Jade Cloud

Haha, I thought I had previously reviewed this one, but apparently not! Excellent! I’m super distracted right now because oh my gosh, I am dating the sweetest boy ever and am currently over the moon. Or on Cloud 9. Sooo Jade Cloud kinda seemed appropriate, haha.

Anyhow, this is another one I drank through rather quickly, but it had a tasty vegetal beany flavour (kind of like Verdant’s Laoshan green?) and I’m looking forward to the second infusion, which I need to make ASAP as all five cups of tea sitting next to me are currently empty.

Thanks for passing this along, Alphakitty! This is definitely my sort of green tea, so I’m going to thoroughly enjoy finishing up my sample :D

ETA: Second infusion, 4 min at 180F and in about half the water, definitely not nearly as tasty, but still drinkable. Wouldn’t try for a third. This seems quite common in western-brewed greens like this though – I should try more leaf/shorter infusions (not quite gong fu, but more like 30s instead of 3min.) Also, note to self, I used 1.5 tsp/8 oz. for this one.

Must. Order. More. Tea.

I have such a small hand full of oolongs and greens now which is sad because that’s pretty much what I’m going to have in the evening. In fact, I have enough leaf to do one, maybe two more cups of this tea.

So the big question: do I order more Rishi so I can get more of this only Chinese green I love? Or do I go somewhere else to get new teas and just suck it up for a while and be Jade Cloud-less?

These are the tough choices in my life.

But on the plus side, kitty-girl is happy and drugged up and the lump wasn’t a tumor. Woo!

Finally trying the last of the Rishi teas I ordered during the Mother’s Day sale! After my wonderful experience with their Ancient Emerald Lily I was hoping this tea would be similar but alas, this green falls a little flat for me. There’s a very strong steamed veggie smell once it’s brewed, and that carries through to the taste. I don’t really like when my tea tastes mildly of steamed spinach. It’s a shame, because the other notes her are really working for me: there’s a nice grassy taste, as well as a tiny hint of citrus and chestnut.

But steamed veggies + a hint of citrus reminds me unfortunately of a weird tea version of V8. Not exactly the most appetizing taste, and it’s kind of ruining the experience for me. I really want to like this because I love how grassy it is, but I can’t help thinking that someone made tea with the leftover water from blanching vegetables.

EDIT: Tried different brewing parameters (stepped for 1 minute 30 second), still too vegetable-tasting. Bumping the rating down a bit as I didn’t finish either cup.

I am having a hard time writing this review. This tea makes me think of nothing more than sitting outside on a sunny day in the short grass. Sun is shining on your face, and the sweet scent of the lawn washing over you. There even may be a hammock involved. All of that in just a little cup of tea. Bliss. It’s a lovely image, and a really nice cup of tea. Very mellow, smooth, just a hint of astringency at the finish, just making you want to take that next sip all the sooner. It has a hint of sweetness in the aroma – I can see where Rishi finds the “sweetly toasted chestnut” from it’s product description. There are no stand-out notes in this tea for me – just a blended mellowness that I’m really enjoying. I have a feeling that drinking this on a cold, snowy December might instantly transport you to a very spring-like place.

Unfortunately for this review – outside it’s a beautiful sunny day, and there actually is a hammock. Both the cup of tea next to me, and the entire back yard are telling me I need to take this tea outside and sit and enjoy it in the sunshine. I don’t think I can hold out any longer.

(originally posted at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/553/tea-review-rishi-tea-jade-cloud-organic-fair-trade-green-tea/)

Loose
Appearance: dark grey brown curled leaf
Aroma when Dry: leafy, nutty, sweet (eastern), chewy
After water is first poured: bright, vegital, chewy
At end of first steep: vegital, buttery
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: clear
Staple? No
Preferred time of day:any
Taste:
At first?: buttery, sweet, smooth vegital green beans, asparagus
As it cools?: gets sweeter, pea notes surface, gets brothy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, velvety creamy sweet vegital notes high on the palate

Purchased this tea at the airport. I think that it was brewed at too high of a temperature and is astringent. Otherwise, it seems that it would be quite good.

Before I say anything else, I want to say that my first experience with Jade Cloud was a thoroughly enjoyable one.

That being said, here’s the thing. The more tea that I accumulate, the harder it can be to distinguish them from one another – especially if I don’t drink them back to back [and I don’t drink teas of the same type right after one another, really].

The more tea that I try, the more the flavors start to blend together until certain ones become indistinguishable until only a select few stand out – either because someone did something noticeably different or the taste is just THAT much better. As I’m typing this out, I’m realizing that perhaps that’s the point of drinking a lot of tea, but I also feel like it’s probably more my fault than the tea.

I guess that this is why they have tea tastings in shops, right? Usually, I don’t brew pots – I brew cups, and I re-steep if I feel like drinking more of it and/or the tea can take a re-steep. Maybe I need to get some shot glasses or some of those tasting teacups and spend a day or two comparing the similar ones. Part of me feels like if the differences aren’t ones that I notice between cups then what do I care, but part of me wants to see if I can notice a difference. [Curiosity will likely win out, because it almost always does.]

This is also a long-winded way of saying that the flavors I got out of this tea are going to sound mighty similar to other teas that I have previously logged. It is nutty, but with a grassy sweetness to it – warming and comforting, and I really liked it. It was certainly welcomed into my day since we’ve been having some rather dreary weather, but I see this as being something I’d revisit regardless of what the hell’s going on outside.

Grassier than I remembered, but just what I need.

OK, so I realized yesterday that I’ve had the misfortune of having tried this tea twice. I originally tried it when my son and my partner and I were waiting for the pirate exhibit to open in a Milwaukee museum. I could not put enough sugar in this to redeem it. It smelled and tasted like rotten vegetables mixed with grass and frog dung or something. I dumped most of it out.

So yesterday, my partner and I went out for tea and I saw the Jade Cloud and thought, hmmm, that’s a pretty description for a tea, I think I’ll try it. As soon as I got to the table I could smell that SMELL and it brought me right back to the museum. I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it this time. My partner tasted it, thinking if she liked it we could trade. Nope, she was just as disgusted.

So I might tattoo the words “I don’t like Jade Cloud” on my forearm just to remind myself for the next time I come across it. Well. I’m glad I got that off my chest. ;-)

Had this iced at the Milwaukee, WI airport Friday morning. Holy cow it was bitter!