Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea: The Complete Iron Goddess Guide

The short version on Tie Guan Yin oolong tea: it is a partially oxidised oolong from Anxi county in Fujian, made from a specific cultivar, and it splits into two very different styles. Qing xiang (light fragrance) is green, floral and orchid-like. Nong xiang (rich fragrance) is roasted over charcoal, darker, and deeper in flavour. Both come from the same leaf; everything else (colour, aroma, aging potential, price) follows from how far the processor pushes oxidation and roasting.

Tie Guan Yin, also written tieguanyin and known in English as Iron Goddess of Mercy, is one of the two most famous Chinese oolongs alongside Da Hong Pao. It has a three-hundred-year history, a specific geographical indication, and a place on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It also has a messy commercial reality: much of what is sold abroad as Tie Guan Yin is made from cousin cultivars and blended material, and the flavour profile has shifted back and forth between green and roasted styles over the last three decades. This guide covers what the tea actually is, what to look for when you buy, and how to get the most out of the cup.

Key takeaways

• Tie Guan Yin is a partially oxidised oolong from Anxi county, Fujian, made primarily from a specific cultivar of the same name. Anxi Tie Guan Yin is a protected Chinese geographical indication, and the traditional processing technique is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2022) as part of China's traditional tea processing.
• There are two main styles: qing xiang (light fragrance, roughly 10-20% oxidation, little or no roast) and nong xiang (rich fragrance, roughly 20-40% oxidation plus charcoal roasting in multiple rounds). The dramatic difference between them comes mostly from the roast, not from radically different oxidation levels.
• Anxi sits at mid-to-high elevation, with top Tie Guan Yin gardens generally around 700 to 1000 metres in the townships of Xiping, Gande, Changkeng and Xianghua.
• The defining aroma of Tie Guan Yin, the so-called guan yin yun or "Guanyin rhyme," is driven in large part by volatile compounds including (E)-nerolidol, indole, alpha-farnesene and benzyl alcohol, which are well characterised in peer-reviewed aroma chemistry.
• Anxi's "four famous cultivars" (si da ming cong) are Tie Guan Yin, Ben Shan, Mao Xie and Huang Jin Gui. Much commercial "Tie Guan Yin" is made from the others or blended, which is one reason real single-cultivar Tie Guan Yin from a reputable seller is worth paying for.
• Water temperature for qing xiang is best around 90 to 95 degrees Celsius (not 85), and 95 to 100 for nong xiang. Tightly rolled ball oolong needs real heat to open.

In this guide

• What Tie Guan Yin actually is
• Origin stories: the two legends
• The Anxi cultivar and its four cousins
• Anxi terroir: elevation, soil and sub-regions
• How Tie Guan Yin is made: the ten-step process
• Qing xiang and nong xiang: the two styles
• The aroma chemistry of "Guanyin rhyme"
• Tie Guan Yin vs Da Hong Pao
• Caffeine, L-theanine and how it feels
• How to brew Tie Guan Yin
• Harvest seasons and aged lao tie
• How to spot a good one
• Frequently asked questions

What Tie Guan Yin actually is

Tie Guan Yin is a semi-oxidised Chinese oolong produced in Anxi county in southwestern Fujian province. Anxi Tie Guan Yin has protected geographical indication status in China, meaning the name is legally tied to leaf grown and processed within the county using specified methods. The tea is made by a ten-step procedure the Anxi industry describes as outdoor withering, indoor withering, shaking (yao qing), fixation, rolling, ball-rolling, drying and, for nong xiang styles, charcoal roasting.

In 2022 the techniques for making Anxi Tie Guan Yin were formally recognised by the international heritage community when UNESCO inscribed traditional Chinese tea processing techniques and associated social practices on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Anxi Tie Guan Yin is one of forty-four specific techniques included in the inscription, alongside Wuyi rock tea, West Lake Longjing, and others. That recognition is not just a marketing line. It formally frames Tie Guan Yin processing as a living cultural practice with documented technique, not a generic product.

Tie Guan Yin is both the name of the tea and the name of the primary cultivar used to make it. In practice, "Tie Guan Yin" on the commercial market is a wider category. More on that in the cultivar section.

Origin stories: the two legends

Tie Guan Yin's origin is traditionally dated to the early-to-mid 18th century, Qing dynasty, under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors (roughly 1725-1736). There are two canonical origin legends, not one, and they are usually cited together in Anxi tea literature.

