Gan Lu

These green tea buds from Sichuan are the prettiest green tea leaves I’ve ever seen. They are so fluffy with little white hairs and so light and fragile. The scent is sweet and nutty, in fact it reminds me of a warm bun filled with taro paste.

The flavor is smooth, very vegetal, to be expected from green tea, with notes of snap peas, nuts, and a slightly smoky, earthy finish. The liquid feels very smooth in the mouth. The flavor is very mouth filling and saturates the throat. I really enjoy the smooth, sweet character of this tea. It matches the billowy appearance of the leaves, though once wet they smell much more strong than the brew, a smoky and green bean like affair.

The second infusion of this tea is certainly more dominated by vegetal and smoky flavors. It even tastes woody or like bark now too. It’s still sweet, but the sweetness is an accompaniment rather than the main feature.

On the third infusion, the flavor is more intensely vegetal and earthy, but still with the lingering sweetness. It’s quite an intense tea for one that started out so mellow. Very rich. By the fourth infusion it is sweeter and more mellow again, but there’s a hint of bitterness. I’m almost certain the rise and fall in flavor intensity is due to my own brewing style and had I steeped lighter on the second and third infusions they’d probably have been quite mellow as well.

Overall, I enjoy this tea. I think it represents a fine quality, but it does have a bit of that bitter/smoky flavor that some tea lovers avoid green tea because of. It’s similar to the notes you’ll get in a lot of young sheng Puer.