Muzha Tieguanyin
木柵鐵觀音
Oolong
In 1895 the Zhang brothers carried Tieguanyin cuttings from Anxi across the strait to the hills above Taipei. The soil at Muzha answered like home and the plants took.
What changed was the fire. Here the leaf is roasted much longer than on the mainland, wrapped in cloth and worked over a longan-wood fire until its sugars begin to caramelise. The same plant, given twice the heat.
The result pours reddish brown rather than gold. Roasted almond and dried fruit come first, then a warm osmanthus sweetness that turns, faintly, toward the sourness of ripe stone fruit.
- roasted nut
- dried fruit
- osmanthus
- Origin
- Muzha, Taipei, Taiwan
- Water
- 95°C / 203°F
- Ratio
- 5 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Medium
- Rinse
- Yes · 5s
Taiwan roasted-oolong canon
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~5.0g of tea
The session
6 infusions after the rinse, about 3m 30s of total contact time.
- Rinse5sWake the leaf and pour it away — this one isn’t for drinking.
- Steep 120sA warm scent, dark and unnamed.
- Steep 220sRoasted nut settles into fruit.
- Steep 325sCaramel deepens beneath the roast.
- Steep 435sOsmanthus lifts through the warmth.
- Steep 545sA ripe-fruit tartness edges in.
- Steep 61mWarm sweetness holds, roast receding.
Also sold as
Muzha Tie Guan Yin, Taiwanese Tieguanyin, Mucha Tieguanyin, Ti Kuan Yin
In Czech and Slovak shops
Železná bohyně milosrdenství
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.