Nonpareil Anxi Qing Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong Tea

I’m not sure why I purchase another sample of this one with one of my Teavivre orders. I think I thought that I hadn’t tried it before, which is crazy because it is one of my all-time highest rated teas on here. Maybe the long name through me off. I felt silly when I went to add it to my cupboard and saw my own effusive reviews.

Anyway, a discussion on oolongs yesterday got me thinking of really fine tieguanyins and I decided to have this one this morning. Man, this tea is just outstanding. It blew me away again! So sweet, so floral, so buttery. I can’t get over how delicious this tea is. If you love green, floral tieguanyins please do yourself a favor and get some of this. It is truly one of the highest quality ones I have tried.

I saved the leaves from my first sampling of this sample sent by Teavivre for review. I almost didn’t want to use them because the first steep had been so amazingly good that I didn’t want a watered down version of that experience. But today I decided to give these leaves a go and see how they held up.

Oh joy! This is every bit as good as the first steep! And keep in mind that I am making this western style. The tea has a naturally floral quality that is just magnificent.

Here is how I pictured it. Imagine being flustered and distracted and busy, and then an elegant, gracious woman takes you by the arm and leads you to a chair. At her first touch, you feel calm. She gives you a cup of tea, and as sip you become like her – elegant, calm, poised, controlled, focused, peaceful, and gracious.

On my shopping list!

Good golly this is amazing! The floral aspects are perfection but there is a melon-y aspect that is surprising and delicious!
This goes on the TO ORDER list!
This may just end up being a staple as well.
We will see how much I continue to crave it after my first order.

Quite possibly the finest ti guan yin of my life. The scent of the leaves alone was enough to send me into ecstasy. It’s like being in the best most fragrant flower garden. Absolutely amazing.
I had no idea the leaves would unfurl so quickly and at such volume. My basket was almost overflowing.
The taste of this tea is magical. Floral and fresh. Apple aftertaste. Just a bit vegetal, but unlike any vegetable I know. Slight peachiness. This is gently energizing. Perfect for me as I’m feeling pretty tired.

This is a beautiful tea.

I’m gonna pull a shmiracles with this post, but first let me thank Angel at Teavivre for letting me try this tea.

First of all, as it has been said in other reviews, this tea comes in a vacuum sealed bag inside another vacuum sealed bag. Upon opening the inner bag, the tea immediately makes way into your senses. The smell is fresh, clean, buttery and floral, and the colour is an amazing vibrant green. Like all TGY teas, the leaves of this one are tightly rolled and they open up once they hit the hot water.

Is this not gorgeous?? Assuming it is visible outside the realms of Facebook.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/946045_10151409451372374_318358809_n.jpg

Drinking this tea, I thought of a song called “Shimmering, Warm, and Bright” by Bel Canto (a Norwegian band).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugnDTJXpSw0

I’m drinking this infusion plain, no sugar or anything. I do tend to drink my lighter oolongs plain, or with a very small amount of sweetener. I can pick up a smooth buttery feeling, slightly drying, and a light and somewhat sweet floral note. There is also a slight savoury taste, like roasted nuts or something. Whatever it is, it is all very good! I hope to get more steeps. Next time I think I may start with a shorter steep time, and build up as I re-steep.

Thanks again for letting me try this tea!

Backlog:

I previously reviewed this tea but because I recently revisited it, I wrote a new review about it, and you can check that review out here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/01/12/nonpareil-anxi-qing-xiang-tieguanyin-oolong-tea-from-teavivre/

I have said it before, but I’ll say it again. I simply love Teavivre. They have some of the very finest teas that can be found anywhere.

Sweet, floral, creamy with notes of vanilla and orchid. You can read about my adventures with each infusion on the full-length review, just click on the link I’ve provided above.

I normally don’t read the reviews before I post on a new tea. I did for this one. I did not get the same consistently amazing results others reported. I believe it was my own fault. I insisted on using my standard western big mug approach with half the sample. Do not try this at home! The result was generally an overly weak mug. Go ahead use all the sample and a smaller cup.

Even though I kind of blew this one, the second mug was fabulous. Here are my notes on that one:

For the second mug I steeped about 2 1/2 minutes. This cup fills your mouth with delicious combination of floral and fruit. The first sip was one of those Mmmmm moments, you know when the world goes into momentary freeze frame and you get lost in the cup. Yeah, its that good. It still has that wonderful thick creamy feel and I notice a fair amount of cooling sensation on my breath. The aftertaste hangs around with kind of a melon taste.

Tie Guan Yin normally has a distinctive floral taste, well except this one. I mean it is there, but it is just different. This is so much fresher, lighter, more defined but harder to describe. Normally I think of Tie Guan Yin as tasting like a geranium plant smells. This is closer to something like rose petals with citrus (peach and melon?), and warm spices. It is just Wow!

Not rating until I brew this one correctly. The second cup was easily a 90+.

Thank you to Angel at Teavivre for these samples
I didn’t realize that I had sampled this tea already!
I hope I have this in the correct listing
This was a smooth, fresh green oolong. It is buttery and vegetal but not overwhelmingly so. The resteep seems to be creamier and even more delicious

Thank you Angel! I just got my package in today. Perfect timing by the way, as I’m trying to relax. I have to say that Teavivre’s shipping is amazingly quick. This tea is just something else. The leaves are this amazing, deep green color. The dry leaf has an amazing magnolia/deep floral aspect. I’m so surprised how fragrant this one is. I’m going to steep this in my smallest teapot (~6oz) for 1min/2min/3min.
1st steep (1min): The liquor is very clear and has notes of hay and flowers. The leaves unfurled in this amount of time and are just the most amazing shade of green. This has the most interesting flavor! There is a bite of something I don’t have words for. This has some quiet floral notes and almost a hint of grape there in the background; it is very faint. This is one interesting tea!
2nd steep (2min): Much more floral this time. Very warming and strong flavored.
3rd steep (3min): Still very flavorful, a really solid tea and one that I’d recommend.

I would like to thank Angel with TeaVivre for providing me with this sample. When I first opened my package I was surprised with the care they took when packaging the sample. Not only was it vacuum sealed in a foil pack, but the tea inside was also wrapped in plastic to preserve the flavor. 

My first steep was a pale golden color with a tinge of green. The aroma and scent from this steep was very floral, almost overwhelmingly so while it was hot. There was a bit of astringency while the tea was still hot, but it disappeared once it cooled. It also had a subtle sweetness that I noticed towards the end of each sip.

My second and third steeps were slightly darker in color and more golden. One thing that I have noticed is that the floral flavors become much more apparent with each additional infusion. There is also a bit of a mineral taste with these steeps that I only noticed while the tea was still hot. Once it cooled to room temperature it, as well as the slight astringency I noticed, completely disappeared.

This tea has such a depth to it that makes it a little hard to describe and I noticed immediately that the flavor isn’t like any other oolong that I’ve had. It very quickly became my new favorite oolong.