Seven Cups

For a spring project, I decided to compare three Mingqian teas: Bi Luo Chun, Longjing, and Anji Bai Cha. In total, I bought 340 g of green tea, which in hindsight is a lot of green tea. I seriously overestimated how much green tea I would be able and willing to drink, which is why this little experiment is still ongoing. For Part 2 of this three-part extravaganza, I bought four Longjings from Teavivre, Treasure Green, and Seven Cups.

Tea bush: Seed-grown Heirloom Quntizhong
Location: Shifeng Mountain, West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Picking date: March 31, 2024
Price/g: US$1.68

As part of this project, I wanted to compare the more prolific Longjing No. 43 with the traditional Longjing variety, which is said to be more floral and complex. Seven Cups sells both of these teas. For the comparison session, I steeped 2.4 g of all four teas in 120 ml of 185F water, starting at 4 minutes. This produced very potent, not to say bitter, steeps! I later did a more typical session, steeping 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed.

The dry aroma is of candied chestnuts, hazelnuts, roasted grains, butter, spinach, and faint florals. The first steeps are quite bitter, with notes of chestnuts, hazelnuts, roast, and grain. Subsequent steeps feature roast, hazelnuts, green beans, other veggies, and orchids. The final steeps are grassy, roasty, vegetal, and faintly floral.

Bowl steeped, the florals appear. The first couple rounds have notes of chestnuts, hazelnuts, roasted grain, butter, spinach, asparagus, orchid, sweet pea, and lilac. The florality is most notable after the tea has been steeping for a few minutes, particularly in the aftertaste and the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps are nutty, buttery, vegetal, and floral, with a pronounced floral aftertaste and some asparagus/spinach/grassy notes. The final steeps are grassy, with vegetal and floral hints.

More floral and complex than the Dafo Longjing, this tea still has the nutty, smooth, roasted profile that’s typical of dragonwell. This tea is also less sweet than the Dafo. The differences were hard to detect at first, and they were more apparent in the regular bowl steeping session than in the comparison session. If you love Longjing, this is definitely the one to get, though I think most people would be happy with any of these four teas.

For a spring project, I decided to compare three Mingqian teas: Bi Luo Chun, Longjing, and Anji Bai Cha. In total, I bought 340 g of green tea, which in hindsight is a lot of green tea. I seriously overestimated how much green tea I would be able and willing to drink, which is why this little experiment is still ongoing. For Part 2 of this three-part extravaganza, I bought four Longjings from Teavivre, Treasure Green, and Seven Cups.

Tea bush: Longjing #43
Location: Xinchang County, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang
Picking date: March 21, 2024
Price/g: US$1.04

As part of this project, I wanted to compare the heirloom Longjing variety with the more prolific Longjing No. 43, which is supposed to have a nuttier, less complex flavour profile. Seven Cups sells both of these teas. For the comparison session, I steeped 2.4 g of all four teas in 120 ml of 185F water, starting at 4 minutes. This produced very potent, not to say bitter, steeps! I later did a more typical session, steeping 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed.

The dry aroma of these long, beautiful, mainly unbroken leaves is of chestnuts, butter, roasted grains, green beans, and spinach. The first steeps give me candied chestnuts, hazelnuts, roasted grains, green beans, and asparagus, with some woody bitterness. Did I mention these steeps are potent? Later steeps feature more candied chestnuts, along with beans, other veggies, and slightly bitter roast, with the final steeps being roasty, nutty, buttery, and vegetal.

Bowl style, the first few steeps have notes of roast, chestnut, hazelnut, grain, butter, asparagus, spinach, and faint florals. The tea has a strong vegetal backbone balanced by smooth, nutty, roasty flavours and no bitterness or astringency. The next few steeps give me green beans and a wonderfully round, nutty, buttery, roasted grain profile. The final steeps have notes of butter, nuts, green beans, and lettuce.

If you bowl steep this tea, it will reward you with a nicely roasted, sweet, nutty profile with pleasant beany notes and no bitterness to speak of. The flavours are well integrated enough that it’s hard to pick them apart, and there are absolutely no off notes. Overleafing this tea will yield less pleasant results. This Longjing is well made and deceptively simple.

For a spring project, I decided to compare three Mingqian teas from three companies: Bi Luo Chun, Longjing, and Anji Bai Cha. The vendors were Teavivre, Treasure Green, and Seven Cups. I received my last shipment of tea on Thursday and did the Bi Luo Chun comparison session over the weekend.

Over the past few years, several people have recommended the green tea from Seven Cups. However, the cost to ship to Canada is high and the teas usually sell out within days, making it necessary to place multiple orders to get everything I wanted. I contacted the vendor and asked if they would hold some tea for me, and they generously agreed. I was able to get six spring teas over about a month, and while the shipping was high, I think it was worth it! This is the first pluck of their regular Bi Luo Chun.

Tea bush: Seed-grown Heirloom Quntizhong
Location: Jingtingzhen (Xishan Island), Suzhou
Picking date: First pluck, March 28-29, 2024
Price/g: US$2.00

For the session, I steeped 2.4 g of all three teas in 120 ml of 185F water, starting at 4 minutes. This produced very potent steeps! I later did a more typical session, steeping 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed.