The first is the Wei legend. A poor farmer named Wei Yin (魏荫) maintained a rundown temple dedicated to Guan Yin, the Bodhisattva of compassion. In a dream, Guan Yin appeared and directed him to a tea plant growing behind the temple. He cultivated the plant, shared cuttings, and the tea became famous. He named it Tie Guan Yin ("Iron Guan Yin") because the rolled leaves were as heavy and dense as iron.

The second is the Wang legend. A scholar named Wang Shirang (王士让) discovered a remarkable tea plant in the 1730s and presented the finished tea to the Qianlong Emperor. The emperor, impressed by the dry leaf's iron-grey weight and the liquor's elegance, named it Tie Guan Yin himself. In one version he noticed the dry leaves looked like a small iron statue of Guan Yin.

Neither legend is better sourced than the other. Anxi tea histories cite both, and the "Iron" in the name has several traditional explanations: the iron-like weight of the rolled leaf, the iron-grey colour of the dry tea, or (in the Wang version) an iron Guan Yin statue. These are folk etymologies, not settled fact. What is not disputed is that by the late 18th century, Tie Guan Yin was already a recognisable Anxi product being traded across Fujian and down the coast.

The Anxi cultivar and its four cousins

The Tie Guan Yin cultivar (Camellia sinensis cv. "Tie Guan Yin") has thick, slightly concave leaves with a characteristic dark green colour and a distinctive aromatic profile. Anxi tea nurseries distinguish two main sub-types of the cultivar, Hong Xin and Hong Ying, which are slightly different in leaf colour and bud timing but produce broadly similar tea.

What most guides omit is the Anxi si da ming cong, the "four famous cultivars" of Anxi. Tie Guan Yin is only one of them. The others are Ben Shan, Mao Xie and Huang Jin Gui. Each has its own flavour signature: Ben Shan is closest to Tie Guan Yin and is often used as a substitute or blending partner, Mao Xie ("hairy crab") is brisker and more vegetal, and Huang Jin Gui ("golden osmanthus") is sharply aromatic with an osmanthus-like lift. In commercial reality, much of what is sold as Tie Guan Yin at the lower price points is actually Ben Shan or Mao Xie, either as honest blends or as outright substitution, because the four cultivars are grown in the same gardens and look superficially similar as finished ball-rolled leaf.

Single-cultivar Tie Guan Yin made from authenticated plants (sometimes called zheng cong Tie Guan Yin) is a minority of global supply. It is also the tea that actually delivers the classic orchid aroma and the "Guanyin rhyme" that the legends and the chemistry literature describe. If you want to understand why Tie Guan Yin is famous, you need to drink the real thing at least once. Our Tie Guan Yin oolong tea is a qing xiang style made from single-cultivar Anxi material, chosen specifically so beginners can taste what the classic profile is supposed to be rather than a washed-out blend.

Anxi terroir: elevation, soil and sub-regions

Anxi county sits in the western inland part of Quanzhou prefecture, in southern Fujian, bounded by mountains and crossed by the Xi river. The core Tie Guan Yin producing townships, most famously Xiping, Gande, Changkeng and Xianghua, sit at mid-to-high elevation by Chinese tea standards, with top gardens commonly around 700 to 1000 metres and a few notable plots higher. That is meaningfully above lowland sencha fields in Japan, but well below Taiwanese gao shan cha from Alishan or Lishan, which regularly reach above 1500 metres. Anxi is a mid-elevation origin; its advantage is soil, aspect and microclimate rather than extreme altitude.

The soils are weathered red-yellow earths over granite and shale, with good drainage and a high mineral content. The climate is warm, humid and misty for much of the year, with three significant harvest windows. Sub-regions matter. Xiping is the traditional heartland, with a reputation for floral, elegant Tie Guan Yin. Gande produces some of the most commercially successful qing xiang styles. Xianghua is smaller and quieter, and some serious drinkers prefer it for nong xiang. In the Anxi market these distinctions are taken seriously, the same way Burgundy drinkers distinguish between neighbouring villages.

