Jade and Amber Oolong Tea
Introducing Three Iron Goddess Styles
Experience the pure and blissful aroma of these three jade oolong teas.
The word "jade oolong" is a Western invention. It is used to describe fragrant oolong tea, where the yellowish-green leaves are said to resemble a piece of jade.
Similarly, amber oolong refers to more oxidized oolong.
Iron Goddess tea can be 15% to 30% oxidized. It now comes in many varieties. Broadly speaking, there are three fragrant styles.
The New Styles (called Yunxiang and Qingxiang) are more lightly oxidized. The aroma is high and refined. For the very high grades, it can be like exquisite perfume.
The Traditional Style (called Nongxiang) is 30% oxidized. The aroma is lower frequency and thicker. Mouthfeel is stronger, more masculine and robust, with a longer aftertaste.
Back to Top of Jade Oolong
Back Iron Goddess Tea Main Page
Back to Tea Shop Main Page
If you are not sure which one to buy, the best way to sample all the grades below is to get the Mixed 5-in-1 Sampler.
Amber AA Grade (Nongxiang Style, Autumn 2009) - 49 grams
Nongxiang means "thick fragrance". This is the traditional style of making Iron Goddess tea.
For an everyday tea, Amber AA grade is perfect. The dry leaves are a beautiful jade. The aroma is a delightful floral - hovering on your palate like a blossoming flower.
Durability is good, lasting 3 to 5 infusions.
We have tested many teas, and haven't found a better jade oolong tea at this price point. Most Taiwanese Dongting or Darjeeling Oolong teas are some way behind.
Jade AAA Grade (Qingxiang Style, Autumn 2009) - 49 grams
Qingxiang is the least oxidized style with the highest frequency aroma.
It has a powerful cup aroma. After brewing, breathe deeply to enjoy the amazing fragrance.
Maturation has an big impact of her flavors.
Early in the season, her body can be sharp and thin. Durability is excellent lasting up to 5 to 7 infusions.
After one year, she becomes more feminine, seductive and pure, with a harmonious roundedness. Sometimes the fragrance soars so high that you can feel it right at the back of the nose - like drinking a shot of whiskey!
Jade Jipin (Yunxiang Style, Autumn 2009) - 49 grams
Tea tasting is a journey into the unknown. Until you taste it, you don't know what to expect. This Jipin grade combines the best of the mouthfeel and aroma of the two previous jade oolongs.
Admire the tea liquor creamy texture. It glows with a greenish-yellow, as if you are drinking a fine wine.
The body is strong with a sweet, long aftertaste. The aroma lacks the perfumery of the King grades, but is robust, consistent and durable.
After sipping, watch your own mind. Notice how calm it has become. Feel the sense of perfection. There is no way to go. Just right here, right now.
Admire the wet leaves. Notice how large and wholesome they are.
Make sure you have the whole day to drink it - it can last up to 9 infusions!
Back to Top of Jade Oolong
Back Iron Goddess Tea Main Page
Back to Tea Shop Main Page
| Amber AA Grade - Ian |
ron Goddess is my favourite Oolong tea, so this has a lot to live up to, and this grade does well.
I can certainly see where the higher grades lie on the scale, as there is a little astringency and loss of sweetness after a couple of brews, but the amazing aroma remains.
A lovely tea :)
| Jade AAA Grade- Awesome |
As a graduate assistant in the U.S., a foreign "student partner" program matched me with a Chinese MBA student. He and his two roommates brought a suitcase full of their own tea with them for the academic year!
Best tea I ever had. He politely said "you can't get this tea here--that's why we brought it."
I've been searching for that tea for three years and THIS IS IT! Awesome.
| Jade AAA Grade- Haven't seen any benefit |
I didn't dislike the tea, it was tasty. However I expected a lot more from the tea. Perhaps I am not brewing it right, but I haven't seen any benefit or significant results compared to the regular tea I drink.
| Jade AAA Grade- I try to push and endorse your tea, to whoever enjoys a cup! |
I received my package about 3 weeks ago. It is absolutely amazing.
I was put on to you by our mutual friend ... He sent me a sample package and I was hooked. Quite honestly I was never much of a tea drinker in the past - no flavour, bitter, smelled funny or smelled artificial. But when I tried the Iron Goddess and Dragonwell, I was stunned.
I pretty much have about 3-5 cups a day - with the same leaves! I just keep infusing - pretty amazing, that it lasts so long. Everyone that comes over to visit I make a pot and as soon as they taste it they want to know where it came from. Everyone says the Iron Goddess (AAA) smells like jasmine.
The Dragonwell tea has such a beautiful nutty flavour and smell. I have given away a few packages to my mother in law, neighbours, sister. Actually my sister put an order in with you and she is enjoying it as well.
So to answer your question - I would rate it a 5 out of 5, and I try to push and endorse your tea, to whoever enjoys a cup!
| Jade Jipin Grade- Most wonderful aroma and smooth taste |
I have been testing by trial and error as to the amount required....as I tend to use a slightly larger cup, but I have found this tea to meet and exceed my expectations (5 for sure).......it has a most wonderful aroma and smooth taste. I'm hooked !
| Jade Jipin Grade- I think it needs a Capital 5!!! |
I am always put into Heaven by the Tieguanyin tea, and have introduced a few of my friends to the Pearly Gates as well. I don't claim to have as sophisticated a palate as some of your contributors, but, judging from my newly acquired halo, I think it needs a Capital 5!!! Best wishes... Rob
| Jade Jipin Grade- Fantastic |
By Lindsay (Rolling Hills Estates). Jan 15, 2008
| Jade Jipin Grade- Heavenly |
Thanks again for the lovely tea. The flavor is excellent - non-bitter, yet rich and satisfying, and the aroma is truly a unique experience.
