Autumn Laoshan Green [duplicate]

Raw notes:

After 5 second rinse, vegetable broth aroma, green or lima beans, floral

1: straw/pale yellow green, with slight tendency to orange on first steep

umami, very slight bitter on the back of the tongue, full mouthfeel, veg broth, spinach

2: floral aromas diminishing, more earthy, sweet aromas, wet bark

second steep brings out brightness, more lima bean flavor, bitterness is way down, spinach is less.

lingering tannic astringency, almost not there.

3: brings more woody aromas, toast

taste is very bright and sweet, bitterness is coming back just a bit, cereal notes, like toasted rice. Toasted rice flavor stays for quite a while, very long pleasant aftertaste.

4: strong toasted grain aromas with still that green/lima bean underneath

brightness is down quite a bit, spinach flavor is coming back up under the toasted rice, bitterness increasing a bit more.

astringency stays with some broth kind of flavor as the spinach and rice flavors compete

5: cut grass aroma joins the party

bitterness recedes, flavors all muted a bit. astringency up, something mineral on top of the toast and spinach, like a butter crisp or romaine lettuce leaf chewed straight out of the garden, but faint.

6: pushed steep out of sequence to 45s. aroma is becoming flat ‘green tea’ with a strong toasty low end and almost no floral

flavor is very sweet, no bitter or astringency, but not much else going on.

7: push to 1:15 to close it out. Finishes with aroma of cut grass and toasted rice. Very pleasant. Reminds me of late summer (how apropos)

Flavor is a touch of sweetness over grass and toast, all very faint.

A nice hour and some spent with this tea. I would definitely drink this again, and can recommend it.

150ml Gaiwan, 175F, 12s + 4s per add’l steep except where noted.

Aroma: sharply chestnut. Taste: spinach, nutty, and like yum choy (that bitter Chinese vegetable).

First infusion: only brewed for 20 seconds per instructions from Verdant. Scent of the dry leaves is very crisp, autumnal and seaweedy. The scent of the liquor smells like honey and grass. Very low astringency. I taste green beans and barley on the front. I don’t catch caramel or chocolate notes.

Second infusion: My water was maybe a touch too cool. The dried green pea smell is stronger, taste is slightly more astringent and nutty. I would still say there is some clover honey there.

Overall: although greens like this are not my stylistic favorite, I appreciate how delicately this balances vegetable, grain, and sweet notes.

Sipdown(4)
oh. I never reviewed this one. Oops.
I just heard about all the 2016 spring laoshan teas verdant just got in, and since I told myself no more buying tea until I get my cupboard down to 50 teas, I got really motivated to get a move on, so I can get all my laoshan teas. This was almost empty, so. Also, THERES WAY TOO MANY TEAS TO TRY. I want them all. Why must I have such expensive tastes?

God I love laoshan greens, I don’t think this one was quite as good as the 2015 pine needle green, it’s a bit rougher around the edges, but it’s still so delicious! I’m so excited to try all the fresh 2016 spring teas, so I gotta get drinking

Hope I’m reviewing this in the correct spot. 2015 picking.

I managed to get this tea for $4.50 /25g. It was either pay $5 in shipping or get another tea. the choice was obvious.

This reminds me a lot of Yunnan Strand Green Tea from Verdant. Savory and Vegetal, with 2nd steepings and beyond prone to astringency. I’ve had this tea twice so far and here’s what I found (essentially Verdant’s recommendations with modifications) Always 8oz:

1st steep: 20sec, 175F water: savoury/vegetal/buttery; very tasty!

2nd steep: 30sec, 160F: savoury but a bit astringent. Still managed to drink the cup down, but a reduction in temp would be better.

3rd steep: 50sec; left my cup of 160F water cooling down for 2min before steeping (unsure of exact temp): smooth, a bit vegetal, only a slight bit of astringency left from previous steep.

Overall I do enjoy this tea but I think I’m going to start really playing around with teas that are prone to astringency (like gyokuro, yunnan, this tea…anything “tippy” really). I’ve read that, really, gyokuro and similar teas should be brewed at like 140 F- much cooler than the lowest temp on my kettle (160F). I also just bought “The tea enthusiast handbook” (which I’ve read previously from the library last year) and plan on refreshing my knowledge of different types of tea. I don’t buy a lot of books (why buy when you can get them for free?) but this is one where it would be very beneficial to have laying around for reference.

Brewing up the last of my sample of this, I am reminded that I need to start purchasing more green teas from Verdant Tea. I have yet to have a bad experience with any of the green teas I have purchased from Verdant. This one was certainly no exception.

I ultimately decided to do a simple Western two step infusion for this tea. I generally do not steep green tea more than twice, simply because I think that the first two steepings of most green teas are the best. The water temperature was 175 F. The steep times were 2 and 4 minutes respectively.

The first infusion yielded a pale greenish yellow liquor. Mild aromas of grass, bamboo, asparagus, and cream were present on the nose. In the mouth, I detected strong notes of cream, oats, soybean, grass, and bamboo underscored by fleeting impressions of asparagus, honeydew, and cantaloupe. The second infusion yielded a slightly darker liquor with strong aromas of grass, bamboo, and cream with a subtle background fruitiness. In the mouth, strong notes of cream, oats, grass, bamboo, asparagus, and soybean were framed against a backdrop of honey, honeydew, and cantaloupe before a long and creamy fade.

This is a really nice Chinese green tea. It is not particularly complex, but it gets bonus points from me for its approachability and unique flavor profile. Make no mistake about it, this is a very appealing tea that is easy to drink. I really like that little bit of fruity sweetness displayed by this tea.

GCTTB4

I had some this morning using my usual green steeping parameters: 1.5 tsp, 12 oz, 80C. I think I let it sit for too long.

This was very savoury and green beany, but there was a note at the back I sometimes find in greens and dislike. It reminds me of rubber. Overall, this tea tasted pretty similar to a Dragon Well for me. Not my favourite, but still decent enough to drink before heading off to work.

I brewed this tea according to the paramters given on their website. This is quite a nice tea. To me the taste that I first notice is somewhat roasty, before giving away to a bit of a mild vegetal taste. The whole sip is smooth, sweet, and has a vaguely creamy feel in the mouth. All in all quite a lovely tea.

I really enjoyed this one. The taste is amazingly green, as it should be, but then there is that sweet aftertaste I hadn’t expected. It really is an excellent quallity tea and I’m very happy to have had it.

Very nice rounded green tea, reminiscent of greens like long Jin. It’s clearly an autumn harvest, as the flavor is only mildly strong. The price is great for the quality of this tea. I usually get about 3 steeping a before it turns bitter.