Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Shan Valley
Tea Description:
This tea hails from Pyin Long within Northern Shan, Myanmar. This is also a first flush tea and is an everyday drinking tea. This tea is a reddish color.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
How lovely!
I was a little surprised when I first opened the pouch of tea and took a good look at the tea inside. It looks like a black tea … or at the very least a well-oxidized Oolong, but the label said that it was a green tea.
And even though it looked like a black tea, the dry leaf possesses the aroma of a green tea! A very strong vegetal scent, much like the smell that fills the kitchen when I’m steaming green veggies. The leaves produce a fairly dark liquid (darker than what I usually see with a green tea) with a vegetative scent.
The flavor is not quite as vegetal as I would have expected, given all the veggie smells I was picking up in both the dry leaf and the brewed tea. Yes, I do taste a grassy/vegetative flavor, but that’s not all I taste, nor is it the strongest flavor that I taste.
I taste notes of flower and fruit (somewhere between apple and melon), and a lovely buttery overtone. The vegetal notes taste very fresh and invigorating – it’s a very refreshing and satisfying beverage. It has a well-rounded flavor and while it is a thick, broth-like tea (in both taste and texture) and the buttery notes are strong, it doesn’t feel heavy as I sip it, nor does it leave the palate feeling coated with that buttery sensation. It is very easy to drink, with a pleasant flavor that is sweet – but not too sweet – and savory.
Another GREAT tea from Shan Valley!
Kyaukme Black Tea (2014) from Shan Valley
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Shan Valley
Tea Description:
This is a first flush black tea, and is the highest quality black tea that Shan Valley offers. It is from the Kyaukme Northern Shan state. The tea leaves are evenly grinded and have a strong flavor. It has a coffee-like look.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I opened the pouch of this Kyaukme Black Tea from Shan Valley (a 2014 Spring Flush!), the first thing I noticed was the grind to the black tea leaves. This CTC tea has a very fine chop, resembling some of the finest ground coffee I’ve ever seen. But don’t let that dissuade you! I find that with fine CTC teas like this, the flavor is more robust – like a good kick in the pants for the days when you need that sort of thing!
But one thing to be aware of when you have a finely chopped tea leaf like this one is that the brew time should be adjusted. There is more surface area that is exposed to the boiling water, and therefore it releases more of it’s flavor quicker than a whole tea leaf would. It also releases more tannins into the liquid, which means that if you steep this tea too long, you could wind up with a bitter tasting cuppa. So, cut the brew time here, I wouldn’t recommend a longer brew time than 2 1/2 minutes, especially to start out. After you’ve tried it, you can adjust the time to your own particular tastes.
The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me a little bit of coffee – like the earthy background notes of coffee. There are notes of earth, wood, and even hints of grass and flower to the dry leaf. The fragrance of the brewed tea is very similar to the dry leaf, except that it smells more unified. I smell fewer distinct ‘earthy’ or ‘grassy’ notes to the brewed liquid, and more of a melded scent that is composed of many less distinguished notes. It is a very satisfying aroma, though, like the kind of scent that you want to experience first thing in the morning: like a wake up call in the morning.
The flavor is strong! Like I said in a previous paragraph, the fine CTC chop means a good, strong brew, and this tea proves that statement. This is a BOLD tasting tea. This tea will give you that much needed kick to help shake the sleep that you’re still feeling when you first wake up.
It’s rich and satisfying with a very pleasing flavor. Robust and earthy, with notes of fruit (reminds me of something between plums and raisins), with a nice, molasses-y sweetness. It’s not bitter (although, as I said before, if I had oversteeped this, it would definitely be bitter … so watch your steep time with this one!)
The sip starts out with a sweet note that builds into an earthy note. There are wisps of smoke and tones of wood in the distance. I taste notes of grass to this too, but not in a green tea sort of way. It tastes more like what I’d imagine some fresh grass that had been roasted might taste. Still barely insinuating a vegetal note without actually admitting it outright. It has sweet undertones with dry fruit notes.
As I near mid-sip, these flavors I’ve mention develop. I taste very distant floral notes, most of which are hidden behind the more forward earthy notes. As the sip approaches the finish, a dryness is introduced, similar to what you might experience with a dry wine. The finish is dry and the aftertaste is clean. The astringency here is dry, clean and I feel a slight puckery sensation across my palate well into the aftertaste. It’s not unpleasant … it feels very clean and refreshing, actually.
A really rewarding cup of tea. It’s quite unlike any other black tea that I can remember, but at the same time, it has similar qualities to those familiar favorites. I’m enjoying this.