How Tie Guan Yin is made: the ten-step process

Anxi Tie Guan Yin is one of the most complex tea processing sequences in the Chinese canon. The ten steps are: plucking, solar (outdoor) withering, indoor withering, shaking (yao qing), resting (jing zhi), fixation (sha qing), rolling, ball-rolling (bao rou), drying, and (for nong xiang) charcoal roasting (hong bei). Each step is a decision point, and skilled makers read the leaf at every stage to decide when to stop.

The signature step is yao qing, the shaking. Fresh leaves are tumbled gently in bamboo drums or on trays to bruise the leaf edges, then rested. The sequence is repeated in four to six rounds over roughly eight to twelve hours. Edge bruising is what drives the partial oxidation that gives oolong its character: oxidation starts on the bruised margins and spreads inward, but the centre of the leaf stays green. If you look closely at brewed Tie Guan Yin leaves after several infusions, you will often see green centres with reddish-brown edges. This red-rim, green-heart pattern (lu ye hong xiang bian) is considered a marker of well-executed Anxi oolong processing.

A peer-reviewed study of dynamic alterations of volatile organic compounds during Tieguanyin production tracked how the aroma profile changes across these steps and found that shaking and withering are the critical stages for aroma development, with enzymatic activity upregulating the terpenoid and phenylpropanoid pathways that build the floral notes. The study also found that "green" leaf volatiles fall and floral-fruity volatiles rise over the course of the process, which matches what the best Anxi makers say they are trying to do by feel.

After shaking, the leaf is fixed (pan-fired or drum-fired) to stop oxidation, rolled, and then repeatedly ball-rolled in cloth wraps to compress it into tight, dense pellets. For qing xiang the process ends at drying. For nong xiang the pellets are additionally charcoal-roasted in multiple rounds over hours or days, which is where the roasted-grain, caramel and toasted-nut character comes from. Traditional roasting grades run from qing huo (light fire) to zhong huo (medium) to zu huo (full fire), each with a distinct flavour signature.

Qing xiang and nong xiang: the two styles

Modern Tie Guan Yin falls into two broad categories, and the difference between them is the single most important thing for a buyer to understand.

Qing xiang, or light fragrance, is the style that became commercially dominant in China in the 1990s and 2000s. Oxidation is kept in the low range, roughly 10 to 20 percent, and the tea is either not roasted at all or only very lightly finished with heat. The leaf stays bright green, the liquor is a pale green-gold, and the aroma is intensely floral: orchid, gardenia, lily, sometimes with a honey note. It is the version most new drinkers encounter first, and it is immediately impressive because the floral aroma is obvious from the first rinse.

Qing xiang in its current form is partly a product of Taiwanese processing influence in the late 1980s and 1990s. Taiwanese oolong makers had been using cold-chain storage and lower-oxidation processing to build greener, fresher tea, and Anxi producers adapted those techniques. The result was a distinctly modern style: greener, more aromatic, less oxidised than historical Anxi oolong, and dependent on cold storage to stay fresh. Qing xiang is famously unstable. A cake or bag of qing xiang left at room temperature for more than a few months will gradually go flat and lose its signature aroma. The industry practice is to ship and store qing xiang cold, and for serious drinkers to drink it within the harvest year.

Nong xiang, or rich fragrance, is the traditional style. Oxidation typically sits in the 20 to 40 percent range, which is not dramatically higher than qing xiang, and the dark liquor and deep flavour come mostly from the charcoal roasting rather than from radically higher oxidation. This is a point the older guides often get wrong: nong xiang is not "much more oxidised," it is "similarly oxidised but then roasted." The roast converts the fresh floral character into toasted grain, caramel, dried fruit, roasted nuts and a long, sweet finish. A good nong xiang ages well, whereas a good qing xiang generally does not.

Since the early 2010s the Anxi industry has partially rolled back toward nong xiang. Part of the reason is shelf stability, and part of it is the traditional belief that heavily green, under-roasted tea can irritate the stomach. Serious Chinese oolong drinkers have been drifting back toward roasted Tie Guan Yin for more than a decade now. Both styles are legitimate: qing xiang shows the cultivar's raw aroma, nong xiang shows what skilled roasting can build on top of it.

A 2021 study on the sensory and chemical characteristics of Tieguanyin after roasting characterised how roasting alters volatile profiles, with pyrazines, furans and furanones rising and fresh terpenes falling as roast intensity increases. That maps directly onto what roasted Tie Guan Yin tastes like: less orchid, more toasted grain and caramel. It is evidence-backed support for what traditional roasters have always known by feel.

