
I like to cover the bottom of the pot (and a bit more) with this tea, as is common with Taiwanese balled oolongs. In the early days I used a 50% fill, as I was used to doing with Anxi tieguanyin. Please do not attempt to do that with this tea as you will suffer!
I like to start at 40-45 seconds for the first infusion, drop down to 30 seconds for the second, and then ramp up to one minute for the third, adding 30 seconds to one minute for each subsequent infusion.
