Golden Jade

Ugh, I had a large meal and then dozed on the sofa with a kitty on my lap for an hour or so. Well, that was rather nice, actually. But now I feel like I haven’t slept in a week. It doesn’t help that I’m home alone this evening so I’m not getting much in the way of distraction from it.

Clearly it’s time for tea, and because common sense is not one of my strong points, I’m jumping head first into one I’ve never tried before.

I’ve been curious about this one, which Autumn_Aelwyd shared with me, because I’ve still not entirely managed to wrap my head around blending two entirely different types like this. I get a little confused on how to brew it, but decided to go with the green setting, even though this will not allow the black to come to its right. I could have catered to the black, and let it really come out to play with a higher temperature, but then the green would be ruined and thus ruining the entire blend.

Why do people make these blends? Me, at home, I do it when using up things where there isn’t enough to make a pot without mixing, or things which I’m hoping will then magically become interesting. In other words, when I do it at home with two so vastly different sorts of tea, it has nothing to do with flattery. (Generally, though, when I combine stuff, I do it within one type. Black tea with black tea, green tea with green tea, oolong with oolong.)

In this particular mix, green and black, it wasn’t just the temperature that gave me trouble. I like my black tea best brewed Western style. I like my green tea best brewed with my approximation of gong fu style. So what was I supposed to do with this? Well, the sample that I was given is a generous size, so I’m going to try both ways, I think, and I’m starting with Western style.

Another problem I have here is that it say a ‘mix of green and black tea’. Well yes. But which ones? That can’t be too difficult to say, can it? I’m not very experienced with green, but my interest in the black tea depends strongly on which region it comes from, and although it’s fun to occasionally be able to correctly identify origin, I do prefer it when I don’t have to play Guess That Tea without ever being able to get the correct answer. My scale of black teas range all the way from the slight bleh of Darjeeling to nom-nom of Fujian. Even knowing which country it was produced in would help a lot. Not providing any details on this doesn’t really give me the impression that the vendor is trying to teach people about, well, anything. If they want to keep their recipe secret, that’s fine with me. Just say so.

In other words, there’s not much in the way of expectations here.

As I looked at the leaves I saw primarily green tea. I didn’t see much of black leaf at all, and that makes me wish I knew what the ratios between them is. Is there not supposed to be very much, or is there a chance that the black leaves have all drifted further down in the pouch in spite of my shaking it?

Well, Guess That Tea isn’t so difficult actually when it comes to the black. It comes through a lot and it tastes of Yunnan, so I think we’ve got a golden Yunnan on our hands here. That might also explain why I didn’t think it looked like there were any black leaf in there, because that stuff doesn’t even look like black leaf.

A little grain, a little malt, a twinge of pepper at the end and a whole lot of hay all over the place.

Then there’s a twitch of bitterness that tells me that either did I use far too much leaf or I actually managed to use too high a temperature after all. My money is on the former, because temperature is something I did put some thought into here given the nature of the blend. It’s not at all impossible that I had my head under my arm while measuring out leaf. At this time of day I’m used to making a LARGE pot for sharing after all. So we’ll overlook that slight bitterness for now. It’s not strong enough to be important anyway.

There is a softness to this tea, which I think must have something to do with the green tea. It feels like it, soft and sort of thick and slightly viscous without feeling sticky. When black teas feel like that, it’s usually something to do with caramel-y or sugar-y notes and that makes it feel a bit sticky.

Another thing that the mysterious green tea adds here is a quite floral flavour, although not quite sickly enough to be cloying like I find so many scented teas. I think this one is playing on the same strings as that Yunnan pepper note does, so it’s hard to see where one stops and the other begins.

In spite of all this initial ranting, I’m finding I quite like this. It didn’t knock my socks off with awesome and I’m still sceptical about this mixing two so wildly different teas, because it’s impossible to brew so that they both come to their full rights, but for what it is, it’s quite nice enough.

A very fragile floral and sweet moss type scent upon opening the package. Wet Leaves smell like buttered vegetables. Mixing the black with the green gives it the best of both worlds when it comes to the coloring of the liquid. Not much for smell after infusion is complete.

The taste is pretty nice…I think the word LUSH comes to mind. It’s more of a green than a black taste but I’m fairly impressed.

Was not in the mood for anything either too heavy or too light, not an oolong, nothing flavored, not something I’ve never tried before and something I have plenty of in case I botch it in my grogginess.

Golden Jade it is, a green black mix I have tons of from Teavana’s Heavenly Sale.  So I preheated the cast iron pot and looked under my hutch for one of the tins- gold with white cranes and jade green trees and yes I have two of them full.  This should tell you I love this tea right?  

Shrug it’s never gotten bitter for me and isn’t too vegetal which is why I sold lots of it when it was 75%.  But I don’t think I’ve ever taken the tiTme to fully appreciate it, only brewing it at work a few times.  So I thought I’d treat it right and hoped it would be as delicious as I said it was.  

The leaves are fluffy and curly, soft grey and gold. Looks like moss, smells like sweetgrass. I recall its descibed as light bodied with cocoa and floral aroma, when has that ever meant anything? After experiencing Verdant’s Autumn Laoshan Black and surprisingly Upton’s Tinderet White I was prepared for Golden Jade to fall short of cocoa.

