Oh yeah, the backlog is almost clear. I only have one tea left to review after this one. Then I can move on to what I have been drinking for the past two days. I finished a 50g pouch of this tea towards the end of last week. I found it to be an excellent and incredibly thick, vegetal, and savory Yunnan green tea.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of hay, grass, and grilled lemon. After the rinse, I found new aromas of malt, chestnut, smoke, and corn husk. The first infusion then introduced a hint of spinach to the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of grass, hay, grilled lemon, chestnut, and corn husk chased by subtle impressions of honey. Subsequent infusions saw the nose take on buttery, woody, and even more strongly vegetal qualities. Malt, spinach, and muted smoke notes belatedly emerged in the mouth alongside strong impressions of butter, straw, asparagus, lettuce, peas, pine, minerals, and seaweed. There were strong broth-like umami notes too. I even found some subtler notes of honeysuckle, apricot, and sour plum on most of these infusions. The lengthier final infusions presented notes of corn husk, minerals, hay, and grass backed by touches of smoke, lettuce, seaweed, and chestnut.
I think everyone should know by now that I am a huge fan of Yunnan green teas. I almost always enjoy them on some level. With that in mind, I guess it should come as no surprise that I greatly enjoyed this one. It was a more savory, filling tea than I was expecting, but I found a lot to appreciate about it. Even if thicker, more savory green teas are not exactly your thing, I would still recommend that you at least consider giving this tea a shot. It is worth trying for its depth and complexity.
Flavors: Apricot, Asparagus, Butter, Chestnut, Corn Husk, Grass, Hay, Honey, Honeysuckle, Lemon, Lettuce, Malt, Mineral, Peas, Pine, Plum, Seaweed, Smoke, Spinach, Straw, Umami
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Do you tend to latch on to one or two teas and drink only them for several days or do you jump around? What is your tea drinking strategy? :)
Evol, I try to finish teas in the order I start them, so usually, I work my way through one or two teas at a time before starting on anything new.
Do you tend to latch on to one or two teas and drink only them for several days or do you jump around? What is your tea drinking strategy? :)
Evol, I try to finish teas in the order I start them, so usually, I work my way through one or two teas at a time before starting on anything new.