I have been searching for an authentic information about types of Ti Guan Yin for a last couple of years, until now. I don't know any "Tea master" who can give me a ready made answer-:). I don't know if there are any classification of TGY. The highest grade of TGY was sold last year in TGY oolong competition- US$43,000 per pound. The price doesn't mean this TGY had some touch of heaven. It was a very good tea but the people who buy this tea, it is more then social statues rather then buy quality(I mean compare a Rolls Royce with Toyota Corolla). I wasn't so interested to learn about tea while I was visiting China last time but I talked with my friends(Chinese) and they gave me the above explanation about award winning tea.
I agree with Michael about the Taiwan and Anxi(Fujian) version of TGY but there is another TGY Oolong come from Guangdong province- Shantou Oolong. The recent information is- a lot of mainland Chinese producers are trying to follow Taiwanese Oolong processing after their success of Ali Shan, Nantou and Shan li shan Oolong in the market. I also got some curled Bai Hao Oolong which has lot of similarity with Taiwanese Bai Hao(Oriental beauty) Oolong, the difference is this Chinese Bai Hao Oolong leaves are curled(sort of gunpowder green). I think lot of things are going on in Oolong processing both in mainland and Taiwan island. I will blame some commercial vendors who add extra fancy, fancy, supreme, premium, special grade etc. etc. extra word with Ti Guan Yin.
Space Cowboy(Jim) many time talked about his super market tea adventure. Lot of his explanation make sense to me. TGY is a widely available tea but Michael- do you remember how many types of TGY we have tried from SRT and found only #37 was satisfactory? Remember we tried two of my TGY and one was excellent and other was very light. As far as I know those award winning mainland TGY Oolongs are mostly
30-40% oxidized. Yes, I agree some heavily roasted espresso Oolong are also good with nice caramel, sweet, fruity, complex flavore. Do you think any Chinese will know espresso Oolong? I don't think so. I think the best way to describe TGY is two types-
-Heavily roasted
-lightly roasted
I still don't have a straight forward answer rather then to share my limited knowledge about what I look from a good Ti Guan Yin:
Dry leaves: bright green with wonderful fresh aroma Brewed leaves: very dark green Liquor: clear, light shiny golden for lightly roasted / clear, golden for heavily roasted Taste: fruity, sweet, 100% smooth, peach aroma, sometimes with honey tone for lightly roasted/ heavily roasted has more complex taste, caramel flavor with considerable peach and honey tone, some can have slight roasty aroma. Aroma:deep, rich and very clear. Steeps: A good TGY both light and heavy version should minimum give
8-10 steeping.
I hope more people will add their though and tea knowledge about this interesting post. Mydnight, thank you for this thread. Aren't you in China now? What the local tea masters say?
Ripon Maputo, Mozambique