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Chinese · VI The Beverage Tradition

Tieguanyin (鐵觀音)

Anxi, southern Fujian

‹ The Beverage Tradition

I

Origin

Tieguanyin is an oolong tea of Anxi county in southern Fujian, made from a cultivar of the tea plant Camellia sinensis that takes its name from the cultivar, the name meaning iron Guanyin, after the bodhisattva of mercy. Oolong making in Fujian belongs to the older tradition of the Wuyi mountains in the north of the province, and Anxi carries its own branch of that craft. The tea has long travelled with Fujianese and Chaozhou communities, and its place in the Chaozhou and Hong Kong tea tables owes much to that movement.

II

Description

Tieguanyin is a partly oxidised tea, standing between green and black in the range of Chinese teas. The leaves are picked as mature shoots of two or three leaves with a bud, withered, shaken and rested to bruise the leaf edges, then fixed with heat, rolled and dried. The finished leaf is rolled into small dark green beads that open into whole leaves in the water. Two broad styles are met: a light, green, floral one with limited oxidation and roasting, and a darker, more heavily roasted one with a deeper, toasted character.

III

The Thread

—Both are whole-leaf teas prepared by fixing the leaf with heat after picking and then shaping it, so that the leaf unfolds in the infusion. Sencha is steamed and unoxidised, giving a grassy, marine flavour, while Tieguanyin is partly oxidised and bruised before firing, giving a floral, orchid-like one. Japanese
—Both are teas prized by season and by the place of the garden, and both are brewed without milk so the aroma of the leaf can be read. Darjeeling is a lightly oxidised leaf of the spring plucking in the Himalayan foothills, whereas Tieguanyin is rolled, repeatedly infused and valued as much for its aftertaste as for its first cup. Indian
—Both are drinks in which one measure of dried leaf is infused again and again, with a shared vessel and a host who serves. Mate is made from yerba mate, Ilex paraguariensis, in a gourd with a straw, while Tieguanyin is steeped in a small pot or lidded bowl and poured into thimble cups. Argentine
IV

Flavour Context

Tieguanyin is drunk without milk or sugar, in small cups, in the manner of gongfu cha, and is taken after a meal or between courses of a Chaozhou or Fujianese table to clear the palate of oil. Its floral, faintly astringent character cuts through fat in pork, goose and fried foods, and the tradition counts it a drink for the end of a rich meal. It is also served to guests on arrival, as the first courtesy of the house.

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