I just want to tell you how amazed me, my family and friends are by the Tieguanyin tea (Iron Goddess) Jipin grade. It is truly an incredible tea. The aroma alone entices one to brew a pot - one friend who can't drink any caffeine just sat near the teapot inhaling the steam for about an hour one day. I gave the little 7 gram bags as Christmas gifts!
My family and I find ourselves holding tiny cups of steaming tea under our noses with our eyes closed, just sitting quietly at the table lost in reverie – and this includes my very active 12 year old son! (He LOVES this tea!) I would buy it for the aroma alone… We tried brewing multiple pots from the same leaves, and found that the first pot is heavenly, the second brew still quite amazing but with less aroma, and the third and 4th brews are excellent but with much less aroma, like a very high quality "average" green tea, and after that it could be any non-bitter green tea.
My husband won't drink it after the third pot, I enjoy it to the 6th and my brother takes it to the 9th brew, but agrees that it is mostly just lightly flavored hot water after the 6th pot.
I also bought another tea from you on my first order (I think it was Dragon Well) and although it was excellent tea, and compared to other similar teas it would shine, it just didn't wow me like the Tieguanyin tea.
I mean, what other tea has that kind of aroma? Jasmine tea doesn't even begin to come close. Whoever called this Iron Goddess tea the "champagne of teas" could not have said it better.
I placed another order with you yesterday, this time for two different grades of the Iron Goddess – Jipin and AAA Orchid Aroma...
I will definitely let you know how it goes, and yes, please feel free to use my feedback. Lastly, congratulations on the award winners! You and HQ clearly deserve it.
| Jade Jipin Grade- Simply amazing |
I received my Iron Goddess tea and I am just blown away by this tea. This is the first oolong I have tried and it is now a favorite. The smell is just so pure and fresh, the leaves bright and colorful and the taste! Well, you are right, it is almost intoxicating.
I use about a 4 oz ceramic cup for sipping my tea and thus far the most I have had in a session is four quality infusions, though I am positive it could have continued on another 2 or 3 for sure. I just tend to get full after drinking that much in a row but the way I feel afterwards is just indescribable. Just as if my life force was intensified; so much stamina and energy yet I still slept peacefully at night. Simply amazing.
As I said before I have only previously dealt with sevencups and their Silver Needle, which I love, and have not tried any of their other teas at this point so i have no other experience to base theory on. I do know for sure that my next order from you will be the 250 gram bulk! because this is definitely a tea I wish to have close at hand at all times.
Fabulous.
| Jade Jipin Grade- This tea I will rate 5! |
Right after pouring hot water over the leaves I found a faint trace of fried egg (from the roasting?), before the floral notes take over and lasting a while after. And a little later I sensed a whiff of something (maybe remotely like naphtalene?) reminiscent of my grandmother's linen press (I wonder why the scents evoke memories of my grandparents - possibly because their daily world was dominated by natural processes?).
And then the dark green foliage and the chrysanthemes take over. The Iron Goddess tea has a fragrance that evokes my grandfather's green fields in a dewy spring morning, and the fresh clovers of my childhood's lawn. (I rarely taste them now - have I grown too wise or too conservative?).
It also recalls memories of an orchid (Cymbidium grandiflorium) that I have tasted in a mildly bitter-hot stew in Bhutan (which I have visited a number of times), maybe with hints of chrysanthemum and stinging nettle (quite pungent in a soup - in earlier times part of a poor man's diet, now rather a connoisseur's choice).
Only one ting puzzle me: the color of this tea is a clear, almost luminant, emerald green - there isn't the slightest shade of golden or even one single tiny red spot on the leaves, as shown on the photo on your website.
It seems much more like a 'fragrant jade'-type of green tea; how come? This tea I will rate 5!
Yours, cup in hand,
Stig
Packaging
All Iron Goddess teas have been vacuum-packed into 7-gram bags that will keep fresh up to 2 years.
They are convenient to store and brew. You only open the bags when you are brewing the tea. You can also take them with you when you go traveling.
Maturation and Aging
We only sell the latest crop harvested in the previous mid-October.
It takes up to 3 months for the tea to mature and the flavors to fully emerge. After that, further aging may cause the tea to be sweeter and more rounded, at the expense of durability.
How to Brew
Unlike the lower grades that turn bitter easily, Shen's teas are highly versatile and perform well under high temperature and long steeping time.
Brewing oolong tea requires high concentration. A good starting point is to use 3.5 grams of tea leaves (half a bag) with 4 ounces (120 millimeters) of water.
First rinse tea leaves quickly with hot boiling water to help the leaves open and "wake up"!.
For first brewing, use boiling water. Steep for 1 to 2 minutes.
Infuse 3 to 9 times. Gradually increase steeping time for later infusions.
Which Vessel?
When brewing a jade oolong, a hard vessel such as a white porcelain gaiwan is recommended as it accentuates the high frequency aroma.
Gongfu tea drinkers may use a hard-roasted red clay (Zhuni) tea pot.
- Home
- Shop
- Iron Goddess
- Jade and Amber