The dry aroma is of heady lilac, gardenia, magnolia, cantaloupe, pear, butter, and green beans. The first round gives me lilac and other spring flowers, heady gardenia and magnolia, buttered green beans, something nutty and cakey, cantaloupe, pear, and asparagus. I can also taste the fuzzy trichomes coming off these tiny silver snails. The middle steeps retain the lovely fruity/floral aroma, with herbs, asparagus, and lettuce. The tea is a bit drying at this point and has a lovely pear/fruity aftertaste. The final steeps have hints of orange, kale, those lovely florals, beans, minerals, and grass.

This is the only Bi Luo Chun that seemed more attenuated using my normal parameters than in the comparison session. The florals were softer, though still very noticeable, and the tea had the same mild bitterness in both scenarios.

This Bi Luo Chun immediately set itself apart by its heady floral aroma, and I’d say it was my favourite of the bunch. It had the most potent BLC fruitiness and florality, with florals similar to a gaoshan, along with some vegetal bitterness. The tea stood up the best to my heavy-handed steeping and actually seemed to benefit from it. At $2.00 per gram, I’m not surprised this made an impression on me, and it’s probably the one I’ll finish the fastest.

From the Tea Thoughts spring countdown box.

This tisane actually reminds me of pickles. I think it must be the chrysanthemum giving me that connotation, as it often tastes a bit savory/peppery, so I could see it making me think of dill. I’m surprised that it’s not sweeter given the classic jujube, longan, and hawthorn fruits included. I do taste a bit of that syrupy sweet quality from the fruit, but I think mostly I’m getting chrysanthemum and the tangerine peel, which together are giving me pickles. I don’t think I’ve ever had bamboo leaf, so not sure what that is adding.

Anyway, not quite what I expected given my previous experience with similar TCM tisanes, but still very interesting and strangely enjoyable! :P

The licorice does build a bit as I sip, which gives it a stronger sweetness.

Lovely green tea. Bright, vegetal/grassy. Slightly astringent, but very fresh tasting. Perfect cup to wake you up in the morning.

Hated this tea! I kept sipping and sipping, hoping I’d get used to it, but it never happened. Then the aftertaste made it even more awful!

Spring 2018- extremely light and sweet. Can take heat and doesnt turn bitter. Lacks any bite. Perfect for if youre busy and going to forget that your tea is in your cup. Refreshing.

Deep golden honey nectar of the gods. A+ Honey cashew

Tasty lapsang souchong. Strong (though not very strong) smoke.

This is a strip oolong. Has quite large leaves and not a terribly large amount of bruising (oxidation), so an overall slightly less-oxidized oolong. I am using around 4g in 110mL, at 180-185F

The wet aroma is fantastic and very strong and thick! Lots of ‘dark fruit’ notes, like berries, with a great degree of floral and magnolia aroma accompanying it.

The taste itself is quite the treat. It is smooth, but quite thick and juicy as well — definitely not a light oolong. It has a very creamy, buttery texture and flavour throughout. Very floral, with osmanthus and honeysuckle being the main contributors.

There is a very slight astringency, but it’s only mainly noticed as part of the aftertaste, or if you were to overbrew it.

On the fourth steep, the leaves have mostly fully opened up.

At this point, the tea has been consistant with its profile. Very creamy and very floral, thick but juicy as well. Very minor astringency — mainly detected as part of the aftertaste. A nice thing about this tea is that the more you let it cool down (after the steep and removing the leaves, just letting it cool in a cup), the floral notes slightly fade but it becomes far more creamy and buttery.

on the fifth steep, creamyness has started to fade but the floral notes remain the same.

sixth steep, the cream is on it’s last legs but the osmanthus remains persistant.

seventh steep. I would consider this tea to be ‘exhausted’ by now. Cream is gone, floral is way too subtle, and you mainly taste the husk of the leaf. I’ll consider my session to be complete by now.

As for a summary, the first half of the steeping session gives you a very thick, juicy, creamy (butter and cream), and floral flavour. The creamyness and floral both fade, but the cream is the first to go. There is very little astringency, and even after all seven steeps my throat doesn’t feel dry at all, only the surface of my tongue feels a bit dried. A very pleasant and thick oolong, an absolute treat to have.

Haven’t made a review in quite some time! This wont’ be terribly in-depth like my others, but it should give a pretty decent overview.

I’m using about 4g for 110mL, at 205F.

Forgot to check out the dry aroma :P but the wet aroma is nothing too special. It’s a bit musky and ‘sandy’, but also subtle hints of sweetness and vanilla.

As for the taste, very neat and very interesting. It comes within two ‘stages’. The first stage gives the “standard” taste of sheng puerh, with the combination of white tea notes such as bai mudan and silver needle combined. Tastes like a strict combination of the two without any of the astringency, nor any hint of bitterness at all. Which is rather neat considering than sheng is normally categorized by those two characteristics.

