Tea Session: Dragon Head Phoenix Tail Tie Guan Yin

This particular tea is one I purchased from West China Tea Company. I love charcoal roasted teas, especially traditional style Tie Guan Yins. I love the taste of the roast, the smoke, the underlying notes of potentially chocolate, carmel/toffee, mild sweetness, etc. Each charcoal roasted teas are different from each other, depending on what flavors the roaster decides is needed.

I wanted to compare this tea to their Charcoal Roasted TGY, which is one of my favorites (and for which I'll have to make a different post at a future date). Both teas are roasted by A. Long, and I wanted to see his work between these two different teas.

• Tea: Dragon Head Phoenix Tail TGY
• Type: Oolong, Tie Guan Yin

From their website:

Our traditional Charcoal Roasted Tiě Guān Yīn is distinguished from many modern low-oxidation Tiě Guān Yīn by the intense traditional Tàn Bèi 炭焙 roasting process. This step requires a high degree of experience and skill and its success or failure is absolutely instrumental in determining the final quality of the finished oolong. Master A Long of Chaozhou is a fourth generation tea master and uses the skills passed down from his great grandfather, who was an Anxi oolong master, to roast our Tiě Guān Yīn. However, the Tàn Bèi roasting step is the final process of making an oolong - the other steps include picking, withering, rocking, fluffing, fixing, oxidizing, firing, rolling, and drying. These are typically accomplished with the use of various machines, most of which employ a combination of charcoal heat and electric power to simplify the process. While the use of these machines does require skill and greatly reduces the amount of effort and time needed to process the tea, the traditional hand-processing methods to accomplish the same steps still produce a superior product, when done by a skilled master. A Long has been working with Anxi tea farmers who apply the traditional methods to a small, especially high-grade proportion of their harvest, which he then roasts himself in Chaozhou. The resulting tea is completely hand-made, giving a slightly looser, more natural-looking compression to its dark, rolled leaves. The tadpole-shaped leaves with their long “tails” give this tea its name. Because of the highly selective starting material, as well as the hand-processing that precedes the final roast, this special grade of Tiě Guān Yīn is more complex, with a deeper, more resonant huí gān 回甘 ("returning sweetness") and stronger Qi than the regular version. The after fragrance in the finished cup fades from coffee to caramel to butterscotch to vanilla before disappearing.

Recommended Brewing: 212 for 5-7 seconds as stated on the bag)

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Tea Session

Although the recommended brewing is only 5-7 seconds, I decided to forgo that for a longer steep as I like my tea a bit strong. However, from experience, I do know that near boiling water is much better for these charcoal roasted teas.

• Teaware: 110 ml Gaiwan
• Water Amount: ~ 100 ml
• Tea Amount: 5.64 grams.
• Brewing Temperatures: 205 - 210 F
• Time (seconds): 15, 15, 25, 43, ??, ??, ??
• High notes of the aroma: The lid of the gaiwan smells of smoke, wood, roast. Then in later infusions, burnt sugar & sweetness
• Low notes of the aroma: The leaves smell of fire, roasted notes, smoke.
• Leaves: The leaves are slow to open, and never fully open even after the 5th infusion
• Broth: The color of the broth starts with a mild amber yellow, then progressively turns into a lovely dark read.
• 1st infusion:  15 seconds. This is very mild. It has notes of heavy roast, smoke, campfire. There's a tingling of cha qi on my tongue as I drink this. As the broth cools, I can taste burnt toffee.
• 2nd infusion: 15 seconds. I'm watching the broth turn into a dark red when I decide I need to decant this. The high notes of the aroma now has a sweet undertone. It's somewhat similar to the 1st infusion; it starts ith smoke, then moves into vanilla. The heavy roast mellows out into a sweet aftertaste with a nice juiciness on the tongue as well as the cha qi.
• 3rd infusion: 25 seconds. I taste more of burn sugar, charcoal, and roast. The aftertaste is like a chewy caramel. The liquid is viscous with a mild astringency. I still feel the cha qi of this tea coating my mouth making it tingle.
• 4th infusion: 43 seconds.  I think I didn't let this steep as long. It's not as viscous as #3.  The notes are still there, but milder, slightly sweeter. There's an astringency at the back of the tongue, and I still feel the cha qi on my tongue, back of my throat, and up to my head.
• 5th infusion: ?? seconds > 60 seconds; I decide to let the tea dictate its own steeping time by watching the opening of the leaves. The broth is still dark red, and the extra steeping time has brought out more of the roasted flavors with a pleasant astringency. The cha qi is still present, but dwindling.
• 6+ infusion: I don't watch the timers for this, but just looking at the color of the broth and how the leaves open. It's still lovely and goes on for at least 8 more steeps.... I've lost track.

 

After a very long session, the tea leaves seemed to have more life, so I have been letting it "steep in the cup" or grandpa style for the rest of the evening. It did fairly well.

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Summary

If you like charcoal roasted teas, this is pretty good. Although, I think the roast might be a bit too fresh still. The roast is very strong & predominant in this tea, but it's not overpowering. It mellows out in later steeps to a nice sweetness, reminiscent of toffee & caramel. 

I love that I can hit this with boiling hot water and there is barely any bitterness, and just a very mild astringency. 

Initially, it does well with short steeps at near boiling water, but I think it does much better if you let the leaves dictate on when to decant your tea, by just watching how much the tea leaves open up. And this tea does take its time to open its leaves. Depending on how strong you like your tea, I would suggest starting off with a minimum of 15 seconds, then going from there.