The aroma chemistry of "Guanyin rhyme"

"Guan yin yun" or Guanyin rhyme is the Anxi tea community's name for the specific sensory signature of a good Tie Guan Yin: a floral, orchid-like aroma that lingers in the back of the throat and returns between sips. It is traditionally framed as mysterious and cultural, something you can only learn by drinking. Modern aroma chemistry has a lot to say about what it actually is.

Several peer-reviewed studies using HS-SPME-GC-MS (headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) have characterised the volatile profile of Tie Guan Yin in detail. A comparative analysis of volatile compounds in Tieguanyin identified the main aroma-active compounds, which include (E)-nerolidol (a terpene alcohol with a floral, slightly woody character), indole (which contributes a heavy jasmine-white-floral note at low concentration), alpha-farnesene (fresh, green-floral), and benzyl alcohol. The study found that benzyl alcohol content in Tie Guan Yin tends to be higher than in other oolong teas, and that nerolidol is one of the dominant aroma drivers in the qing xiang style.

The short version: the "Guanyin rhyme" is not mystical. It is mostly a specific combination of nerolidol, indole, alpha-farnesene and benzyl alcohol, built up by the cultivar, unlocked by the yao qing shaking process, and preserved by the relatively light oxidation of the qing xiang style. Traditional makers identified and protected this signature long before anyone ran a mass spectrometer on the leaf, which is what makes Anxi processing a living skill rather than a recipe.

Tie Guan Yin vs Da Hong Pao

Tie Guan Yin and Da Hong Pao are China's two best-known oolongs, and they are frequently compared. They are different teas in almost every way that matters: different cultivar, different region, different processing emphasis, different flavour.

The single biggest misconception is that Da Hong Pao is "much more oxidised" than Tie Guan Yin. In most published processing references, Wuyi rock oolongs including Da Hong Pao sit in the 40 to 60 percent oxidation range, occasionally reaching 70 percent for heavily traditional styles. That is higher than qing xiang Tie Guan Yin but only modestly higher than traditional nong xiang. The bigger difference is the roast and the terroir. Da Hong Pao is defined by its growing environment in the Wuyi rock gardens (the famous "rock rhyme" or yan yun) and by heavy charcoal finishing. Tie Guan Yin is defined by cultivar aroma and by the yao qing shaking process.

A comparative chemometric study of Fenghuang Dancong, Tieguanyin and Dahongpao found that the three teas can be reliably separated by their volatile profiles, with Tie Guan Yin clustered around nerolidol and indole, Da Hong Pao around roast-derived compounds, and Fenghuang Dancong around its own floral-fruit signature. If you want to hear the whole range of what Chinese oolong can be, trying Tie Guan Yin, Da Hong Pao and a Phoenix Dancong side by side is the fastest education. To browse the full range, the oolong tea collection groups the styles together so you can see them in one place.

Caffeine, L-theanine and how it feels

Caffeine in Tie Guan Yin is moderate. Brewed gongfu style at 5 grams in 100 millilitres, the first infusion of qing xiang Tie Guan Yin typically delivers around 30 to 50 milligrams of caffeine, comparable to a light cup of black tea and clearly less than a cup of drip coffee. Nong xiang tends to be slightly lower per cup, partly because some caffeine is lost to charcoal roasting over multiple rounds. Neither style is "low caffeine" and neither is high caffeine.

L-theanine, the amino acid associated with green tea's "alert calm" character, is present in Tie Guan Yin but not at the concentrations found in shaded Japanese green teas like gyokuro or matcha. Because Anxi oolong is grown in full sun, its theanine levels are roughly typical for an unshaded Camellia sinensis leaf. The smooth, sustained, non-jittery feel that Tie Guan Yin drinkers often describe is better explained by the way gongfu brewing distributes caffeine across six or eight short infusions rather than one big mug, and by the catechin profile of a partially oxidised leaf, than by theanine alone.

If caffeine sensitivity is a concern, qing xiang Tie Guan Yin brewed gongfu with several short infusions is a reasonable mid-day drink. If you need to stop earlier in the day, the oolong tea collection includes lighter options as well.

How to brew Tie Guan Yin

Tie Guan Yin is one of the most rewarding teas to brew gongfu style, which is the method Anxi makers themselves use to taste their own work. Western brewing also works, but gongfu is where the tea tells its full story.

