Red Guanyin 觀音紅

Red Guanyin (觀音紅, Guānyīn Hóng, "Guanyin Red") - There has been a growing trend in recent years in China towards making red teas from cultivars traditionally used for other varietals. The oxidation process often brings out exciting and previously unexpressed flavors and fragrances in classic teas. Red Guanyin is an excellent example of this. Made from an early spring harvest of the Tie Guan Yin varietal, famous for producing some of the most fragrant oolong teas in the world, this baked, fully-oxidized Fujianese red tea is one of our sweetest and most chocolatey. The Tieguanyin cultivar is remarkable for being exceptionally fragrant in any oxidation state - lightly oxidized, as in our Jade Tieguanyin, it has abundant floral notes. Heavily oxidized and charcoal roasted, as in our Charcoal Roasted Tieguanyin and our Dragon Head Phoenix Tail Tieguanyin, it demonstrates a sweet, brown sugar-coffee-caramel depth. In its fully-oxidized form, it has notes of milk chocolate, sweet potato pie, and cotton candy. The liquor is a pleasant luminous red and the Qi is warming, mellow, and friendly.

Tasting Notes