After about 5 seconds (or less, if you can’t help to swallow the tea), the second “stage” comes in. This is where the sweetness hits and it’s absolutely sublime. It’s like adding a drop of vanilla to your tea and having it combine with the flavours perfectly. The sweetness spreads throughout your mouth and remains rooted as a strong aftertaste presence. Very delicious.

As a summary, if you had silver needle before, imagine silver needle infused with vanilla and the two live in absolute harmony with each other. This is how this tea tastes to me, and it retains its flavour for a very long time for multiple steepings.

I am primarily a shu puerh drinker and I normally dislike sheng, but as funny as it sounds, this is actually my absolute favourite tea from all the teas I’ve tasted. It’s great.

It’s not bad. But, it’s not as good as the Big Red Robe tea. It tastes like other Wuyi rock teas, but it’s probably less interesting generally speaking. The roasting seems relatively lighter than the usual rock tea. I tried the 2014 tea in 2017. It was cheaper, and I prefer older rock tea, so good deal.

About the steep. The way I steep is idiosyncratic. It’s sort of kung fu-like. I have a good bit of tea and less water. The steeping time depends on the taste. I might start with 5 or 10 secs, then I take a sip. If it needs more time, I add more depending on the strength. When it’s good, then I know the time for the first cup. It’s like the way I cook. The second cup is usually less time, then all following cups will longer in steep time. But, it all depends on the taste, the amount of tea relative to water, water temp, etc. So, you can completely ignore the amount/water/time/temp parameters Steepster is forcing me to put here.

For a key to my rating scale, check out my bio.

An amazingly sweet and thick aroma coming from the dry leaves, like a combination of Anji bai cha and early-spring dragonwell. Scent in hot gaiwan is like butter cookies – very creamy and sweet with a slight cinnamon note. Very light body, definite marine notes, like sweet nori. Fragrance is actually quite similar to Japanese green tea. As the tea cools, flavor transitions to gardenias, like a Taiwanese green or oolong tea. While this tea has no bitterness, it is unfortunately very astringent, drying out the sides of the tongue especially. Flavor is also relatively flat and uninteresting. I would recommend using more leaf than I did (perhaps 4-6g) and a lower water temperature (~175°F) for around 20 seconds on the first infusion – this will definitely improve the mouthfeel and flavor. One upside is that the leaves are fascinating to look at – paper thin and a very vibrant, translucent green. Also very easy to clean out of the gaiwan which is a plus.

Summary: Extremely mild, grassy-hay yellow tea without much texture or body, some calming green energy.

Prep: 2-5g leaves, 100cc gaiwan, anywhere from 170-190F, anywhere from 3 to 8 steeps. Usually 30-120 sec, increasing steep time up to about 4 min.
Sessions with this tea: 8ish?

Taste: Simple grassy-hay spectrum. Not too sweet, not too vegetal. A tiny bit floral and mildly mineral. Not much aftertaste.

Body: Mildly salivating. Medium body, thicker at first two steeps, then gets thin. Mild energy, clean feeling.

Everything about this tea is mild-moderate. I’ve been nursing mine along for a while. Is a pleasant easy drinker with a clean feeling, but not really for me as I usually like more of a challenge and more of a mouthfeel. I kinda use this as a between-sessions mouth cleanser with stronger pu or oolong teas. Drink this if you like green tea but don’t want the heavy stomach feel.

Nice smokey, mineralized flavor…
Infusion is dark orange.

Infused it 7 times without any problems… I just don’t get, why it says here 1min. I started with a 10sec infusion and added 5secs for each following infusion.

For a key to my rating scale, check out my bio.

Great aromatics and reasonable complexity, with nice, persistent 回甘 (sweet finish). However, there is a strange baking soda minerality and an unusual cooling sensation (think ripe brie rind) in the throat that I don’t really like. I also found a dry bean in the leaves once, so not enough care has gone into sorting the tea and keeping it separate from contamination (sadly very few teas are processed in as clean an environment as they should be).

I purchased this tea sample when Steepster Select was having their sale last year.

It was really hard to break this tea up. Even after 4 infusions it was just starting to break up.

It brewed up a golden colour but the taste was very light. It reminded me of fresh mineral water from a gurgling brook. The package said there was a floral finish to it. I didn’t really pick that up but there was a bit of earthiness to it.

I normally like lighter teas but this one just didn’t grab me.

an ok tea

when I smell the tuo dry, it smells nice and raw

when I smell the tuo wet, it smells green and earthy

when I smell the brewed tea, it smells light and smooth

when I taste the brewed tea, it tastes light and smooth

many thanks to toad Thomas for this ok tea

i am really surprised that this tastes so good and is a un-roasted oolong

when i smell the leaves dry, they smell like un-roasted oolong.

when i smell the leaves wet, they smell sweet and fruity

when i smell the brewed tea, it smells sweet and fruity too.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste peach and sweetness :D

because of this tea, i shall once again try raw oolongs :)

many thanks to toad thomas for this amazing tea :D

Butter, sesame seed, seaweed, full flavor and mouth-feel. Brewed as directed. Tasted better than expected and will keep in the back of my mind when looking for some greens to buy in spring 2015.

Meh, not much finesse for me, have had better, but wouldn’t kick it out of the cupboard either.