D.D.T.G.Y.
This tea sets off all my tea nerd instincts, and I'm having a hard time writing about how it tastes as opposed to how darn cool it is. So I'm going to get that out of the way first, hold tight and I'll express my tasting experience with it below. So this tea is a fascinating chimera of two of my favorite teas from Taiwan, Dong Ding and Tie Guanyin. The cultivar is Tie Guanyin (actually a sub-cultivar in the TGY family called Xiao Tie), but the garden is located in one of my favorite micro-regions, Yonglong village in the Dong Ding area.
It has been a real brain-teaser, presenting within a single session elements of both of these paramount Taiwanese oolongs. I find it both fascinating and satisfying, an incredibly fun tea. The roast began like Dong Ding, developing those toasty crackery notes and depth in broth, but in the end was asking for a high temp finishing roast due to its TGY character. The result is something that has elements of both but not totally like either. You'll have to try it for yourself.
So, how does the tea drink? It is thick, stout and powerful. Taste is bittersweet, with both a deep Dong Ding throatiness and a tart-metallic TGY stimulation at the sides of the tongue. The aftertaste is dense and complex with a classic peachy-planty-floral aroma which concentrates at the back of the mouth, the telltale sign of true TGY. It has a lot of staying power right out of the gate - lingering long after you swallow - and as the session moves on the mellow mineral taste of Dong Ding shows up and brings it home.
This is just such a cool tea. I hope we can continue to get more because I like drinking it!
Facts
- Harvest Location : Dong Ding, Nantou, Taiwan
- Roast Date : 2025 October
- Cultivar : Xiao Tie
- Farming : From a garden regularly tested by SGS as having 0% pesticide residues