The production techniques for Anxi Tieguanyin in the tea industry boast three superlatives: the most steps in the process, the highest technical requirements, and the most complex! The tea-making skills have been faithfully passed down for hundreds of years, and only by strictly adhering to traditional methods and perfecting ancestral techniques can one produce the best-tasting Anxi Tieguanyin! Every cup of Tieguanyin embodies the artisan spirit that has been handed down through generations of Anxi people!
Tieguanyin Heavy as Iron, Beautiful as Guanyin
Anxi Tieguanyin, a renowned top-grade Oolong Tea, is produced in Anxi County, Fujian Province, the home of Oolong tea. Its growing area is surrounded by mountains with peaks stretching far into the distance, often shrouded in mist. It is located in a subtropical monsoon climate zone, shielded from winter's dry cold winds by the great mountains to the northwest and influenced by maritime climate conditions from the Taiwan Strait to the southeast. The average annual temperature is 15–18.5°C, with an average frost-free period of 292 days, annual precipitation of 1700–1900 millimeters, relative Humidity around 78%, and soil mostly consisting of acidic red loam. These factors combine to create an ideal environment for growing high-quality tea plants.
The characteristics of the Tieguanyin tea plant include a spreading crown, slanted branches, oval leaves; drooping leaf tips slightly skewed, blunt serrated edges, slightly curled toward the back; thick leaf flesh, wavy surface with pronounced veins, dark green glossy color, robust tender shoots with a purplish-red tinge. Tieguanyin tea made from fresh leaves of the Tieguanyin tea plant using traditional processing techniques and semi-Fermentation is known for its “heavy as iron, beautiful as Guanyin” qualities.
The Artisan Spirit of Anxi Tieguanyin
Tieguanyin tea is of exceptional quality and unique character. Its finished product has tightly coiled, stout, compact, and heavy leaves with a lustrous appearance, a sandy green color, and distinct red spots. It is characterized by the shape of a dragonfly head, spiral body, and frog legs, with a sandy green hue and white hoarfrost. The tea liquor is golden yellow, rich and clear, with a thick, sweet, and fresh taste, a long-lasting aftertaste, and a sharp and intense aroma. It is often referred to as the “king of teas” and praised for its “green leaves rimmed with red, fragrant after seven infusions.”
Is there only one flavor to the Anxi Tieguanyin, renowned for its orchid fragrance and Guanyin character? Not at all.
The “artisan spirit” is a concept that the Anxi tea industry has always promoted. A good cup of tea encapsulates the forces of “heaven, earth, human, and variety.” Tieguanyin is a remarkable tea plant, and traditional Anxi Tieguanyin offers more than one flavor profile. Beyond the three national standard aroma types—light fragrance, strong fragrance, and aged fragrance—different climates, different terroirs, and varying techniques can yield Tieguanyin with orchid fragrance, qinghuang (green-fragrant) aroma, and suanhuang (sour-fragrant) aroma.