Gently Stirred

Loose Leaf Tea

Ti Kuan Yin Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong

Statues of Kuan Yin, known as the Goddess of Mercy, are often located at Buddhist temples. She is a bodhisattva, a person who has earned the right to leave the world of suffering and enter nirvana, but instead remains on earth to help others reach enlightenment.

In front of a rundown temple in Fujian stood an iron (ti in Chinese) statue. A local farmer upset by the rundown state of the temple took to cleaning it and lighting incense. Kuan Yin appeared in a dream to Mr Wei, the farmer and told him to look in a cave behind the temple to find a treasure he must share. In the morning, he found a tiny tea sprout, which he cultivated. The leaves from this plant produced a fabulous flavoursome and fragrant tea. The farmer dedicated the tea to Kuan Yin and shared cuttings with all his neighbours and the whole community prospered.

The Ti Kuan Yin tea undergoes a complex and time consuming process to ensure that the quality is consistently high, these teas can be some of the most expensive teas sold, depending on exactly where they were grown and what processing methods were employed.