Organic Ming Qian Long Ya Green Tea

I received 50 g of fresh spring 2023 pre-Qingming Bi Luo Chun about a week ago, and got this new-to-me tea as one of my two free samples. This is something I probably never would have tried, so thanks to Teavivre for including it! I steeped around 3 g of leaf in an 85 ml teapot at 176F for 20, 25, 35, 50, 80, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted steeps. I also steeped the remaining 2 g in around 250 ml of 176F water for 5 minutes, topping up the water as needed.

The dry aroma of these flat, almost uniform leaves is of chestnuts, seaweed, and grass. The first steep has notes of chestnuts, green beans, asparagus, butter, umami, and grass. The next steep adds notes of orange peel and florals, and the tea is slightly drying. The tea is less sweet than Dragonwell and has a starchy quality. The orange disappears in the next couple steeps, and stronger notes of asparagus, chestnut, and green beans emerge. The final steeps are a bit more bitter and add kale and grass to the veggie combo.

Bowl steeped, this tea has notes of chestnut, asparagus, spinach, green pepper, faint florals, seaweed, and grass. There’s some bitterness, but it’s not overwhelming. I get more green beans and grass as the session goes on, and the tea becomes slightly sweeter and more floral. It lasts for several infusions.

This is close to the type of nutty, less abrasive Chinese green tea that I like, though Dragonwell appeals to me a little more because it tends to be sweeter. As usual, bowl steeping provided the more pleasant experience, though the citrus in the gongfu session was a nice surprise. This isn’t something I need to rush out and buy, but I’m glad I got to try it.

This tea has an interesting smell that’s a mix of bread dough, asparagus, cabbage and stir fry. The taste has a strong umami and vegetable notes. It is quite unique, although the closest comparison would probably be a mix of a robust Long Jing and a Laoshan green tea.

First I thought that this was a version of the well-reviewed Teavivre’s Organic Nonpareil Dragon Well but this is a totally different tea despite the tea leaves looking remarkably similar. It is from Sichuan. I had it both gongfu and western with equally satisfying results.

The leaves are pretty and have a nice aroma similar to dragon wells. The taste reminded me of dragonwells as well, with grass, asparagus, spinach, broccoli and butter. Also, some faint sweetness and spiciness. Way to often green teas feel to weak and understated to me but this one had a strong bitter-sour note that blended well with the rest of the flavors and was quite welcome. This note lingered and transformed into the grass, spicy and pleasantly bitter aftertaste.

It is a complex and bold (for a green) tea. The complexity fades somewhat during the gongfu session but it remains enjoyable for multiple steepings nevertheless. Actually, it becomes intiguingly savory and sweet. This is probably the best green I tried so far but it’s on the pricey side with $0.40 per gram, so I guess the high quality should be expected. Also, it is 10 months old by now, which leaves the possibility of it is being fantastic when the leaves are just picked.