Alright, I’m still finishing up some of last year’s green teas. I finished the last of a pouch of this tea a couple days ago, sketched out some notes, and then forgot to review it. Overall, I found this to be a rock solid green tea.
I gongfued this one. After a very quick (on/off) rinse to wake up the leaves, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 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 produced aromas of nuts, grass, and honey. The rinse brought out impressions of asparagus and bamboo shoots. I also thought I could detect a subtle underlying maltiness. The first proper infusion produced hints of cream and fruit. In the mouth, the liquor was grassy and vegetal, but also nutty and sweet. Grass, hay, chestnut, and honey balanced by extremely subtle asparagus, malt, and cream notes seemed to be what struck me. Subsequent infusions introduced ever so slightly more pronounced creaminess and maltiness alongside stronger asparagus notes. The bamboo shoot flavors emerged in the mouth as well, though they remained rather elusive, more in the background than anywhere else. I also noted additional aromas and flavors of hazelnut, pecan, minerals, green apple, cantaloupe, honeydew, oats, and spinach at various points. The later infusions were mostly about mineral, chestnut, oat, malt, grass, dew, nectar, spinach, and asparagus aromas and flavors, while subtle melon, hay, honey, and bamboo impressions lurked in the background.
This was an intriguing green tea. I rather adored the honey sweetness and the pronounced nuttiness. I also appreciated the fact that it appeared to have lost little, if anything, in storage. It challenged me as well. The sweetness somewhat disguised the tea’s other characteristics, making it rather difficult for me to pick out aromas and flavors. I got as close as I could, but kind of doubt I was entirely successful. In the end, this was a fun tea, but I do not think I would want to reach for it regularly. Still, I could see people who enjoy sweeter, nuttier green teas being into it.
Flavors: Asparagus, Bamboo, Cantaloupe, Chestnut, Cream, Grass, Green Apple, Hay, Hazelnut, Honey, Honeydew, Malt, Nectar, Oats, Pecan, Spinach
