Iron Goddess — Tie Guan Yin in Mandarin — is one of the most storied names in Chinese tea. It refers to both a cultivar and a processing style, which causes no small amount of confusion. Here's the short version: traditionally, Iron Goddess was heavily oxidized and roasted, producing a rich, full-bodied tea with notes of stone fruit, earth, and caramelized sugars. That's the old school.

In the last two decades, a lighter, greener style emerged out of Anxi, China — more floral, more delicate, almost unrecognizable next to its roasted ancestor. Both are called Iron Goddess. Both are worth knowing.

I've spent years drinking both styles in Taiwan and China. They're not competing — they're two different teas that happen to share a name.