Lu'an Melon Seed

Not sure if this listing is exactly the same as the tea I have, which is ZG68: Organic Green Lu’An Melon Seed. But I did not see any other Lu’Ans on Upton’s site.

I’ve been wanting to try this particular type of tea for a while now. Steeped via regular infuser mug method.

I did not keep a close eye on the time so I was a bit worried about this one. After smelling the wet leaf I do find it very vegetal, sweet and almost spinach like. My cup is a light greenish-gold. So far I am liking this. Yes, it is vegetal, almost slightly grassy with some similarities to Japanese green tea. There is a pleasant nuttiness about this tea and it does have more sweetness in the finish than a lot of other Chinese green teas which make feel like I’m drinking boiled bok choy. It also seems very clean, organic a +.

If dragonwell and sencha gave birth, would this be their love child? I’m not sure but this was a lovely morning tea! I’d consider buying this again as a basic, everyday green tea.

I brewed this in my 5 oz cup at 175* for about 30 seconds the first time then about 2 minutes the second time because the first one was pretty weak. Even at that the first steep was reminiscent of a Japanese green tea. It was like a watered down sencha without the really nice savory notes that sencha has. But it was nice a nice sweet vegetal green tea.

The seconds steep was really odd. I couldn’t figure out what I was tasting but it felt familiar. I went through the other two tasting notes on this tea to see if someone else had a good descriptor of what it was I was tasting. I found it. Amy Oh had written at the end of her tasting note “If Dragonwell and Sencha gave birth, would this be their love child?” And I could not have said it better myself.

It’s amazing how long an Upton sample pouch of tea will last. Pretty sure this is my fourth cup or so of this particular tea and there’s still a good 5 servings left in there. I was very absent-minded tonight and accidentally brewed this with full-on boiling water, so I was afraid it’d be bitter but it was fine. Really I just needed a break from thinking about how I’m not working on my homework right now, and it’s providing exactly that.

As much as I enjoy my classes this term, I’m ready for the long holiday. Of course, I said that last term, and I ended up climbing the walls long before the next session began. Soooo.

1 1/2 tbsp for 18 oz water.

Very light on flavor and just a tiny bit astringent. I think, though I can appreciate this tea, that my personal preference is leaning toward teas in the middle of the oolong spectrum.

I recently made an order from Upton to fill up my Earl Grey tin and I chose a couple of tea samples that had been Upton best-sellers. Here is the report on one of them:

Both the picture and the name of this tea appealed to me. They both just muster pleasant images in my mind. The dry leaf has a more Oolongy appearence, and is so dark it is almost—blue, which is intriguing. As for the name… I mean, I love melons.

This is a Chinese green tea, but the flavor reminds me of a more characteristically Japanese “peaty” flavor. I have been detecting that flavor in Chinese greens an awful lot lately, so I wonder when I will altogether drop the reference and just start giving Chinese teas the credit…

Note: I feel kind of buzzed after 2 successive unique cups, so the caffeine content gets a +.