Vietnam (Thai Nguyen) 'Fish Hook' Green Tea

First impressions: It reminds me of a Chun Mee from China in appearance. Though this seems to have a slightly dustier top and the green is a bit more… green, whereas I feel like Chun Mee tends to be greener. The dry aroma is very nice with corn cereal, vegetal notes, and dried grass. Ooo… Just smelled the wet leaf. Have you ever smelled something that made you close your eyes because it was just so nice? It is so pleasant. Vegetal notes galore, dried grass, asparagus, slight tomato sauce. Some grassy notes that range around summer, like piled clippings. Decided to steep at 140 because it is hot outside. And today really isn’t even that bad compared with yesterday. This is the type of tea I could see being passed over easily if you don’t sit down to really discover it. My first sip was subpar but I didn’t really read into it. Very vegetal and a bit astringent. I probably steeped a bit too long. Asparagus, green beans, a bit of kale, broccolini, and grassy notes to finish. Thank you to beerandbeancurd for the trade!!

The second of my cold-steep experiments with teas I adore. This one’s good, but in the way cold vegetable soup is good, and why didn’t you just take 3 extra minutes and put it in the microwave, ya impatient chucklehead?

I really love this tea.

The wet leaves smell like green beans. The liquor smells like cut grass and chestnut. Its flavor is brightly grassy and yet smooth with almost no bitterness, nutty, with faint notes of snow peas and green beans, long lingering umami flavor. Lingering aftertaste of vanilla.

I love how clean and spring-like this tea tastes. It has a brighter flavor than a lot of green teas (as opposed to a more rich and brothy flavor). Reminds me of the taste of matcha but without the bitterness. I’m really glad I bought this tea!

Following through on my desire to finish some of the Vietnamese teas I have lying around, I finished a sample pouch of this yesterday evening. As much as I enjoy Vietnamese blacks and oolongs, Vietnamese green teas are often very hit or miss for me. Too often I find them to be bitter, astringent, and lacking in depth. This one, though it did not entirely change my mind, turned out to be pretty good overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I normally don’t rinse many green teas, but I went ahead and rinsed this one. I was aware that this tea has a reputation for being intense and I was hoping to not only wake the tea up, but also to take a little bit of the edge off. After the rinse, I steeped my usual 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 167 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted fairly powerful aromas of grass, hay, and corn husk. The rinse brought out hints of straw, leaf vegetables, and soybean, while the first infusion brought out something of a sweetness. In the mouth, I picked up pronounced notes of grass, hay, straw, and corn husk underscored by touches of sweetness and an almost salty, marine quality. Subsequent infusions brought out greater astringency, as well as aromas and flavors of chestnut, nectar, seaweed, sea salt, kale, toasted rice, and minerals. I never picked up on anything honey-like, but I did get something oddly floral. It almost reminded me of petunias, though that can’t possibly be right. The later infusions were grassy, grainy, and nutty with a more powerful mineral presence. Oddly enough, however, I picked up a few additional vegetal notes, almost like a mixture of spinach and leaf lettuce, around this time.

What-Cha advertised this tea as possessing a powerful grassy taste and they were not exaggerating at all. This was an extremely grassy, vegetal tea. Honestly, it was far from bad, but it was also not the sort of green tea I have been favoring in recent months. Still, I found this tea to be appealing enough. I certainly would not turn down the opportunity to try it again at some point in the future.

Finished my sample of this tea off. Used a bit more leaf this time, closer to 4-5g in a 100 mL Gaiwan. Super grassy, and quite bitter, though I really liked the bitterness. I would not go higher than 175F, as it would probably get unpleasant then. Strong grassy/hay flavors throughout, which acquired a bit of a dry sweetness in late steeps. Definitely a go-to for those who enjoy grassy teas.

Vietnam Fish Hook Green Tea
Origin: Tan Cuong, Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam
Elevation: 250m

Dry Leaves: They kind of remind me of Korean greens, but they are surprisingly hard. Normally small twisted leaves like these are a little more pliable, but I was surprised by how little it takes for these two snap.

Temperature: 167oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Grassy and Ash
Flavor: Ash, Vegetal and Grassy
Tasting Notes: This is a very ashy tea; I almost wanted to say smoky, but the other two teas that are in this post are more what I’d describe as smoky then this. It is a little overwhelming, I hated it using the suggested brewing times, I also had this problem in the other two teas in this post. Luckily I had enough leaves to brew again and only steep for half as long, which produced a much better cup. While it was still ashy was nowhere near as overwhelming.

I may or may not buy this tea again, my problem with these three teas is that the suggested brewing times is way too long, but as long as you don’t brew as long as the suggested time or perhaps at such a high temperature. I am not really fond of brewing teas below 160oF, but these might be the only teas that I’d consider brewing at such a low temperature. Going back to whether or not I’d buy this tea again, the price isn’t bad $8.00 for 50g (at the time of writing this), but I’d have to choose between this and the other two teas in this post. The three have a very similar flavor profile, although there is some differences between the three.

[More at: http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-cha-discover-vietnam-part-2.html)

Wishing I had a box of Goldfish crackers to go with my Fish Hook tea. Ohh, I saw where M&Ms has rereleased Crispy M&Ms. I loved those. Dang it. Now I’m snack hungry. I blame What-Cha! ha.

The leaf on this is tiny and battleship gray and yes, it kind of looks like a fish hook. OK, this tea was steeped one (ONE!) minute. To look at the lovely lightly yellow liquor, you would expect a lovely quiet cup. Then you take a sip and the bite grabs you, shakes you out of your inattentiveness, and shouts, “PAY ATTENTION TO ME!” Well, that’s what I heard anyway. I’m not sure it is astringent as I don’t notice much dryness at all. I just think it is the good clean bitter that I love in a green tea.

The taste, now that I’m paying attention is kind of grassy and kind of corn like. I think it is kind of sweet, but as a sweeteneraholic trying to leave the monkey behind, it is hard for me to say for sure.

The second cup had less bite, more cheek tingle, and still only a little dryness. The grassiness was predominate with corn following behind. The sip ends with a mineral note and fleeting floral notes.

My kind of green. Now to find some munchies.

This is a really delicious green tea. It’s floral and vegetal and grassy. It’s got a slightly sweet taste. It’s not a bright green taste like a sencha, it’s got a more mellow green taste.