But it didn’t, those first two sips were full on sweet remarkable cocoa, fading to a nice smooth Chinese green nuttiness with a bit of veg and yeah I suppose a bit of floral, but nothing fragrant thank goodness because that might be weird, just a good clean soft floral.  Sure it’s not as bold a dark chocolate as the Laoshan Black and it’s not as high a sweet as the Kenyan white.  This is the middle ground, it’s got good body and the cocoa is definitely there though it doesn’t hang on for long.  It kinda reminds me of kettle corn in an odd way without any dry saltiness.  

I haven’t tried a second infusion, but I will, but for now I’ve got a pot on its warmer to enjoy and a boy who has just informed me he wants popcorn.  Ironic. Toddler chugged my last cup and said “mmmm that’s good!”

Experience buying from Teavana Online http://steepster.com/places/2822-teavana-online-atlanta-georgia

Age of leaf: No information available on website.

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: very fluffy and light; a mixture of both moderately sized light-green and dark-green leaves with a light brown leaf mixed in here and there; vegetal, and sweet—like a quality Chinese black tea.

Brewing guidelines: Loose in glass Bodum pot. Stevia added.
……….1st: 170; 1’
……….2nd: 175; 1.5’
……….3rd: 180; 2’
……….4th: 185; 2.5’

Color and aroma of tea liquor: amber, with a yellow/green hue (if that’s possible; maybe it’s just my knowing that this is predominately a green tea).

Flavor of tea liquor: very unusual for a ‘green’ tea; the flavor provided by the black tea leaves seems to take front stage, but there is still a vegetal flavor. Maintained good flavor though four steepings.

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: Very high quality pluck: lots of whole leaves, buds, and bud sets, with very few pieces; smells vegetal, and dare I say, sour?

Blends well with: I would imagine this to blend well with many standard tasting green and Chinese black teas.

Value: Expensive at full price ($9/oz), but definitely worth buying at Teavana’s 50-75% off sale ($2.25/oz)

Overall: A year ago, when I first encountered this tea, I remember the Teavana salesman telling me that there is about one black leaf per every six green leaves; and now looking more closely at this tea that seems to be true. It is interesting, because the flavor of the black leaves seems to predominate in the taste. For black tea lovers (like myself, albeit a fairly new convert), the strong presence of a quality Chinese black tea in the flavor is definitely good; it seems to be a well balanced tea where the vegetal green tea flavors co-mingle nicely with the sweet/caramel-y notes (which take center stage). My wife did not care for the first two steepings (she is not a big fan of unflavored black teas), but she thought the third steeping was OK. Although this tea did not have a standard green tea flavor profile, I really enjoyed it. It is pretty amazing that this marriage works out, as I brewed it at normal green tea temperatures, which are considerably lower than what a Chinese black normally calls for. Teavana usually discontinues any teas they put on sale, but it looks like they’re keeping this one around. I’m glad, as it’s definitely a keeper.

This was my first purchase from Teavana. I was very impressed by the aesthetic appeal, but less impressed with the taste. Light and flowery is how I would describe it, I was expecting more of an appearance from the black tea. However, I loved the aroma.

Edit: I’ve changed my mind, I’m just starting to really enjoy this tea. I’ll add more of a description later!

This a great blending tea. I have really found mixing it with a Pearl Green tea or Ceylon Black tea is both a great combination. The tea by itself is weak, yet still carries a slight floral Darjeeling note. Overall, was still a great find at one of their 75-90% off sales.

Golden Jade has a whitish green leaves with golden color leaves mixed in very beautiful. The smell is light like a sweet grassy aroma. The taste is well balanced a light honeyed sweetness with a subtle floral flavor in it which is what grabs me in this tea. I think this tea has a nice complexity to it. I would say this is a nice tea to try in my humble opinion. I would only buy on-line since Teavana’s stores are a hot mess with their pushy sales people that are only concerned on hitting their quotas.

I’ve never liked the smell of this tea. Quite often, when I open up the canister and take a whiff, I find myself gagging a little. It almost reminds me of an old man’s renovated basement where he keeps all of his hunting trophies and fishing rods.

That given, I actually love the flavor. A very smooth feel all the way down with the faintest smokiness. This makes one of my favorite midday teas.

I actually screwed up my second steeping – got distracted by the computer and let it sit for a little over 6 minutes, and surprisingly, it wasn’t bad at all. If anything, I like a little bitterness.

Thanks to lizeepea for the sample! :)

This tea is light with a really nice, smooth flavor. I actually didn’t know what type of tea it was, since lizeepea didn’t write specifically whether it was white/green/etc., and I actually guessed that it was a white blend of some sort, so it’s interesting to find out that it’s a green/black mix! I think the combo really works in this blend.

I’ll be purchasing more of this soon, it’s a great after-meal tea if you don’t want something too strong or overwhelming.

Great looking leaves! Really, I grabbed them out of my tea maker to get a closer look. The tea isn’t so bad either, it’s tasty. I very lightly sweetened it. Enjoyable, especially after a walk outside in cold weather. The second steep tasted more delicious than the first.