Nepal Green

Day 6 of Around the World Advent Calendar 2023 features this tea.

Notes from box: Experience the craftsmanship of family-owned Jun Chiyabari tea garden with this vibrant tea from the high mountains of Nepal’s Hile-Dhankutu.

My notes: This tea has a floral and vegetal smell, like a deliciously fresh meadow perfume. The liquor produced is light and crisply grassy and highly drinkable, but not very memorable. However, this does not bother me. It could be that my palate is just not refined enough to truly appreciate it, and drinking it was a fine way to spend an hour in the afternoon. For me, enjoyable and forgettable in equal measures.

Sipdown! 163/365!

Happened to grab 3 green teas to brew up tonight; this was the first. Despite being a little old, it was still good – a bit more grassy of a profile than I’d usually go for, but there’s a sweetness to it that compensates. Brewed carefully at a low temp, there was no astringency, which I was also pleased about. I still prefer Laoshan greens, dragonwell, etc., but wouldn’t turn down another cup of this!

Grandpa tea from today; I don’t know if I’ve had this one before but I do remember it from when it was originally on the tea wall are a core tea. Since it’s been retired I’ve definitely had green tea from Nepal through other vendors though.

I don’t mind this for a green tea; it’s a tiny, tiny bit astringent but largely just grassy with a touch of green bean notes to it. I don’t often reach for straight green teas anyway (and lately when I do it’s sweeter Chinese greens) so maybe my opinion on this is a moot point but I think it’s something worth trying out and exploring…

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Tasty!
Not my fave ever green tea, but pretty decent overall. A bit fruity(peach/apricot?), which I like, and a bit vegetal which is also nice. I think what bothers me just a smidge here is that I prefer things more to the extreme if it isn’t a matter of delicate/complex flavours which this tea is not. So it’d be better for me if this had more fruitiness or more vegetal/grassiness. But the middleground here just sits in a strange kindof place for me. My palate feels a bit confused, and doesn’t know what to make of it.
I have one more cup to experiment with, so hopefully that will clear up my vague feelings on this tea!

I’ve been away in Ottawa for my sister in laws wedding for a week- lots to catch up on here in steepster! When I was away I got an email about more “freshly plucked” teas and I knew I had to pick some of this up. I did today, and my local DAVIDs was on its last bag so I’m glad I got there in the nick of time. I felt no guilt about picking up another green tea because I’ve used up 3 teas in the past week, so I’m doing good ;)

I steeped approx 1.25-1.5 tsp of this tea for 2.5 min in 175 degree water. The recommended 3-4 min seemed a little strong, and I’m glad I pulled it out when I did because I believe it would have been bitter after that. The taste is grassy, smooth and fresh- very nice pick up up after the first night back in my own bed. Lovely, and again, no regrets with buying this one ;).

Day #15 of tea!

Again, I’m keeping my original rating on this one, which, for me, for a plain green is high. I normally like my greens with some flavour to them, but again, I appreciate the taste on this one because it’s slightly different than a regular Japanese green.

1.5 tso for 300mL water @80C, steeped 2 minutes 30 seconds.

The packet suggests a 3-4 minute steep, which seems a bit long for a green to me, so I’m trying it my way first.

Dry leaf: sweet and grassy and a tiny bit floral.

Wet leaf: vegetal and a bit briny — that scallops note I dislike so much in some green teas — to my surprise.

Liquor is gold with some subtle down and gives a strong door of scallops and butter. I don’t like seafood in my tea, so I’m a bit disappointed. Nowhere on the write-up does it say ‘vegetal’,’ a word which usually signals that scallops thing and warns me away.

Tastes of scallops and brine with butter and a slightly sweet finish. I am detecting no muscat at all.

Not for me.

Dry leaf: Hints of dried apricots, fresh foliage and clean earth.

Liqueur: Pale yellow-green. Smells like misty, mountain air and wildflowers.

Flavour: Clean and vibrant flavor of apricot with a hint of muscatel. Lightly vegetal, crisp linger.