This is my favorite tea. It is a pungent Oolong from China. I first tried it solely on the strength of its name, but was soon hooked. I haven't found any definitive source for the name; but a friend tells me that it may arise from a transliteration between dialects. Another explination of the name can be fond here. In my darker moments this is the deity I would want to worship, if I believed in deities.

觀音

An exceptionally fine, fragrant variety of Oolong tea, full-bodied and rich. Its subtle aroma has gentle floral overtones.

According to legend, an iron (Ti) statue of the goddess of mercy Kuan Yin stood in a run-down temple in the Fujian province of China. A local farmer would pass the temple every day, and one day he took it upon himself to start cleaning it up out of respect for its resident goddess.

After he had been doing this for a while Kuan Yin appeared to him in a dream, and told him to look in a cave behind the temple to find a precious treasure he must share with others. When he looked as he was told, what he found was a sprout of a tea bush; so he looked after the bush, took cuttings from it and shared them with his neighbours. That special plant was the ancestor of all the plants which to this day produce some of the world's finest Oolong.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.