Tie Guan Yin and the three teas sold as it
Anxi grows several rolled oolongs and one of them commands the price. The other three are legitimate teas in their own right and are also, routinely, what is in a cheap bag labelled Tie Guan Yin.
What is being compared
Why these get confused
All four are rolled into similar green pellets, grown in the same county, and made by the same route. Dry leaf gives almost nothing away; the differences appear in aroma length and in the finish, which is exactly where a casual taste is least attentive.
Point by point
| Aspect | Tie Guan Yin | Ben Shan | Huang Jin Gui | Mao Xie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The cultivar | Tie Guan Yin. | Ben Shan, closely related to it. | Huang Dan, one of the earliest-budding in Fujian. | Mao Xie, named for the fine hairs on its leaf edges. |
| How hard it is to tell apart | The reference. | Hardest of the three. Thinner in the cup and slightly less sweet, and that is most of the difference. | Easier: the aroma is higher and lighter, and it fades faster. | Easiest. Markedly green and brisk, with a sharp floral top. |
| Aroma | Lilac, orchid, butter, fresh cream — long and sweet with a cooling return. | Orchid and light cream, shorter. | Osmanthus and honeysuckle, bright and quick. | Gardenia over green bean and fresh grass. |
| Where the aroma comes from | Cultivar and processing together. | Cultivar, close to Tie Guan Yin's. | The plant. That is why it is almost always made unroasted — a heavy roast wastes what the cultivar was selected for. | The plant, and it reads as vegetal rather than floral in a way the others do not. |
| Body and finish | Silky and layered, with a long sweet return. | Medium and smooth; the return is shorter. | Light and short. | Light and drying, the most astringent of the four. |
| Price | The highest. | Cheaper, and a great deal of inexpensive Tie Guan Yin is in fact this. | Cheaper, and frequently sold as Tie Guan Yin. | Cheapest, and the least likely to pass as it. |
| Worth buying on its own terms | Yes. | Yes — as a cheaper everyday version of the same character. | Yes, and specifically for the osmanthus note, which Tie Guan Yin does not have. | Yes, if you want a green, brisk oolong. Not if you want cream and orchid. |
The short answer
Three of these are good teas mis-sold, not bad teas. The practical move is to buy them by name — Huang Jin Gui asked for deliberately is a better purchase than Huang Jin Gui bought accidentally at the Tie Guan Yin price — and to read a very cheap Tie Guan Yin as a probable Ben Shan and judge it on that basis.
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