Jin Guanyin

Wow! This tea is wow and it matches our wow weather.

Here on April 15th, despite the crocuses and tulips having previously begun to peek out of the earth, we are in the second day of an ice storm complete with weather warning. Thousands of people are without electricity. The streets are silent. People are already cancelling things for tomorrow.

This Jin Guanyin is a Master Zhang creation.

Such sweetness and full rich cream. Rather like honeyed butter custard milk oolong times a gazillion. Honeysuckle, and possibly orchid, melding into more gently vegetal notes with subsequent steeps.

Earlier this week, I was drinking Jin Guanyin Wuyi Oolong created by a different tea master which was absolutely another thing altogether: processing and so on. Tea is a fascinating thing. The discoveries continue.

Thank you, CrowKettle, for this sample.

Steeped: 5

Backlog.

This one had characteristics of a milk oolong and a TGY. Lots of cream, dairy, and orchid like flavors. Thick mouthfeel and a very milky texture. There was a slight staleness to it but that didn’t detract from the flavor.

I steeped 3.5g in a 80ml gaiwan for 10s and then added 2s to subsequent steeps per Verdant’s instructions. The dry leaf smelled like cream, with some floral aromas similar with TGY. I detected hints of orchid, iris, and what seemed like lavender. Wet leaf had more of a vegetal aroma.

The tea starts of TGY like and then shifts to buttercream with vegetal tones. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy. By the 3rd steep settles into a milk oolong like taste.

Despite being a little stale, this tea was able to show a lot of natural milkiness and had a nice creamy taste and texture. Personally I thought this tea was kinda boring. I got tired of it after a handful of steeps due to the lack of flavor evolution in taste.

After the last three Verdant oolong offerings, this one’s a real treat! Now this is something I’d order again.

If you’re planning to drink this tea I advise not to be like me and pair it with strong foods, like sharp cheddar, balsamic vinegar, or salmon burgers. The first steep is lilac butter, and while it does feel “fat thick” it’s still a delicate flavour profile.

Second and third steep offer lighter floral notes, with a touch of cream gaining ground on that butter note. Lingering aftertaste reminds me of an uncooked plantain, or soaked rice; it’s subtly starchy, and creamy-sweet from it.

Fourth steep smells of spiced flowers and lime fruit. There are a lot of things going on that I can’t pinpoint so I will sum it up as “floral fruit juice cream.” It’s like eating mango-flavoured tofu desserts (texture), while walking through a flower garden and sniffing all the violets.

Fifth steep is starting to get tired, so we’ll call it quits here.

Steep Count: 5 (x2)

I was drinking a gongfu cup (180-190F, 15sec), alongside a less impressive western style (185-190F, 3min) cup, which I didn’t make a note of here. It was generally flatter than the gongfu method, but the third steep was distinctly citrus-lime; the added cream and malt notes made me think of key lime pie.

First tasting today is Jin Guayin from Verdant tea. The first thing that struck me both in scent and taste is butter, its also quite smooth and easy to drink with a nice thick mouth feel. There is just the bare hint of vegatal in it as well, as well as a floral scent, that I cant quite pin down.

I really like this tea, and I made a bit of an oops in the third steeping I oversteeped it because my eggs were burning. This didnt actually change the flavor profile at all, Im guessing because oolong teas are pretty forgiving for steeping. I know they are often used in grandpa style brewing because of that. The primary flavors are still floral, butter and sweet.

There are other scents and flavors in this , but I think Im going to need to wait for a second tasting for that. And I really need a yixing teapot… lol.

Another of the autumn 2015 and spring 2016 teas that I have been desperately trying to finish up before moving on to the more recent harvests, this Jin Guanyin is one that I have been looking forward to reviewing for some time now. I didn’t mean to put off reviewing it for so long, it’s just that I ended up with a little more of it than I had planned. Overall, I found this to be an excellent and resilient green oolong that struck an admirable balance between savory and floral characteristics.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 208 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted strongly savory and floral aromas of cream, butter, and lilac. After the rinse, I picked up more pronounced aromas of cream, butter, and lilac coupled with scents of violet, steamed rice, and honeysuckle. The first infusion produced a similar, though more balanced aroma. I also began to note emerging impressions of gardenia and citrus on the nose. In the mouth, the entry was dominated by savory notes of steamed rice, cream, and butter, though floral notes of lilac, gardenia, violet, and honeysuckle were quick to provide a little balance. A little bit of sweetgrass also emerged toward the finish. Subsequent infusions were more floral on the nose and in the mouth, offering more pronounced aromas and flavors of lilac, gardenia, violet, and honeysuckle. The citrus emerged fully at this point, as the tea began to display an impression of lime zest beneath the floral aromas and flavors. The sweetgrass on the finish slightly intensified and was joined by a subtle note of minerals. Later infusions were very mild and washed out, offering dominant aromas and flavors of butter, cream, minerals, and sweetgrass, though I could still detect a distant floral impression on the finish. The tea also acquired a faint nutty character at this point, as I kept getting a very distant note of hazelnut.

I have had this tea at several different points over the past couple of months, and unlike the 2015 Green Goddess from Floating Leaves, I could tell that this one had mellowed just a tad. Still, the tea was very bright and lively in the mouth with strong savory and floral aromas and flavors. Despite this tea’s age, it was still an excellent drinking experience. I would recommend this tea to fans of contemporary green finish Anxi oolongs who are looking for amplified versions of the savory and floral characteristics displayed by both Huang Jin Gui and Tieguanyin.

Let me start off this review by saying that I’m not a giant fan of greener oolongs. I have found many to be obnoxiously floral yet thin. Also, they make me dizzy the way green tea does sometimes (except for matcha as it’s more processed and therefore removes some of the ‘freshness’ which causes dizziness in certain people.)

This wasn’t bad. First four steeps were creamy with a decent, lasting aroma. Nothing distinguishes this Jin Guan Yin too much from the average green oolong, only that everything tastes more balanced.

However, after four steeps it seemed to disintegrate into some overly savoury, fishy, grassy flavours which totally put me off.

If I discount that last steep, it wasn’t bad, but I can’t see myself reaching often for this over my beloved roasted oolongs.

Wow I can’t believe I get to be the one to start the steepster page for this enchanting oolong from Verdant Tea! I’ve waited months to try this tea. I was so excited to try a new offering from Master Zhang. I fell in love with his tieguanyin but this tea is giving it a run for its money! Jin guan yin is everything I loved about tieguanyin and more. I knew I was going to love it when I opened the bag. Pow! Talk about aromatic! The smell is Floral and sweet. The first steep is so creamy and almost fruity followed by the signature tieguanyin aftertaste that consumes my taste buds. I cannot wait to experiment more with this tea! Thank you Master Zheng for provided us with your latest masterpiece! Time to crack open the other 5 new anxi oolongs I ordered. My latest tea binge is really putting a dent in my wallet haha.