Gongfu method (recommended). Use a 100 to 150 millilitre porcelain gaiwan, which preserves aromatics better than clay for qing xiang. Measure 5 to 7 grams of leaf for a 100 ml vessel. Heat the water to 90 to 95 degrees Celsius for qing xiang and 95 to 100 for nong xiang. Tightly rolled ball oolong genuinely needs hot water to open: the often-quoted 85 degree figure is too low and will leave the leaf under-extracted in the first few infusions. Pour over the dry leaf, swirl for five seconds, and discard the first infusion as a rinse. The rinse wakes the leaves and starts them unfurling. The first drinking infusion should be around 20 to 30 seconds, with 5 to 10 seconds added per subsequent steep. A good Tie Guan Yin, qing xiang or nong xiang, will give you six to ten meaningful infusions before the leaf is spent. For a full comparison of methods, the gongfu vs Western brewing guide covers both protocols in detail.

Western method. Use 4 to 5 grams of leaf per 250 millilitres in a teapot with a removable infuser. Water at 90 to 95 degrees for qing xiang, 95 to 100 for nong xiang. Steep for two to three minutes for the first cup, then up to four minutes for the second. Even in Western brewing, a quick rinse at the start helps open the leaf.

Brewing tips that actually matter. Smell the gaiwan lid after each infusion: the lid aroma of a good Tie Guan Yin is one of the great pleasures of Chinese tea, and a lot of the "Guanyin rhyme" lives there. For qing xiang, porcelain is the right material because it does not absorb aromatics. For nong xiang, a small Yixing clay pot seasoned to roasted oolong can deepen the body beautifully, but use a different pot from the one you use for qing xiang. Watch the leaves unfurl across the infusions: by the third or fourth steep, the leaves should be fully open, with visible green centres and reddish-brown edges from the partial oxidation.

Harvest seasons and aged lao tie

Anxi has multiple harvests, but two matter most for Tie Guan Yin quality: spring (around late April to early May) and autumn (late September to October). Spring Tie Guan Yin is generally considered the most aromatic harvest, with the strongest floral lift and the clearest "Guanyin rhyme." Autumn Tie Guan Yin is often the most balanced, with less top-note fragrance but more body, depth and aftertaste. Serious drinkers in Fujian argue about which season is better in roughly the same way that Japanese drinkers argue about ichibancha versus nibancha.

There is also a specific, important sub-category: aged nong xiang Tie Guan Yin, sometimes called lao tie ("old iron"). A well-made nong xiang will improve over years of careful storage, with the sharp roast edges softening and new flavours developing: medicinal, dried longan, plum, dark honey, sometimes camphor. Aged lao tie is its own tradition and its own pleasure, and it is one of the few oolongs besides Wuyi rock tea that rewards long aging in the same way a good pu-erh does. Qing xiang does not age this way. If you want an aged oolong experience, it has to be a nong xiang.

How to spot a good one

A few practical filters separate a real Tie Guan Yin from the washed-out blends that dominate the export market.

Look at the dry leaf. Good ball-rolled Tie Guan Yin is uniformly tight, dense and heavy in the hand, with a deep green colour (qing xiang) or a dark brown-green (nong xiang). Individual pellets should include a small stem attached to the rolled leaf at one end, forming what Anxi producers call the "dragonfly head" (qing ting tou): a rounded body with a stem tail. A bag of nothing but round pellets with no stem fragments suggests that the leaf has been over-processed or that the stems were sorted out, which is often a sign of lower-grade material.

Smell before you brew. A fresh qing xiang should smell clearly floral out of the bag, with an obvious orchid or gardenia lift. If the dry leaf smells flat, hay-like or stale, the tea has probably been mishandled in shipping or storage and the aromatic volatiles have degraded. Nong xiang should smell of toasted grain, dried fruit and gentle roast, never of burnt or acrid char.

Watch the brewed leaves. Good Tie Guan Yin unfurls dramatically from tight balls into large, mostly intact leaves. By the third or fourth infusion you should be able to see the red-rim-green-heart pattern from the shaking stage. Leaves that come out in fragments, or that are uniformly brown all the way through, suggest either a failed processing run or a blend with lower cultivars.

