First Flush "Competition Grade" Laoshan Green Tea

Spring 2024: Some green chestnut flavor, along with notes of broccoli, spinach, and dandelion. A touch of sweetness, but also some more broth-like qualities. A nice green tea if you are looking to stay more in the veggie zone.

Spring 2022 harvest

Shines western in glass with shorter steeps, like 1 minute or less. I tried brewing in a few different clay pots but that was a disaster, very bitter and drying even though I was caring for the leaf. Bowl brewing is quite good. A manageable bitterness can sit at the bottom.

Leaf in hand smells like roasted chestnuts, understated caramel-vanilla-cream, blanched nettles and a surprising heavy undertone of cinnamon, not sharp but like it’s part of a dish that’s been cooked for hours. The brewed aroma is of roasted nuts, sweet and soft roasted chestnut, soybean and seafood umami.

Lightly viscous, clean and sweet vegetal-nutty-umami taste. Notes of soybean, pistachio, oats, cashew, stewed green bean and spinach, grass, seafood broth and a creamy tone reminiscent of cauliflower. No notable aftertaste or energy.

It’s less refined? than the Imperial Grade I went crazy about 4 years ago. More rounded and nutty, more seafood umami, less vibrant structure to the taste. I miss the sharpness of leeks, the chicken broth umami, the feeling of being surrounded by cypress trees on a foggy coastal cliff.

This has good longevity, though, and is very easy to drink.

edited: Had a lot of pent up emotion. Talking and writing weren’t cutting it. Typing it out was all i needed to clear my mind, as well as some kind words. Thanks :) I got this.

This is a newly offered Laoshan tea from Yunnan Sourcing. It’s a early first flush tea picked before their normal first flush Imperial Grade tea. Not sure what makes this one Competition Grade but the flavor has more in common with the Imperial Grade than Classic Laoshan green tea.

I steeped 2.5g in a 120ml shibo 4 times starting with 180 F water and then the temperature was raised to 190 F. The dry leaves have a pleasant aroma of cilantro, lima beans, flowers, and milk. Wet leaf smells like asparagus mingled with an oat like nuttiness.

First steep (25s): crisp and delicate with notes of soy and green bean

Second steep (30s): same but with more body. it has a nice, clean taste without the strong oat and fennel flavors that Laoshan greens sometimes have.

Third steep (40s): used hotter water than I normally do yet tea was unaffected. no drop in flavor, but it hasn’t really evolved either. still has a nice freshness to it.

Fourth steep (50s): mellows out a little bit. still smooth and tasty

As expected, this was on the softer side flavor-wise, a typical characteristic of early picked tea. It holds up very well to hot water and has excellent staying power. Though I steeped it four times, I could have easily gotten another infusion or two out of it. The flavor remained constant throughout which is both good and bad. Good because the flavor doesn’t drop so soon, bad because there’s no evolution of flavor. Although a great tea, I do slightly prefer the second flush for its less refined but more assertive flavor.