Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Organic Spring Twist originates from an all organic estate located in Dexing City which is found in the northeast area of the Jiangxi Province in Southern China. This green tea is processed by withering, firing, rolling and then baking the leaves. Organic Spring Twist is a flavorful and mellow tea that is intoxicatingly sweet with a vegetal aroma. This tea has notes of fresh peas and the juiciness of a summer peach with a full smooth body. Please note that we have a very limited supply of this tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum!
I know I say “yum” a lot when it comes to tea. What can I say? I love tea!
So rather than just saying “yum” – let me say this: this is a tea that is really so delicious, that I think that even those who tend to shy away from green teas because of the strong vegetative overtones would really enjoy this green tea.
It has a light, fresh taste that reminds me of spring, making the name of this tea quite appropriate. The above description suggests notes of sweet, fresh peas and smooth, juicy peaches. Peas are not my favorite vegetable (quite the contrary: they’re my LEAST favorite), but I think I could be persuaded to eat a bowl of peas if they’ve been enhanced with peach juice, and tasted the way this tea tastes!
On Steepster, there are comparisons of fresh, sweet corn on the cob, and I do think that comparison is much more appealing to me. I don’t have a lot of experience with peas (except for bad experiences) and there really is nothing bad about THIS experience. And I do get that sweet corn kind of taste here … it is very bright and sweet and juicy – like that crisp POP that you’d get if you were to pop a fresh, uncooked corn kernel with some gentle pressure from your fingertip. That is what happens near the finish of this tea – a BURST of fresh, sweet, delicious flavor that is not unlike the POP of a kernel on an ear of fresh corn.
The vegetative tones here are very soft … delicate. It hints at notes of freshly steamed vegetables with just a touch of butter. The peach notes are especially noticeable right at the start of the sip, with the vegetative notes coming in about mid-sip… and the finish brings back the sweetness of peach. There is very little noticeable astringency here, and absolutely no bitterness. Just amazingly sweet, delicious flavor that seems to celebrate the joy of spring in every sip.
I don’t know how Butiki Teas has managed to find all these amazing teas – I continue to be impressed by the quality and fine taste of each tea that I try from them.
Hand Picked Spring Tieguanyin from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
The complexity of this fresh spring harvest Tieguanyin stands up to the rich flavors of our autumn harvest, and the sweet floral notes of our last spring harvest. Indeed, we must admit that this may be our most exquisite Tieguanyin yet. We sometimes wonder why the farmers part with something so precious, but hope that you will join us in appreciating the new crop.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I suffer from allergies. I actually have the symptoms year round, but when spring comes they are worse. I don’t even have to look at a calender to know when spring is here. I can feel it in my sinuses. Fortunately, I’m able to keep my severe symptoms somewhat controlled using medication that I take every day, and choosing raw, locally harvested honey helps too.
Of course, none of this has to do with this tea. I just thought I’d mention it to explain of the worst part of spring, at least for me. What’s in this cup that sits before me is about what is best about spring: The first harvests of the year! Yay!
I began sipping this before I read the tasting notes on Verdant Tea’s website, and I was surprised to note the vanilla-esque flavor to this tea. It is so strong that if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it had been flavored. The vanilla plays to the natural creamy tones of this tea beautifully, creating a very sumptuous experience for the palate that reminds me of a rich, cream-filled pastry.
Once I get over just how amazing the vanilla notes taste in this cup, I start to explore some of the other flavors. A exotic honey-like taste that is a little more savory than sweet – imagining the flavor of honeysuckle where the savory elements were the focus while the sweet, floral tones were off in the background. And yes, I agree with the aforementioned tasting notes, there is a saffron-like flavor to this as well.
As I near the bottom of this, my first cup, I notice a tingly sensation on my tongue – like the cool, crisp feeling that I’d experience if I were sipping a pure peppermint tea … but without the strong minty taste. There are hints of a mint-like flavor, but, they are quite subtle and almost hidden amongst the other notes of this tea, however the tingly sensation near the finish becomes more pronounced as I sip. Very intriguing!
With the next cup (the results of infusions 3 and 4, combined in one cup) I notice the vanilla tones tapering somewhat. It’s still quite creamy and sweet, however, I find the vanilla and buttery notes seem to have melded to become a sweetened cream taste rather than a distinct vanilla and butter taste. More vegetative notes are emerging now, as well, not really grassy, and not really vegetable, but, more of an herbaceous green kind of taste. The honeysuckle like notes have subsided, and I taste more of a distinct floral note that is more orchid than honeysuckle.
The third cup (the combined fifth and sixth infusions), the creamy tones have disappeared, allowing room for a lighter, crisper cup that tastes very spring-like to me. The floral notes are well-defined, and I taste more fruit notes now than I noticed before. Juicy, sweet fruit notes! The tasting notes from Verdant Tea suggest a mango-like flavor, and I don’t know that I taste mango as much as I taste a very tropical fruit-like flavor, with hints of berry. It is sweet and very refreshing … and it is quite unlike the first cup! I love the flavor transitions of this Tieguanyin!
Really quite an amazing tea!
Spring Harvest (2012) Laoshan Green from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
The nuance and texture of this early spring picking is one of the most fine and complex that we have seen from Laoshan Village. The body is perfectly smooth, silky and creamy, while the aftertaste lingers in the back of the throat with a sweetness that only an early spring tea could achieve.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Apparently this spring was quite cold in the Laoshan Village where this tea is grown, resulting in a smaller harvest of this tea. It also resulted in a sweeter, richer tea, and that much is evident from tasting it. This is one of the most remarkable pure (unflavored) green teas I’ve tasted.