Trust your nose and your palate, and buy from a seller who can tell you which sub-region the tea came from and which style it is. A vendor who just sells "Tie Guan Yin" with no qing xiang / nong xiang distinction and no origin information is usually reselling commodity grade. A seller who names the style, mentions the harvest season and points at a specific Anxi sub-region is almost always offering better tea.

If you are starting out, begin with a clear qing xiang from a single-cultivar source so you can taste the cultivar signature without any roast on top. Our Tie Guan Yin oolong tea is chosen for exactly that reason: a clean, representative qing xiang that shows what Anxi oolong is supposed to taste like before you branch into nong xiang and aged lao tie. From there, Da Hong Pao is the obvious next step if you want to understand the range of Chinese oolong, because the two teas are the most educational contrast on the market.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tie Guan Yin tea in one sentence?

Tie Guan Yin is a partially oxidised oolong from Anxi county in Fujian, China, made from a specific cultivar of the same name, and produced in two main styles: light floral qing xiang and roasted nong xiang.

Is Tie Guan Yin a green tea or a black tea?

Neither. Tie Guan Yin is an oolong, which sits between green and black in the oxidation spectrum. Qing xiang Tie Guan Yin is lightly oxidised and drinks a little like a floral green tea, while nong xiang Tie Guan Yin is more oxidised, roasted and drinks somewhere between a dark oolong and a lighter black tea. It is never either one.

What does Tie Guan Yin taste like?

Qing xiang Tie Guan Yin tastes floral and orchid-like, with notes of gardenia, lily and honey, a clean green-gold liquor and a lingering aftertaste. Nong xiang Tie Guan Yin tastes of toasted grain, caramel, dried fruit, roasted nuts and dark honey, with a heavier body and longer finish. Both styles share a distinctive aromatic signature called Guanyin rhyme, which comes from volatile compounds including nerolidol, indole and alpha-farnesene.

How much caffeine is in Tie Guan Yin?

A gongfu infusion of 5 grams in 100 millilitres delivers roughly 30 to 50 milligrams of caffeine in the first cup, with subsequent infusions lighter. That is comparable to a light cup of black tea and less than a cup of drip coffee. Nong xiang is usually slightly lower than qing xiang because some caffeine is lost in charcoal roasting.

What is the difference between qing xiang and nong xiang Tie Guan Yin?

Qing xiang is the light, modern style: lightly oxidised, unroasted or very lightly finished, bright green leaf, floral aroma and a fresh green-gold liquor. Nong xiang is the traditional style: similarly or slightly more oxidised, but charcoal roasted in multiple rounds, with dark leaf, amber liquor and a deep roasted-grain and caramel flavour. The biggest difference is the roast, not the oxidation.

What is "monkey picked" Tie Guan Yin?

Monkey picked is a marketing term, not a processing grade. The legend says monks trained monkeys to pick wild tea from cliff faces in Fujian, and modern sellers sometimes use the phrase to suggest premium quality. In practice, there is no industry standard for "monkey picked" Tie Guan Yin and the term means whatever the seller wants it to mean. Ignore it and look at cultivar, sub-region, harvest season and style instead.

Can I age Tie Guan Yin like pu-erh?

Only nong xiang. Aged roasted Tie Guan Yin (lao tie) is its own tradition, and a well-made nong xiang stored carefully over five, ten or twenty years develops soft, medicinal, dried-fruit and dark-honey notes. Qing xiang does not age this way. Left at room temperature, a qing xiang will gradually lose its floral aroma over months, which is why the industry ships it cold and why drinkers prefer to finish it within the harvest year.

Is Tie Guan Yin good for you?

Tie Guan Yin is a partially oxidised tea with a typical oolong polyphenol and catechin profile, a moderate caffeine load, and a small amount of theanine. Like other teas, it is safe for most adults in normal amounts and contributes antioxidants and a modest fluid intake. It is not a medicine and the strongest health studies in the pu-erh and green tea space do not translate directly to oolong. Drink it because it tastes good, and treat any specific health claim with a healthy dose of scepticism.

How should I store Tie Guan Yin at home?

Qing xiang should be stored cold, sealed, away from light and strong odours, and drunk within a year of purchase for best flavour. Nong xiang is much more stable at room temperature and will keep for years in a sealed container in a cool, dry place. Both styles hate moisture, heat and strong kitchen smells, so a closed tin in a cabinet well away from spices and the stove is a safe default.