Snowbug Green Tea

This is Day 4 of the 2022 Kiani advent calendar; looks like it was in last year’s calendar too. This tea makes me feel like Goldilocks (putting aside the incredible weirdness of that story – Goldy is awfully picky for a burglar and poor Baby is probably still in therapy). The first steep was too confusingly smoky; the second steep lost its creaminess; but the third steep was jusssst right.

I followed packet instructions for the first steep and brewed this up at 70c/158f, Western style based on the suggested steep type. The packet says 3 minutes, though. and I accidentally overbrewed by about 40 seconds. I suspect this accounts for some of what happened with the flavor in this steep. The brewed leaf smelled buttery and very green, so I was completely unprepared when I took my first sip and found an unexpected flavor that I couldn’t quite place. Almost smoky, but not as smoky as a smoked lapsang. Reminiscent of wintermelon without the sweetness. Before I knew it, I was more than halfway through the cup and still hadn’t placed the flavor. I even pulled out my ITMA Tea Aroma Wheel, but that didn’t help either! By the end of the cup, the best I could conclude was that it was creamy and gently smoky, but the smokiness was such an ongoing surprise to the system that I had trouble picking out the underlying vegetal notes.

For the second steep, I watched the clock a little more carefully and brewed at 160f for 3 minutes 30 seconds. It wasn’t as smoky, having more of a mineral note instead. It was also less creamy than the first steep. This allowed the green notes to shine through more and I was finally able to place them – green beans! But I missed the creaminess!

Enter steep 3. I opted for a longer steep at the same low temp – a little over 6 min at 160f. This steep finally brought out the right balance of flavors from this tea. The smokiness was faint at first and dissipated entirely as it cooled, replaced by a gentle sweetness. Against that backdrop, I was able to truly enjoy and savor the butter, green beans, and slightly mineral notes of this steep. Like the others, it had zero astringency but was slightly dry at the end of the sip in a way that just let you know it was time for the next one – sort of the function famously performed by pretzels at a bar.

Once I got the balance right, this was a really tasty tea. It’s just a little finicky.

Adventaggedon Day 2: Tea 6/7

This was the tea I started my day with. My mindset was that I better get the green teas out of the way so I could enjoy the rest of my day but I actually ended up liking this one much more than I had thought I would. It was light and sweet with so much distinct snow pea flavour. Snow pea/sugar snaps are one of my favourite tasting notes in white tea but anytime I can find a green tea with those notes that aren’t too grassy/oceanic or that have bitter vegetal notes I’m actually usually at least a bit of a fan.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCKtPftGnbU&ab_channel=I%27mNotDavidDeanBurkhart

Kiani Tea Advent Calendar 2021 – Day 2

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy having a (generally) unflavored advent calendar? Well, I’m mentioning it again. :D

This isn’t on the website, but it’s a lovely Chinese green tea with a gentle flavor. Lots of creamy beaniness going on, perhaps edamame and snow peas mixed with cooked green beans. Smooth and fairly delicate, but there’s also a touch of savory smoke in the background that gives it slightly more heft. I’m also tasting some raw grain notes that contribute a bit of “chew” to the mix. Then there’s a light minerality that reminds me of drinking water from a rocky stream, and just a kiss of apricot skin at the end of the sip. I don’t taste much of the sweetness of the apricot, but the flavor and texture of the skin is there.

A very pleasant gentle Chinese green! I’m not sure there’s anything all that special about it, but I also steeped it Western style which tends to obscure some of the subtleties heh. Lovely relaxing tea for the afternoon! :)