2024 Jade Anxi Tie Guan Yin - Light Roasted 清香型安溪铁观音

 Now serving at Sun Ray Cafe, Parched by Parchmen (Ubi) and Pacto by Parchmen (Jalan Besar Community Centre)

Most will agree that lighted roasted Anxi Tie Guan Yin is perhaps the most forward on floral aromas in all teas known in the global tea world. The spinach and magnolia notes are very easy to recognise, and the lively mouthfeel leaves one salivating and longing for more.

Tie Guan Yin varietal originates from Xi Ping Township of Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian province of China (泉州市安溪县西坪镇), on the west of the county. Tie Guan Yin is harvested a total of 5 times in Anxi but recent years see only 4 harvests - spring, summer, early autumn, autumn and missing the winter tea. The farms we work with only harvest Tie Guan Yin twice a year - the 2 more valued harvests of spring and autumn. The farmer's adage rings loud: Spring water (i.e. a rounder tea body) and autumn aroma (春水秋香). After a long winter, the bush would have accumulated substantial nutrients to brew a thick tea. Through summer till autumn, the bush would have bathed in enough sunlight to create aromatic compounds to brew a tea of higher aroma with a longer aftertaste. The abundance of sunlight in the middle two harvests usually produce teas of lesser elegance and coarser mouthfeel, and are usually sold in the mass market to Chinese restaurants. In Tie Guan Yin making techniques, there are three styles - lightly roasted (清香型), heavily roasted (浓香型) and aged (陈香型). Ultimately, the tea drinker decides his preference.

Our spring tea is from Nan An City (南安), between Anxi county on its east and Quanzhou city on its west, on the tea mountains about 45 min's drive from Anxi urban centre. The tea farm is around 400m, located right on the ridgeline formed by Chinese eucalyptus trees (桉树) used for paper making. Growing amongst wild flora and fauna, osmanthus trees are planted with the tea shrubs to encourage cross-fertilisation between them for a more floral tea. The processing factory is right in the tea farm, allowing prompt processing and avoiding the uncontrolled oxidation experienced by leaves harvested a long distance away from factory. The farm does not use any chemical fertilizer but the tea shrubs benefit from the dung from cows which move through the farm. For speed to market, recent years see spring Tie Guan Yin being harvested before optimum maturity of the tea buds. Our tea avoids this commercial trend and is harvested on time. At the start of May when the best Tie Guan Yin leaves are harvested, noon temperature is high at about 27°C and night temperature drops to 17°C. The diurnal range is beneficial to the development of quality Tie Guan Yin. 2024 Spring tea was made by Parchmen & Co together with our tea master in the mountains of Anxi, Fujian. The leaves are harvested on 3rd May 2024 and roasted at 2 am on 4th May 2024. We have sold out this tea in four months mid September.

Our autumn tea is from Xianghua Village (祥华乡), in the direction of Xi Ping Township and towards Zhangping City (漳平) famous for Zhangping Shui Xian (漳平水仙). This farm is at a higher elevation as compared to the farm of our spring tea. At 800m the teas enjoys a cooler summer and autumn on an average 17℃, with some frosty and foggy days, but still ample sunlight and rain. Such environment provides the necessary conditions for the leaves to mature slower under the stronger sun of the growing season, and reduce the associated astringency. It was harvested late autumn on 2nd October. 

The tea master who made these teas is Xu Liang Hu (许良虎), who is the Chinese government appointed custodian of the intangible heritage of Tie Guan Yin making techniques (非物质文化遗产铁观音制作传承人). 

In 22nd May 2023, Tie Guan Yin technique was recognised by UN FAO as a globally important agricultural heritage system.

For the Spring tea, we have made two grades of the Tie Guan Yin - Grade 1 and Special Grade. The special grade was hand and machine sorted for a more unform colour, reflecting the evenness of the leaves and clarity of flavour.

For the Autumn tea, we have Grade 1 and 2. The former is hand sorted and underwent one pass on the coloir sorting machine. The latter is just hand sorted. It is easy to recognise that Grade 1 is more uniform in shape and colour. The colour identifies the part of the stem the leaves were from. The upper and newer leaves will show a darker green. The lower and older leaves will show a lighter green due to diminishing levels of chlorophyll. 


Brew Flavour
We are brewing this tea in our gaiwan, using 3g of leaves to 150ml of 95°C water, for 45 sec. 

This spring tea offers a layered sensory experience. One first recognises the smooth and soft body, and the magnolia and spinach aromas come after. Brew colour is cinnamon for the special grade and yellow greenish for grade 1. The dry and brewed tea are more unform in colour and size for special grade as compared to grade 1. Aftertaste is floral and sweet, turning sweeter as it cools. The heavier body gives the tea a juicy texture. The good stamina of Tie Guan Yin allows it to be rebrewed multiple times, living up to another adage that there is residual aroma even after seven brews. Add 15 sec for subsequent brews. The special grade is clean, sweet and without astringency. Its elegance leaves an impression. The grade 1 has a slight astringency with more brews.

The autumn tea gives us the familiar floral notes, leaning more towards magnolia and jasmine than vegetal notes in the brewed leaves. On the first brew, the colour is dull yellow, with a pleasant dryness on the tongue and a thick juicy body that is chewable. On the second brew, the colour lightens a little, with reduced dryness, and has a curious cacao nibs afterflavour. In both brews, the aroma dominates the entire palette from hot to cool, and lingers in the afterflavour. On a zisha tea pot, the gongfu tea method of brewing for 10-15 sec will reveal its full aroma slowly, brew by brew, stretching over 7 brews. Indeed "residual aroma even after seven brews" (七泡有余香)!Welcome onboard Parchmen & Co, and travel with us to savour our world in a cup!

Welcome onboard Parchmen & Co, and travel with us to savour our world in a cup!