Watermelon Lu An Gua Pian

Thanks for sharing some of this, Courtney!

Unfortunately, I’m not terribly impressed with it. I could taste a bit of watermelon, and some green tea, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. However, I think that maybe an infusion time of 1 minute would serve it better, since it’s a higher grade of green tea – so I’ll give that a shot next time.

The second infusion, though light, was perhaps better than the first, so I still think there is some hope!

Made this one into a watermelon smoothie. Yummm!!

First made this as a cold brew. Brewed for about 13 hours. The cold brew was slightly astringent. I did not intend to leave it for that long. But I found there was more watermelon taste as a cold brew vs when hot.

I had previously cut up a ginormous watermelon to make watermelon salad and had so much that I decided to freeze some to make smoothies. The recipe I was thinking of was a margarita recipe, involving blending frozen watermelon with margarita mix. Mmmmm. But I decided that I should try it with tea first. It turned out really well, although I think I used too much watermelon. It is of smoothie consistency, strongly tasting of sweet watermelon, but there is a base of green tea that I can taste. It pairs really good with the watermelon and gives the watermelon a slight candy-like flavour, that is not overly sweet. Very good. Margaritas next time!!

Edit: Made this one again, but this time I used much less watermelon. Did about 1 part watermelon to 3 parts tea. It is more like watermelon juice this time with a bit of pulp. It is still sweet, but much less sweet than when I made it with lots of watermelon. Both ways have their merits. I am enjoying it like this today.

This is from my split order with tattooed_tea that I’m finally getting to. I’m not gonna’ lie, I sort of lost this in my cupboard. LOL! Well, there’s no time like the present! The dry tea aroma isn’t quite as potently watermelon as it used to be when it first arrived, but I can still identify it.

The taste is very subtle and light. There’s virtually no aftertaste though, which is a bit odd. I’ve only encountered this aspect in Liu An Gua Pian teas. The aftertaste I can detect is from the watermelon flavoring and not the base.

This is a lovely tea and definitely worthy of the V.I.T. (Very Important Tea) distinction from 52teas. I’m surprised there aren’t many tasting notes on here considering this is fairly old. Did everyone else lose this tea in their cupboards too? Anyway, I really like it, and I’m glad I have a good bit of it to enjoy. Thanks again, tattooed_tea!!!

Backlog:

I loved this stuff.

The Lu An Gua Pian melded perfectly with the sweet notes of watermelon. Frank did the watermelon flavor nicely … it’s a bit on the subtle side, and I’m glad that it doesn’t taste overly sweet or candy-like. It is sweet (watermelon is sweet) but it’s not TOO sweet.

The green tea is sweet and mild. A delicate taste and texture with subtle savory notes. There is a hint of nutty sweetness to the cup too. No bitterness and very little astringency.

I like this one a lot.

This tea is pretty tasty. On first sip I found it to be quite similar to Butiki’s Watermelon Xylophone, with the obvious exception being the tea base here is green.

I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a true watermelon flavour, but it’s one of the better watermelon teas I’ve had. I’m always on the hunt for a perfect watermelon tea. It has a subtle sweetness to it.

I’m finding the tea to be light and calming. Hopefully this will be conducive to all the work I have to get done today.

I was overjoyed to see Lu An Gua Pian used in a tea blend. Given that this tea is wonderful on its own, I was intrigued as to what Frank could do with it. Pairing the subtle floral sweetness from this base with watermelon was a clever play on the tea’s namesake and works well. The result is an earthy, velvety sweet natural watermelon tea. The description is apt as this is definitely a luxury tea given the depth of flavors and smooth finish. If you were lucky enough to get your hands on this one you can’t help but appreciate how indulgent this blend is.

Home from work a few hours ago, though I still feel exhausted….really? LOL I didn’t work very long today but was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Sighs So wanted a boost of caffeine for some writing that I want to do tonight.

On to the tea tasting: The overall temp suggestion was 180, but that is not a option on my kettle, and I no longer have a thermometer so went with 175, which generally speaking works out.
Sadly, I am not liking this tea at all, tempted to throw it out. But I won’t. I’ll either force myself to drink it or stick it into the fridge once it cools down, from the other tea notes, I’ve gotten the impression that it makes an passable iced tea, and I’ve been thinking about them lately.

It’s kind of funny, Teavana’s Watermelon Mint Chiller actually has more watermelon then this, though the mint kind of takes over. I’m really wanting to try Butiki’s Watermelon Xylophone now…Argh. This last tea sale that I bought I promised would be my last tea buy for a while because planning on moving to my Mom’s and she’s already going to be HORRIFIED at my tea collection. And I need to learn to put restraints on myself (And not in a fun way :( ) Both for the sake of space and saving money.
Actually this has made me want to make a cup of Watermelon Mint Chiller, so going to go put this into another cup and make it.