Tie Guan Yin

Tie Guan Yin (Tieguanyin, "Iron Goddess of Mercy") is the most famous Chinese oolong — a rolled, partially oxidised tea from Anxi county in southern Fujian, made from a single prized cultivar of the same name. It is the archetype of the ball-rolled oolong: the leaf is kneaded again and again into tight, dense little pellets that slowly unfurl over many infusions. Two styles dominate. The modern "jade" or fresh-fragrance (qingxiang) Tie Guan Yin is only lightly oxidised and barely roasted, brewing to a pale, almost green-gold cup that is famously floral — orchid, lilac and gardenia — creamy and long on the palate. The older "roast-fragrance" (nongxiang) style is more oxidised and charcoal-fired to a warm amber, trading raw perfume for toasted, honeyed, roasted-nut and dried-longan depth. Both share the cultivar's signature "yinyun" — a lingering, mouth-filling aftertaste that Anxi tea people prize above all.