While I noticed the oat-like qualities of this tea with my first tasting, what really blew me away was the sweet, creamy aspect of this tea. It was thick and rich, almost like a high-quality green Oolong might be, with a delectable creamy taste and texture that reminded me almost of a fine Milk Oolong. But … even better, because with a Milk Oolong, there are some distinct floral notes that cut through the creaminess and with this tea, there really isn’t that sharp floral tone to cut through the sweet, creamy notes.
Now, I’m not saying that the floral notes of a Milk Oolong are bad. What I am trying to say is that because there was such an indulgent, creamy flavor and texture to this tea with hints of vegetation, what this Spring Harvest Laoshan Green tea did for me is transport me to one of the happier memories of my childhood – visiting a friend’s family farm, and having a delicious, home-y breakfast complete with the most amazing, fresh cows milk. Not fresh from the grocery store, or fresh from the dairy farm kind of milk, but fresh from the cow that was able to graze in the grassy meadow kind of milk. The flavor of this tea reminds me of that deliciously, pure, unadulterated milk with hints of grass in the background.
No, this tea isn’t as creamy or thick as fresh milk, but, the flavor reminds me of that sweet, delicious taste of fresh milk. I was so excited to be drinking something that reminded me of such a delectable memory.
With my second cup, I was able to put aside my memories and focus a bit more on the tea. Yes! I do taste the oat flavor here, reminding me a bit of warm, nourishing oatmeal with a touch of creamy milk mixed in. It has a very soothing quality to it. Further steepings became less creamy, and more vegetal, but still intensely sweet.
What a delicious journey this tea provided. Although this spring’s harvest was a bit smaller and the result is a more costly tea, the deliciousness of this tea is worth the price … think of it as an investment in good taste!
Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin from Norbu Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Norbu Tea
Product Description:
Our Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin is a green style Anxi Tie Guan Yin that was harvested and processed* in the Spring of 2011, but the way it was grown makes the mouthfeel and particularly the aftertaste quite different from traditionally grown Tie Guan Yin. Our Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin was grown very much like Japan’s Kabusecha (a partially shade-grown green tea). It was grown in full sun like a regular Tie Guan Yin until 2-3 weeks before harvest. At that point, a cover/net was rolled out directly on top of the tea plants to block about half of the sunlight. The reduced exposure to sunlight increases amino acid & chlorophyll levels in the leaves, resulting in a finished product with a fuller mouthfeel and an exceptionally rich, penetrating and mouth-coating bittersweet aftertaste.
Taster’s Review:
Norbu Tea has an excellent collection of high quality teas, and I’ve always been very impressed with teas (and especially their Oolongs!) that I’ve received from them. So, when I received this Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin in my Oolong October Steepster Select package, I was thrilled. I had very high expectations, and again, I find that Norbu Tea has not only met those expectations, but exceeded them.
The brewed tea smells beautiful. Very floral! Hints of lilac that remind me of my gramma’s backyard in the springtime. Orchid. Honeysuckle. It is a very lush floral fragrance.
The flavor is sublime. It tastes sweet and floral, and the mouthfeel is thick and rich. Creamy. I want to say “buttery” but it really isn’t quite like butter, it is more like sweet cream. The aftertaste is sweet, but with a slight savory tone to keep it from coming across as too sweet. It is a very luxurious tea to sip.
Generally, you would find me recommending Norbu Tea’s Ali Shan Oolong (and my preference is for the spring or fall harvest Ali Shan) … and I still do! But, I now need to include yet another onto my list of recommendations for Norbu Tea: Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin! If you are a fan of Tie Guan Yin, you MUST try this one. It is likely to become your favorite!
Glenburn First Flush Darjeeling FTGFOP1 from KTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: KTeas
Product Description:
Picked 20 March 2011!
Fresh from the bush at Glenburn to your cup!Savor Glenburn Estate’s First Flush Darjeeling tea, picked on 20 March 2011. Only the finest tender shoots from Glenburn’s clonal sections, picked during the onset of Spring, will do for this delightfully light liquor, bright and smooth on the palate. Don’t miss the full aroma, the citrus flowers and peach undertones in this personification of the first harvest of the growing season, brought to you from the heights of the Himalayas in Darjeeling, India.
Taster’s Review:
This is FABULOUS! Definitely one of the very best Darjeeling teas I’ve ever tasted. Ever!
The dry tea leaves are varying shades of brown and light green. I even questioned whether this was in fact a black tea or a green tea, not only because of the color of the dry leaf, but, because of the color of the brewed tea and the flavor. The liquor is a beautiful, light amber. It is delightfully fragrant, with notes of fruit and spring blossoms. It reminds me of living in California and walking past the orange groves when they’re in bloom. It smells so wonderful!
The flavor is amazing. So light and crisp! The sip starts with a sweet, fruity tone, and transitions smoothly to a dry astringency, leaving behind a sweet, wine-like note to enjoy in the aftertaste. While it certainly possesses the qualities I’ve come to expect in a black Darjeeling, the lightness of this tea, not just in texture but also in flavor, gave me reason to wonder if this was a green or black tea. A prompt response from the Glenburn estate assured me that this is, indeed, a black tea.
This is truly one of the most amazing Darjeeling black teas I’ve yet to taste. It will take your taste buds on a journey, and really, isn’t that what a good tea should do? I liked that this Darjeeling challenged me. If you’re a Darjeeling devotee, I strongly recommend adding this tea to your MUST TRY list.