China Guizhou 'Dew Drops' Green Tea

Many thanks to Alistair for this free sample! Loved this tea and definitely want to get some more eventually. I feel like this tea’s flavor evolved for me more than most others I’ve tried over the course of the infusions. First infusion was spinach, cream and cucumber. Second infusion lost most of the spinach flavor. Third infusion introduced honey. Fourth and fifth infusions had a back note of peach.

Dry leaf: vegetal.
Wet leaf: spinach.
Flavor: spinach, cream, cucumber, peach, honey.

My cat has a very weird hang-up about going downstairs to eat unless I go with her. She’ll just lurk in my room giving me the evil eye as I try to work on my computer or get downright whiny until I finally take a break and escort her downstairs… once we are both on the bottom floor, she will happily eat. Don’t know why she can’t be a strong, independant woman who can eat by herself, honestly… in any event, since today she was doing her thing, I decided I may as well have a tea break while I was sitting there letting her take her nibbles before I got back to what I was doing, and brewed a small pot of this from a sampler so old I should be ashamed. Doubly so since it is green tea (the packet says it is an Autumn 2017 harvest, cough cough). Ah well, I’m still going to drink it. With everything else going on in the world, I think drinking expired tea is the least of my worries…

It smells surprisingly floral, an aroma I’d expect more from a green oolong than a green tea. I do get a somewhat beany scent from the aroma as well, but it is overpowered by the perfumy florality. The tea is a goldenrod color in the cup, and the flavor is like some of the more floral Bi Luo Chuns I’ve had in the past. I’m getting that vegetal beany/pea sort of flavor I usually taste in a Bi Luo Chun, but I’m also tasting a sweet orchid/lilac flavor that I most often taste in green oolongs. There are also notes of hay and minerals that settle over my tongue towards the end of the sip. I really like it! Neither flavor really overpowers the other, and while they may sound quite uncomplementary, the taste is very pleasant.

A series of warm days toward the end of October. The birds are having a last frolic and song as the days get shorter and the nights get cold.

A tea fit for the moment.

May 2019 harvest. Bluish-grey-green twisted/rolled pebbles smell like chestnut, bamboo, cream, seaweed, sweet-grainy like Grape Nuts cereal.

First several steeps are fairly pungent and savory, presenting a well integrated array of flavors. Lemon, mineral, chestnut, cream, grass, bamboo, grain, oats, soybean, light gardenia florality, hints of malt. Medium-bodied with lots of clean salivation and tingling. Lightly drying umami finish with cooling mint in the throat. The color is spring green. A pleasant bitterness comes in on the second steep, adding another dimension and persists through the final infusion. Moderate chestnut-bamboo aroma. Bottom of the cup smells strongly of anise, almond and pine. I feel the energy. Calm, contemplative, accepting.

With the fourth infusion, the umami-chestnut character of the tea drops away, leaving lighter green tea impressions of cucumber, lemongrass, and straw and hints of spinach and seaweed with a light honey-nectar sweetness in the back of the mouth. The tea finally gives way to only green grass and minerals with butter on the swallow and in the aftertaste.

A unique organic green tea from the under-represented Guizhou province. There was enough character to keep me engaged, with a sort of grounding effect from the umami and bitterness while remaining playful with lemon, minerality and mint. I enjoyed its rather smooth transition into the final infusion. This tea also has some great longevity for a green, giving 9 solid steeps and another 3 more that closed out the session gently. I can see this tea being a bit jarring for those inexperienced with umami-heavy greens but at the same time I think it’s a good first step to exploring more pungent and bitter Chinese green teas.

Song pairing: Modest Mouse — World At Large
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJKJdsAszw
How 15 years pass. Too much thinking lately.

Okay, here is the third and likely final backlogged review for the day. This was yet another mid-late June sipdown. At the time I was working my way through what I had of this tea, it was very likely the first tea from Guizhou province that I had tried. Regardless, I found it to be an extremely pleasant green tea with some interesting herbal undertones.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 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 aromas of hay, lemon, seaweed, and malt. After the rinse, I detected a subtle cream aroma. The first infusion then brought out scents of grass and straw. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented delicate notes of hay, lemon, seaweed, grass, straw, and cream that were chased by hints of honey sweetness. The bulk of the subsequent infusions brought out scents of toasted rice and umami along with subtle mintiness and nuttiness on the nose. In the mouth, I detected subtle, belatedly emerging malt notes as well as impressions of chestnut, barley, toasted rice, bamboo, minerals, and lettuce. When I really focused, I could also detect very subtle spinach and mint notes, though the mint presence did eventually strengthen to a limited extent. The later infusions emphasized mineral, grass, seaweed, and spinach notes that were underscored by vague umami. There were also traces of mint and honey on the swallow.

I found this to be a very unique Chinese green tea in the sense that I did not find it to have much in common with many of the other Chinese green teas I had recently consumed. It may have just been me, but this tea’s body and texture coupled with some of its aroma and flavor components reminded me a little of some Japanese green teas. Overall, this was an interesting and very satisfying green tea, one that I am fairly certain fans of subtler, more mellow green teas would enjoy.

This might be one of the most refreshing things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Loads of green acidity and bitterness, but only in a good way. The complexity isn’t lost at all. Like many shades of green. Repeated steeping lost some of the zing but added to the breadth of flavours.

(H score 6/10, Autumn harvest Sept 2017)

So far, all the teas from this provider have been exceptional but unfortunately this one has been a bit of a meh.

I started brewing this tea at 80 C, but on the second steep there needed to be an increase in temperature of 5 C. Honestly, I am not convinced, the flavour was not present and I couldn’t find a scent nor a taste.
Probably, though not making any promises, will repurchase a small package to see if I am in the wrong and give it another taste.

For now it’s a “I don’t know”.

This was a really pleasant green tea. It has a wonderful aroma of milk, flowers, spinach, and sweet grass. The smell in fact resembled a nice Jin Xuan oolong more than a green. The taste is smooth and mellow with delicate notes of sweet pea, cucumber, and crisp butter lettuce. In subsequent steepings, the flavor changes to a light vegetable broth and reveals hints of green bean and spinach. I got about 4-5 good quality steeps out of it. The soft, clean flavor of this tea makes this a good tea for beginners and people who don’t drink green tea.

Was a good light tea. Definitely had hints of grass and lemon. Smooth tea.