Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Nan Nuo Shan
Tea Description:
Anji Bai Cha owns a delicate, soft and relaxing taste, with a light sweet aftertaste.
Characteristic of this green tee variety is the colour of the leaves, rather white than green; in Chinese, baimeans white. The lack of pigment is due to the low chlorophyll content of the plant.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this Anji Bai Cha Green Tea from Nan Nuo Shan is so beautiful! It looks almost like pine needles – but it doesn’t smell like it! It has a delicate aroma, smelling lightly sweet and slightly vegetal.
To brew this, I suppose I could have reached for my Gaiwan (they are very similar to a silver needle, after all) but I decided to grab my Kati Tumbler instead. I couldn’t measure this leaf with my bamboo scoop because the leaves just didn’t really work very well for it, so I simply used my fingers to pinch some tea out of the packet and into the basket of my Kati and eyeballed it when it looked to me to be about a bamboo scoop’s worth.
Then I added hot water (175°F) and let the tea steep for 1 1/2 minutes. The brewed tea is so light in color – a pale, yellowish green. The aroma is also quite light and gave me the initial impression that the overall flavor would be equally as light.
But it isn’t! This is a very flavorful tea despite it’s rather delicate appearance and fragrance.
Sweet! I taste notes of sweet grass and hints of flower in the distance. It’s a very smooth and relaxing flavor. There is some dry astringency toward the finish, it’s almost as if the tea is gently patting my palate dry to ready it for the next sip.
There is a light ‘airiness’ to this tea, like the flavor of the air in a meadow. The grassy notes and whispers of flower that mingle in the air as a gentle breeze filters through. As I continue to sip, I taste notes of melon – a sweet, juicy melon!
A delight to sip, this sweet tea that calms me with each sip. This is de-stress at it’s best!
Tai Ping Houkui Green from Min River Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Min River Tea (However it’s no longer available)
Tea Description:
Hailing from the foothills of Huang Shan’s eternally misty peaks, Tai Ping Monkey King is one of China’s most distinct green teas. The mellow and refreshing Monkey King is processed from a special cultivar prized for its large leaves. Its leaves are individually flattened resulting in the typical often finger-long blades featuring a beautifully deep green colour.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
Looks like I’m a little late to the game; Min River Tea has closed up their virtual doors and this tea is no longer available for sale – however I’m still going to review it because I think that even though you can’t buy it anymore you can certainly learn from it!
Personally; I’m way out of my comfort zone here. Not only am I not really big green tea person in general (though that is slowly changing) apart from roaster greens and matcha, but I’ve never had a Tai Ping Houkui before – though the concept has interested me for a long time. Personally, I think the dry tea leaves are one of the most visually interesting and stunning of ANY tea type.
For my first tasting of this I went with a cold brew, purely because my mason jar I use was the only brewing vessel I could think of that was actually deep enough for the very long leaves – each one is nearly an inch longer than my finger, though I do have tiny baby hands so maybe that’s not saying much. I didn’t really know how much leaf I should be using for a cold brew; in the end I wound up using six or seven of the long, steamed leaves.
I’m thinking that was pretty too lightly leafed; the taste was subtle and watery. Although, there were some differences though! The liquor was a very pretty, pale green and the taste was clean and grassy with some light seaweed seaweed notes and some sharpness. There was also a touch of sweetness that reminded me of honey. Honey and green tea is a great pairing; so it definitely worked.
I can’t say that I necessarily loved it, but I also didn’t hate it and to be perfectly fair I was also a little bit strained tasting it too. I definitely plan to repeat this cold brewing process again with more leaf to see how that changes the flavour and my impression.
I’ve also heard about the tea leaves ‘dancing’ when brewed hot so that’s something I’m eager to try as well! For now, I probably wont seek out this tea type but should it happen to find its way to me through a swap or something like that I’m definitely going to be very receptive to the chance to try different company’s take on this one.
As someone who’s done so little exploration into the world of green tea there’s always something really fascinating to learn and taste! I hope to grow to love the taste of this tea type enough to want to put more effort into tapping into that pool of knowledge.
Goomtee China Classic First Flush Black Tea from Udyan Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Udyan Tea
Tea Description:
Goomtee is a very well known Darjeeling heritage garden planted with pure china bushes almost a century ago. Picked from special section of the garden called Ghani between 3000-4000 sq.ft. height, this tea is for the strong hearted first flush lovers as it has a strong body with a very slight tinge of muscatel (grape flavour usually associated with second flush Darjeelings). It is a well balanced cup that leaves a stong after taste as well. With repeated steepings, the liquor becomes sweeter and midler. Perfect tea for long winding day with a good book in hand to read.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a treat! I love it when I get to try the new teas of the season! This Goomtee China Classic First Flush Black Tea from Udyan Tea is wonderful.
As I’ve confessed before, when it comes to Darjeeling teas, I generally prefer a 2nd flush to a 1st flush because I do love those grape-y, muscatel notes of the 2nd flush. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t find things to love about the first flush Darjeeling teas.
