Ancient Emerald Lily

Brewed it this morning.
Tasted floral and of corn.
Still quite delicious.

Brew it once, then stop.
Does not hold up to re-steep.
Well, for me at least.

I do not know why
This came out in a haiku.
Refrigerator.

Well, being honest, this is in homage to a shirt/hoodie Auggy found.
http://typetees.threadless.com/product/623/Haikus_Are_Easy_But_Sometimes
I wants it.

Anyhow, I ran out of what I had of this, but they had it in Williams Sonoma so I grabbed a tin. I find myself craving it somewhat often, so this is going to be a tea that I replenish for sure. I like it a lot. Giving it a ratings bump.

I’m a bit at loose ends tonight because my evening activity, a hockey game, doesn’t start until 9pm central. So I’m waiting and kind of being unproductive. So I thought I’d do something semi-productive and try a new tea!

Such pretty pretty leaves. Curly and colorful and pretty. I’m a little stuffy so I’m not getting much of anything off the dry leaves, but as soon as I poured hot water over them, I got a poof of sweet greeness. It reminds me a bit of Jade Cloud, but sweeter.

Oh but the taste. It’s a bit like Jade Cloud – a lot of the same tastes, but tweaked and rebalanced until this is so much better. It’s sweet and there is no salty/briny taste at all. And the aftertaste has a light nutty flavor. Not faint nutty, but a lighter colored/tasting nut.

So yeah, overall this tea is very similar to Jade Cloud. But better. Mmm.

The leaves of this tea are so big its hard to use a teaspoon to get them. So, I used my fingers and used about twice as much tea as I did the first time I drank this. Then I steeped for 6 minutes. The tea was unbelievable and I’m not usually this ecstatic about green teas. The tea had a nutty and orchid fragrance and had a nutty toasty taste with a slightly floral aftertaste. I’m going to start not following directions and experimenting until I get the tea the way I like it. This cup was great.

Hrm. So maybe this whole work tea experience isn’t working out quite as well as I hoped!

So I figured I’d finish off the sample that takgoti sent me, and try some Ancient Emerald Lily at work (I have a tin of this as well).

I think the problem is actually my Flavia machine’s water. I’m not sure having the water run through the same spout that produces coffee and hot chocolate and various types of tea is such a good thing. Or maybe it’s just the water that tastes bad…

Anyway, this tea, which is one that I found in the past to be very enjoyable, pretty much fell flat today. None of the flavors really stood out. There was a weird, almost mineral-like taste, and the formally nutty notes were really harsh and unpleasant. The lower water temperature I used really caused the tea to lose a lot of its astringency, which was definitely pleasant. And as the cup cooled, there was definite green-sweet peeping through.

But overall, the cup just wasn’t as good as I’ve had in the past. Tea is probably 99% water, so I have a feeling the water might be the key to my problem. The next step is going to be boiling some water in the microwave and then letting it cool to an appropriate temperature. Or I might test another tea, like Adagio’s Gunpowder, and see how it stands up to these icky water conditions. I don’t want to be ruining tea with bad water.

Looks like the hot water kettle + bottled water might just end up being the more viable option…

Enjoying some of this tonight, although it tasted better before drinking H&S’s Bangkok Blend… best not to pair a weaker, more subtly flavoured tea after a stronger one. My bad. Anyhow, this is a bit old now, but thanks to *Alphakitty*’s careful double-bagging, it’s not contaminated, and the flavour is still light and sweet. Not edging towards bitterness at all, which I find some greens can do as they age. A nice, relaxing cup of tea.

My cat like to sleep on a hay bale in my neighbor’s lawn, and he always comes home smelling of sweet, fresh hay. It’s such a nice smell, and one I associate with warmer weather. And it’s exactly what I smelled once I poured this tea into a mug! Hay, a bit of fresh-cut grass, a hint of floral orchid. They really ought to make perfume that smells like specific teas.

There’s no actual hay in the taste (which I suppose is a good thing) though I am getting a tiny bit of grassiness. It’s mostly nutty and floral-tasting, with hints of hazelnut (or maybe pine nut, it’s very faint) and orchid. It’s a very clean, crisp tea. For some reason it makes me think of spring in a cup!

The scent of the dry leaf is comforting and inviting, hay and dried grass not unlike many white teas. The smell of the leaf while brewing is even more promising, the hay is still there along with a nutty and buttery scent, and I didn’t know it was possible but I’m actually smelling sweetness, and a little bit of a floral scent like faint and fleeting traces of jasmine.

I should also mention that the leaves of this tea are gorgeous. The taste is more complex than expected, first and foremost it’s nutty, but there is also quite a floral taste and a sweetness reminding me of a green oolong, and it finishes with a mild buttery-smooth flavor.

This is a very nice, soothing cup.

Sipdown!

Erm… I’m 90% sure that this came from Rachel, but it was so long ago who knows. If it was someone else, I’m sorry!

Pale kind of spinachy-flavor with a little bit of nuttiness. It’s good. I like it. Not in love, but I’m on my second steeping, so that counts for something :)

Today this tea seems more nutty and a bit creamy. I’m tasting the corn notes that others have referred to, but it’s not like roasted corn or corn on the cob, more like corn bread. I’m not getting much floral notes in it, they’re so slight I barely detect them today. With the second steeping and it cooling down it’s becoming more creamy with a slight mouth-feel.

What beautiful leaves: long and fluffy with colors that vary from white to pale green to olive green and smelling of hay! When dunked in water they develop a light floral fragrance, almost an orchid but lighter and sweeter. There is a very, very slight vegetal but nothing objectionable. The taste is true to the fragrance with the addition of the very slightest nutty note. It is not a sweet green tea, which surprised me but it is quite nice.

Much thanks to takgoti for this wonderful tea!