Today’s tea review I’m drinking Tillerman Tea’s 2019 Spring Muzha Tieguanyin and 2019 Summer Oriental Beauty.
All teas I steeped gongfu style, 1 gram of leaf per 15ml vessel size, in boiling water.
2019 Muzha Tieguanyin from Tillerman Tea
The leaf has a freshly roasted scent, caramel nuttiness.
After a rinse and infusion, the hot leaf has a deep caramel and roast scent continued.
First and Second Infusion: The first sip of Tillerman Tea’s Muzha Tieguanyin gives off the impression of the fresh roast. Sharp and slightly ashy, but the tea is smooth once you get past it. It’s sweet, buttery milky caramel, and lightly fruity. The second infusion the sharp roast slips.
This tea has the body as it has the sensation of drinking a bag of rocks, a feeling that I love in a good oolong.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: The roast bitterness is back, with the tea having a slight acidic feel in the finish. This acidic finish is unusual and interesting. It is not sour nor bitter, but I feel it might be a form of astringency combining with a grapefruit pith note. The aftertaste is strongly stone fruity, like an underripe peach.
Seventh Infusion: Muzha Tieguanyin finally steps into its final state tasting of mineral and underripe peaches, officially slipping sour, dry, and bitter, but balanced.
This Muzha Tieguanyin is freshly roasted but sports some good body and notes. I prefer it now despite I tend to like roast a year or two later. The roast adds a good comfortable feel and I worry about those acidic sour notes settling in. I would say this was an awesome year for Tillerman Tea’s Muzha Tieguanyin compared to previous years.
2019 Oriental Beauty from Tillerman Tea
Strangely, this Oriental Beauty smells like sweet potato.
Steeped up the tea is back to that classic grapey floral oriental beauty scent.
First and Second Infusion: 2019 Oriental Beauty is well balanced and sweet. It sips in honey and osmanthus floral. The aftertaste is slightly grassy sweet. What is impressive about this tea is the texture is dense, slow and smooth, like lava carrying flowers and honey.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: Tillerman Tea’s Oriental Beauty develops a stronger osmanthus floral, leaning citrus and slightly tannic.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: These last infusions got dry and bitter, but carried on stronger floral citrus, with a woodsy and tannic finish.
Tillerman Tea’s 2019 Oriental Beauty has excellent early infusions with dense floral honey. I enjoyed how balanced this oolong is, as well as the excellent floral notes.
Tillerman Tea has been having a great year – their Laoshi Dong Ding is a gem. Be sure to check out their teas before they all run out.
(teas provided for review)
