Silver Snail

Visited my family this past week, and my parents still have this tea in a ceramic canister in the back of their pantry. To my surprise, this tea has aged really well since I first left it there years ago. It’s taken on more of a floral front on the dry leaf, which carries itself to the brew. Almost thought that it was jasmine tea for a minute! I grampa’d and gongfu’d this tea all throughout the day during my visit, super content with each steep. There was a bit of astringency with the earlier steeps each time I brewed, but by the third of fourth time around most of the bitter sting was flushed out. Maybe it’s good that I slept on this tea, it’s only gotten better with age.

I decided to brew this one gongfu style, following Brenden’s instructions online.

It opens with notes of cream, soybean, and oat. The first few steeps are lighter on the tongue and as I continue steeping it gains thickness in body. It becomes more buttery and vegetal, developing some light butterscotch-caramel tones. The finish is clean and a little grassy. Unfortunately, with each infusion I can’t help but notice the bite of astringency. It only seems to intensify. Those who read my tasting notes know that I’m not overly fond of green teas. I’m not particularly fond of astringency or bitterness, either, though sometimes I can ignore it. This is a case where it becomes impossible to ignore and it kind of ruins in the experience for me. I’m really sensitive to bitterness. It’s a shame, because I like the flavors I’m finding in this tea. I’m just finding it very hard to get past the bite. Maybe I should pass this one on to someone who likes greens more than I do. To me, it tastes very similar to Laoshan Green, though perhaps a bit lighter.

This tea has strong butter/chestnut notes and a bit of spinach notes. It has a bit of bitterness to it that’s not entirely unpleasant but not something I usually like in my green teas. I might try this one with less brewing time for next time.

I know this is quite a quick review but I think I’m having caffeine overload and might have to eliminate teas for a few days and then only stick to 1 or 2 cups a day. I am just not feeling myself lately. As for this tea, there are some elements of this tea which I tend to love in green teas (butter, chestnut, spinach) but the bitterness is throwing me off.

nice but not wow

Such cute little tea leaves! Like golden snail but silver instead (bet you would have never guess that from the name, LOL). Super grassy tea, this almost punches your tastebuds with the vegetal flavor. Delicious! But be careful not to oversteep or walk away from the brewing leaves for too long or it has a tendency to take on a bitter aftertaste.

Wow, I’m the first to review this tea here. Pressure. xD Just is kinda lame since I’m not a green tea fan, unless they are genmaicha or it’s a flavored tea that hid the grassy taste I usually get from green teas.
Added this to my last WP order because I was just under the free shipping mark and this was pretty cheap with the discount. I planned on trying it once and sending it off to Albertocanfly, who loves green teas. xD I’m sure she will give this a much better review!
First off, this is an adorable tea, I really love how it looks. It’s just so cute like the Golden Snail, except it’s green. _
Now for how it actually tasted; the first cup of this tea was super light. Steeped it the exact time that it said on the bag and I couldn’t figure out what it tasted like. I spent about ten minutes trying to just think of what that first cup tasted like. Finally I gave up and brewed up another cup, because I just had to figure out what it tasted like.
Steeped it for a bit longer and decided that it tasted a lot like spinach, just like the aroma when it was steeping. The second cup was stronger, but not too overwhelming. I love spinich, but in tea form it doesn’t really work for me.
All this to say, it was an alright green tea. I’d drink it if I were stuck with it. But I would rather send it to someone who I know will love it!

P.S. Albertocanfly, you should be super proud of me for trying another green tea! XD And I’m pretty sure you will love this one, then you can come back and write a better tasting note than this one! XD I’m sending this in your next package! :D