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It seems that I am starting to reach for Vietnamese green teas more frequently when I am in the mood for green tea. I suppose that is not all that surprising since I like a lot of Yunnan and Guangxi green teas, and I find that the aromas and flavors offered by a number of Vietnamese green teas are somewhat similar. This was a tea I rushed to buy simply because of where it originated. I have had a couple of wild black teas from the tea forests of Ha Giang and I enjoyed them, so trying a green tea from there was a no-brainer. Apparently, this tea and What-Cha’s other Shan Tuyet offerings are made from Camellia Sinensis var. pubilimba, a unique tea varietal native to Vietnam. This was an interesting tea, full of vegetal, nutty, and malty notes with a hint of what I can only describe as a sheng-like funk and unexpected fruit and flower impressions.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I decided to forego a rinse in this instance, as I do not always rinse green teas. I started with a 5 second infusion in 167 F water. This initial infusion was followed by infusions of 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

The dry tea leaves emitted somewhat pungent malty aromas with hints of vegetal character. The first infusion brought forth aromas of grass, spinach, kale, and corn husk. In the mouth, the liquor offered faint, delicate flavors. It started with a hint of sweetness on the entry before giving way to something of a young sheng funk with some brothy umami character and hints of grass, malt, and corn husk right before the finish. Subsequent infusions better brought out the grass, malt, and corn husk notes. The spinach and kale also started to impress themselves upon the palate. New notes of straw, hay, chestnut, hazelnut, asparagus, squash blossom, lettuce, wood, sour plum, tart cherry, and seaweed emerged too. At times, I even briefly detected entirely unexpected floral notes that reminded me of a combination of geranium, chrysanthemum, and marigold. The later infusions saw mineral notes emerge in a big way, though fleeting notes of lettuce, grass, chestnut, malt, spinach, and sheng-like funk were detectable until pretty much the end of the session.

Odd, yet aromatic and flavorful, this was a very satisfying green tea. Though it peaked rather early and faded quickly, it yielded a session that was more or less simultaneously enjoyable and fascinating from start to finish. I could see this tea appealing to adventurous green tea drinkers or Pu-erh fans looking to try something new.