This has a slightly stronger taste than I would normally associate with a Darjeeling. I still tastes very crisp and Darjeeling-esque to me, but it’s a little bit more forward than the “usual” light flavors of a Darjeeling.
And there is a muscatel note too! It’s not as dominate as in a second flush Darjeeling, but it’s there – a delicate, muscat grape note that lingers in the background at the beginning of the sip and comes forward a little bit as the sip progresses. Lovely!
Floral notes weave their way throughout the sip. A sweet note that almost tastes as though someone drizzled a drop or two of honey in my cup. Notes of wood, hints of fruit that complement the muscat grape notes, and a slightly dry, wine-like finish.
Another fantastic tea from Udyan Tea – if you haven’t yet tried teas from them, I highly recommend checking them out!
Fortmason Black Tea from Fortnum & Mason
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Fortnum & Mason
Tea Description:
This blend of Indian and China teas is also perfumed with the delicate aroma of orange blossom to produce a subtle, floral flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So this review is for the bagged version of this one; and dry it doesn’t smell like a lot. I don’t really know why but my first thought was “Fresh Linens” and then just simply “Fresh” when smelling, even though I couldn’t really identify anything in particular flavour wise.
Steeped up there’s something REALLY appealing about the smell; it’s just a tiny bit fruity and really, really floral. I know this is supposed to be orange/orange blossoms so I’m not really ‘surprised’ per say, but it’s a lot better than I expected. I really hope the steeped smell carries over into the taste! Also, I should point out that orange blossoms are actually my favourite flower and have been since I was in highschool and had to read the screenplay for Federico Garcia Lorca’s play ‘The Blood Wedding’. However, despite that, I’ve never actually seen one in person let alone smelled one so I don’t have a lot of familiarity (or really any) with how they should taste.
I actually didn’t like the first few sips of this; it seemed a little harsh and perfumey. However, once it cooled down a little bit the flavours seemed to calm down as well and I got really into this one! I don’t taste anything actually like orange and I don’t know if I should be – do orange blossoms actually smell like oranges? I wouldn’t think so. The description for this one is kind of unclear as well: it says “scented with orange” do they mean the fruit or the flower?
What I do taste is this really aromatic and fresh floral note that reminds me of rose, but not rose. I want to describe it as a combination of my Grandma’s perfume and roses on steroids – in a good way on both fronts! It’s quite sweet and soothing. It’s making me feel like, ugh, I don’t know quite how to phrase it? The simile that springs to my mind is “Innocent young adult discovering her first love through a summer romance”. It’s like Nicholas Sparks version of tea! I’m totally in love with this blend! I need more!
Organic Dragon Well Green Tea from Canton Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
This delicious organic Dragon Well is grown in the hills of Zhejiang Province near Long Jing, the village where this famous tea originated. The green tea leaves are picked young and taken back to the village where the skilled tea masters use their bare hands to press them flat in a hot, dry wok in the traditional way. This arrests the oxidation process and ensures the liquor carries the notes of freshly cut grass, rounded off by a soft, nutty flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love a really good Dragon Well – or Long Jing Green Tea – and this Organic Dragon Well Green Tea from Canton Tea Co. is REALLY good.
Whenever spring approaches, one of the questions that’s often asked among tea drinkers is ‘where are you getting this year’s Dragon Well? And while there are many fine purveyors of exceptional Dragon Well teas, this Organic Dragon Well from Canton is one of the better Dragon Well teas that I’ve tried and I’ve tried quite a few. Only a few of them are teas that I can recall from memory as being really good – this would be one of those ‘really good’ Dragon Well teas that I’ll remember!
It’s so sweet, lightly grassy/vegetative with hints of butter. The buttery notes give the somewhat grassy taste more of a vegetable type of flavor, evoking thoughts of freshly steamed green beans that have been lightly drizzled with melted butter. It has a pleasantly creamy texture. There’s very little astringency (next to no astringency!) and no bitterness.
And it’s a tea that keeps on steeping! I got three very flavorful infusions out of one measurement of leaves! So get your mileage out of this tea and take it for a couple of infusions!
I’ve often heard that the proper way to drink a Dragon Well is in a tall glass with the leaves sitting in the bottom of the glass and as you drink the liquid, keep adding more water – and you drink it like this all day long. Now, I’ve never tried my Dragon Well like this. The truth is that my first experience with Dragon Well wasn’t a positive experience.
I don’t know if that bad experience with the Dragon Well was because at the time I was a bit of a novice when it comes to brewing green teas in general and the water I used was too hot, or if it was possibly because the Dragon Well that I had at the time was of a lesser quality, all I know is that I did not like it!
And after that experience, I was very hesitant to try another Dragon Well. Until I finally did and I realized, “HEY! I like this!” That realization could have been due to the fact that I knew better ways to brew green teas or again, it could have been the quality. But, I’m more inclined to believe that it had more to do with the fact that I knew how to steep a green tea at that point.
But because of that first experience, I’m hesitant to try my Dragon Well teas a different way. I found the way I enjoy them, so why fix it if it ain’t broken, right?
Back to THIS Dragon Well – this is one I’d suggest trying. This could be your new Dragon Well!