Valley Green Tea from Shan Valley
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Shan Valley
Tea Description:
Valley Green Tea is our premium tea harvested year round. It has a subtle, fresh and well-rounded taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Valley Green Tea is the last of the four teas from Shan Valley that I’m tasting, and I’m very happy to say that I found enjoyment from all four teas. These teas from tea farms in Myanmar are really quite good, I’m glad I had the opportunity to try all four! I don’t know that I could select a favorite of the four because I found something in each that I liked. These teas from Shan Valley are really good, and I recommend them highly.
I really like this Valley Green Tea. It’s one I’d call a “daily go-to” type green tea – it has a very pleasing flavor: not too overpowering, just a fresh and calm sort of taste that I like to sip when I just want a good cup of green tea. Not something that I need to sit and think about … just something that’s easy to enjoy.
The flavor is very uplifting and it has more of a classic green tea taste: fresh, leafy and vegetative. The vegetal notes are somewhere between grassy and very lightly buttered beans, leaning just a little more toward the grassy flavor. I like that even though this has more of a vegetal taste than a “toasted nut” type flavor that I noticed in the Mountain Roasted Green Tea, the “green” flavor isn’t overwhelming.
It’s just a soothing, enjoyable cuppa. Great to drink with meals because it doesn’t have any strong, detracting flavors. It has a nice, smooth texture and a refreshing taste. I especially like this one iced with a thin slice of lemon. Or try brewing up a pitcher of it and squeezing in some fresh grapefruit juice – delicious!
Shan First Flush Green Tea from Shan Valley
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Shan Valley
Tea Description:
This tea is considered to be the freshest and most sought after tea. Shan First Flush Reserve tea is the first harvest in the year and only occurs once a year, usually in early April. Shan First Flush is subtle yet has a rich and distinct taste. Because it comes in limited quantities, it is considered a reserve tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this Shan First Flush Green Tea from Shan Valley. This is a new-to-me company, and the teas are grown in Myanmar, and to my knowledge, I haven’t yet tried teas from this particular area. So, I kept my fingers crossed!
The dry tea is a bit darker in color than I expected from a green tea. It almost looks like a black tea, or at the very least, a darker Oolong. But it brews up a pale, transparent green color, so even if the tea leaves don’t look green, the color of the liquid definitely tells me that this is a green tea.
My first couple of sips – taken while the tea was still quite hot – were rather delicate in taste. After I allowed the tea to cool for a moment or two (OK so it was closer to 2 minutes), I found that the flavors began to develop. This is light and vibrant, with a vegetative note and a lovely hint of citrus-y flavor that is especially noticed toward the finish and in the aftertaste.
Many vegetative green teas have a “buttery” taste to them, but I don’t really notice a strong buttery note here. Instead, it’s as if the “veggies” were accented with a squeeze of lemon rather than a drizzle of melted butter. My palate feels very refreshed after each sip.
While this may be the first tea that I’ve tried from Shan Valley, it certainly won’t be the last, and I’m excited to learn what the other teas from this company have in store for me!
Dong Ding Oolong from Far Leaves Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Far Leaves Tea
Tea Description:
A classic Taiwan Oolong, grown high above lugu valley this summit tea has a soaring floral opening and a rich lasting finish
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A truly lovely Oolong, this Dong Ding Oolong from Far Leaves Tea!
I’ve spent the last couple of evenings with this Dong Ding Oolong. It tastes wonderful – with a delicate caramel-like undertone and a delicious nutty flavor, with notes of fruit and flower in the background. It has a lovely complexity that I love experiencing as it unfolds throughout the many infusions it offers.
The first cup (a combination of the first and second infusions following a quick 15 second rinse) is softly flavored, with a mild floral overtone that lacks the sometimes sharper bite that some other green Oolongs possess. This has the sweet, exotic floral taste … but none of that perfume-y bite. The caramel undertones are subtle here, as are the nutty flavors that come to life in the future infusions.
The second cup (infusions three and four) becomes sweeter, with a distinct caramel-y taste. This cup is my favorite of the four that I brewed from the same measurement of leaves, because of this strong caramel-y tone and I also enjoy the way the caramel notes mingle with the nutty flavors … almost like a nut toffee. I also notice a plum-like taste that is delicious.
With the third cup, I find that the floral tones are significantly softer than they were in the first cup, and they seem to have melded with the other flavors to create a unified taste that really isn’t flower, or fruit, or nut, or caramel … but something of a cross of all four distinctly different tastes. The fourth cup (infusions seven and eight) the flavor is very smooth and feels almost like silk on the palate.
There is very little astringency to this cup, and no bitterness at all. It is so pleasant to sip … one of those teas that you want to enjoy over the course of a couple of hours … enjoying the many layers of flavor. Another winner from Far Leaves!