Spring Harvest Laoshan Green (2013)

I loved the Autumn green, so I ordered some of this, not sure how similar or different they are going to be, but I guess I’m about to find out!

On opening the bag, wow what an aroma, very fresh smelling, kind of reminds me of nori.

Taste is similar to the Autumn Laoshan Green, except it seems like the Autumn one is slightly more buttery tasting, while the Spring harvest on the other hand has notes of fresh greens and veges in the forefront. It has a sweetness to it that reminds me of snap-peas right off the vine. Good stuff.

Revisiting this 5 months later, I am now picking up a very tasty chestnutty flavor that I am really enjoying.

Shared an old a sample with Elinor, obviously a little stale now but still yummy.

Sip .. wow. Sip, sip, sip…. Wow, Wow! I drank the cup so fast I didn’t even have a sec to think about the tasting notes lol It smells delicious, sweet and milky, buttery, corn, oats, peas, sweet grass… very natural and “organic”, refreshing in a very Satisfying way. I hate “artificial” tasting teas, so this one really hits my spot;) I added a bit of Jasmine green on the third steeping and its just great. I brewed it in a transparent gaiwan and the leaves are very appealing visually as well. Nice color and shape. I’m really enjoying this one.

Marco Lewis TTB

Thanks Lily at Verdant for the sample!

Dry leaf appearance: Tiny, crinkly, dark green

Dry scent: pistachio nut, grassy

175F, 120 ml, 4g
3 steepings: 8s, 15s, 15s
I wanted to try Verdant’s steeping perameters, I really did, but I can’t ever seem to get any flavor out of a 3 second steeping (plus I can hardly ever figure out how to hold the gaiwan right within that time. lol) Maybe I’ll play it by the book next time.

Silly me, swearing off green tea for like a year because it “tastes like grass in a cup.” And here I find that I actually enjoy the stuff. I’ve been missing out. Next week I’ll try to tackle blacks again since they’re still on my no-no list. I was a bit traumatized by a very strong Golden Monkey last week. Didn’t help much to be honest. Anyway on to the Laoshan Green!

I wish I was sophisticated enough to write pages and pages on how this tea tastes, but it was just good, sweet green tea. Actually yesterday I had to use a whole teaspoon of sugar to make my TGY taste good, not so with this tea. I used only half a teaspoon and with the first sip my eyes actually lit up when I found how sweet it was! I realized when I poured some more that some of the sweetness was actually due to the fact that I didn’t pre-heat my cup, because the next one was hotter and less sweet, but hey, that means it should make a pretty mean iced tea right? :)

Photo: http://instagram.com/p/wromMJAuM-/?modal=true

Did anyone else think that the dry leaves smells like chocolate? I stood there for a moment looking around wondering where the chocolate smell came from after I opened the package, I looked into the package, smelled it and then realized it smells like chocolate. so very odd. Luckily it does not taste it all like chocolate, no I’m sure it would have tasted good with chocolate. It’s just not what I wanted this morning.

I love how smooth it is, so grassy, so nice.

I purchased this one from Shadowfall in her stash sale. I’ve become much more of a black tea drinker lately, but I do enjoy the occasional green and Verdant has such a good reputation around here, so I figured why not? And it’s a small sample size so it was cheap! The leaves are similar to the Yin Gou Mei “eyebrow tea” that I got in a Simple Loose Leaf box. They’re thin and very stiff, and they’ve been shaped into little loops and “u” shapes. The color is a dull green/blue/grey. I started out with a one minute steep and ended up going to two minutes total after testing it.

The aroma is surprisingly roasty, with sweet and buttery squash. I definitely taste toasted grains in this, specifically oats. It’s creamy and buttery in texture with a bit of mild squash taste. I definitely see where the vanilla soy milk descriptor comes from. There’s the sweetness of freshly shelled peas, and a lovely vanilla note near the end. The aftertaste is roasty and vegetal.

Definitely a different flavor profile than I have experienced in a green tea before! In a way, it reminds me of a milk oolong, but without the floral and fruit notes that green oolongs often have. I’m glad I got the chance to try it!

This was the second tea from the great TheTeaFairy converting Dex project.
She wrote “snap pea and vanilla” on the package. I didn’t get that, in fact I didn’t much of anything. This was just “green” warm water. I don’t think that I can appreciate teas like this. Having said that, this was my second favorite of the four greens that I tried….

I received this in BrewTEAllySweet"s tea stash sale. Thank you!

I am just starting to try some green tea now that the weather is getting warmer. When I am at home and not sitting shivering at my desk at work it seems like a nice refreshing drink. Although this was not fresh green tea, it was very nice. It was very buttery and smooth with the slight vegatal taste. My palate is not developed when it comes to greens so I am not sure how else to describe this. The cup cooled off about half way through and it was just as delirious cold. I look forward to finishing this small sample.

I received this as part of the 5 for $5 special offered to new customers. I brewed 6g western method in 16 oz water then 3g in a tall glass with 16 oz cool water. I’m new to loose tea so I’m not sure how best to describe it but it seems vegetal, lightly sweet and very fresh. I actually preferred it brewed cold – very refreshing, light and sweet. I don’t have access to hot water during work so I like to add green tea leaves to my bottled water and sip throughout the day. Some greens aren’t tasty cold and become bitter, but this one is great all day long!