Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with a Stateside Steeps post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Masters Tea’s – Muzha Tie Guan Yin. As I’m sure you all know well enough by now I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve tried so far from Masters Teas so while I definitely had high expectations going into this I think I knew from past experiences that there was no way this tea wasn’t going to live up to them.
I would have thought that by this point it would have been quite hard for Masters Teas to continue to introduce me to any more teas but they still continue to to introduce me to new teas and in turn fantastic tea experiences time after time which as you know I am so incredibly thankful for.
Here’s what Masters Teas themselves have to say about this tea over on their website:
Origin : Wen Shan, Taiwan
Farmer : Jin Yi Li
Elevation : 300m
Infusions : 3 (it can do many more than that gongfu style though)
“A traditional Taiwanese oolong, Muzha Tie Guan Yin is a highly roasted leaf with a tightly rolled style. Its liquor is exquisitely aromatic with hints of honey, blossoms and a touch of mineral. Smooth yet complex, it even gives off a flicker of spice.”
“An offshoot of traditional Tie Guan Yin, Muzha Tie Guan Yin was developed during the 1920s in Taiwan. Notable for its oxidized and highly roasted character, Muzha Tie Guan Yin distinguishes itself from its much greener counterparts with its stronger flavour profile, making it a classic in its own right.”
Tea Tasting Notes
For this tasting session, as I have done with all of my tasting session with Adagio’s Masters Teas so far, I used 6.5-7g of the tea, my 250ml gaiwan (not always filled fully during every steeped haha) and freshly filtered water. The water I used was at 90.5°C as suggest on the website and in terms of steeping times, the first steep I did was 60 seconds and every steep after that I added on 30 seconds. I managed five full steeps in total but I do think it could have gone a few more to around seven or eight during this session.
Steep 1) Light roasted note, light plum, honey, sweet, woody, mineral, earthy. Light charcoal like notes make this one of the most unique oolongs I’ve had to date. Smooth yet complex with an ever so slight spice, slightly acidic yet has no bitterness whatsoever. The finish is long and persistent. It has a somewhat rice like note to it and I’m not sure where that comes from but I’m definitely not complaining.
Steep 2) Earthiness, woodiness, roastiness and savouriness all much more prominent in this steep. Definitely much more mineralistic and long lasting in the mouth. A little less sweet than the first steep but still had lingering notes of plum in the after taste. That charcoal esque note was also still present, definitely similar in some ways to a Hojicha. There’s a note to this that reminds me of toast that’s not burnt but toasted to just the right point spread with nice creamy butter.
Steep 3) Very similar to the previous steep in almost every way aside from the fact I was able to pick out those plum notes a little less the roasted note was a little softer and there was some what of a black pepper like note to to it. Other than that pretty much everything else was exactly the same. This such a perfect oolong for autumn and winter it’s flavour profile fits the season perfectly.
Steep 4) Honestly this steep was pretty much identical to the first steep and the strength didn’t seem to really waver at all it. However it was in this steep when I realised what the woody notes of this tea reminded me of, they reminded me of incense woods. As weird as that sounds that’s honestly the only way I can properly describe those woody notes. It’s a very long lasting and complex oolong and its an absolute pleasure to drink. It was slightly drying in the mouth but honestly that want too off putting to me at all. There is definitely a fruity acidity to it but not even the slightest note of bitterness.
Steep 5) I decided to stop my tasting session her not because I thought that this was as far as the tea could go but because I’ll be honest on the day that I did this my head wasn’t behaving at all and as much as preparing teas gongfu style relaxes me it is yet to be able to keep a migraine day at hold so. I think that 5 steep was as far as my health would have allowed me to go in this tasting session but the tea definitely could have gone a lot further. The only things I would say changed in this steep compared to the previous were the fact that the natural honey like sweetness came through ever so slightly again, the woody notes got a little lighter, that slight black pepper note was gone and that charcoal-esque note was all but gone as well but other than that it was pretty similar.
While I only did 5 steep for this tasting session I did then transfer the leaves from this tasting session into my 1.2l iced tea jug and cold steeped them in the fridge overnight which works so well and I’m so glad I did it. I was slightly worried that the overall flavour profile wouldn’t translate very well to cold steeps but it was delicious. It was a bit sweeter and a little more mellow in terms of its woody, earthy and roasted notes but I still really enjoy it and it was still flavourful enough for me. I can’t say I have ever really had an oolong like this in the past so this was a completely new experience to me and I loved it so its definitely an one I would purchase again mostly because I love how definitely it to almost all of the other oolongs I have in my stash. I would also be really interested to see how it transforms over different harvests and throughout different years.
Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5
If you want to find out more about Adagio’s Masters Teas and purchase some of this tea to try for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.
Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley
*the tea featured in this post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*
Kimberley's Kyusu 
Leave a Reply