661 Tasting Notes
I couldn’t find this tea in the database so added it. White 2 Tea doesn’t seem to carry this year anymore either. It was only a sample size I have. I had it before but didn’t leave a review and noted on the package that it was too mild and that I needed to use more leaf for next time.
So I emptied the entire contents into my clay gaiwan. It was about 8-9g. That’s a lot of leaf for me but I am so glad I used that amount. This tea is sweet like honey and a bit of hay. There’s a note of sweet dates too. Very delicious. Not strong at all yet it brews up a medium golden colour.
I’ve had a few infusions so far and am pretty sensitive to caffeine. With most pu-erh teas I would be feeling the caffeine rush at this point. With this tea , I don’t. It seems to be very light in caffeine.
I am quite impressed with this tea and may buy some of this from White 2 Tea for the 2014 version. They actually have it listed as a white tea and not pu-erh. This one I had was in a pressed cake so I assumed it was a white pu-erh.
Flavors: Dates, Hay, Honey
I wrote a review for this tea yesterday. Then I was making a correction on it and wiped the whole thing out. I hate when that happens.
Verdant sent me a sample of this tea with my order in December and I was pretty excited to try it. This is a herbal tea and it’s supposed to be something like their Laoshan green. I love green tea. If I could drink green tea in the evenings I would; but for me all caffeine is cut off late afternoon and I switch to herbal teas. I thought this tea was going to be a replacement for a green; but I don’t think that’s the case. It is a very different tea on it’s own.
Dry, the leaves certainly look like Laoshan Green. You can see that on Verdant’s website. They don’t smell the same though and brewed up it’s very different. I brewed this gongfu method following Verdant’s methods on their website. First infusion was very strong of roasted flavour. Like roasted barley, toasted rice, & roasted nuts. I am not a fan of roasted teas but I will enjoy them occasionally. I just found it was a bit strong. By infusion 4 the roasted flavour toned down a bit and it was a little more vegetal.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the tea but anyone who loves roasted flavour will love this. I also would like to know what plant this tea is from and what are the health benefits/concerns with drinking it. On Verdant’s website they say it’s from the Jujube leaves. When I do a search for Jujube it’s mostly about eating the fruit of the plant and never the leaves.
Flavors: Roast nuts, Roasted Barley, Toasted Rice, Vegetal
I’ve been drinking down a load of green teas I got from YS in the fall but just never got around to reviewing. They’ve all been pretty good.
Today I am having this one. It’s a slightly astringent green with a bit of nutty & green bean notes. I tend to really like the deep green flavour from green teas. Because this one is very light on that I am enjoying it; but it’s not my favouite out of all my greens.
I think some of the greens I have from Spring 2016 (this once included) are starting to fade just a bit. It’s really surprising how a fresh green tea can be so good I would rate it 100. Then one year later, it wouldn’t even taste like the same tea. I store them in a dark cool room but they still fade a bit over time.Flavors: Astringent, Green Beans, Nutty
Which one has been your favorite so far? I always get a stash of new greens from YS every spring, and am always open to suggestions. In the meantime, enjoy those greens before it’s too late!
My favourite is Imperial Xinyang Mao Jian Green Tea of Henen Spring 2016. Coming in close are both the Laoshan greens.
Yes, I am trying my best to drink down all the greens (plus other teas in my collection) so that I can order spring green tea early. The last few years I always overspent between Black Friday and Christmas. This year I only placed one small order!
Do you have some favourite greens from YS too?
Bi Luo Chun is still my go-to. I had a great Long Jing in 2014 (can’t remember what grade), but this year’s left me disappointed. Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai is good if you like young raw puer, but probably isn’t for most green tea drinkers – definitely delivers a kick!
Thanks for the recommendations – Laoshan was on my list for 2017; definitely will be adding Xinyang Mao Jian. Cheers!
Thanks! Try out Nan Jing Yu Hua Cha from Grand Tea for next spring plus the Fragrant Greens from Taiwan Tea Crafts. All were really good this year.
I will keep that pu-erh in mind. I enjoy the young raw pu-erh once in awhile. Have some of my favourite cakes on those.
Little edit – Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai is a green tea, just has the astringency and bite of a young raw. Thanks again for the recommendations!
This tea is a bit floral, a little bit buttery and a faint vanilla note to it. I am drinking from a cup I got from TeaAve. Do some of you remember getting those free tea samples with the free cup, taster cup, & tray? It seems everytime I drink a tea from this cup I get vanilla notes. Is it the cup? I don’t know but I was just wondering. Is it even possible for a cup to give vanilla notes to tea? Maybe it’s just that every tea I’ve had in it has vanilla notes.
I’m glad I only had a sample size of this tea. It’s okay but not a favourite sencha. It’s a bit difficult to brew. First infusion was at 70C and it had a bit too much bitterness and astringency in it. It was very grassy but the slight bitterness and astringency took away from it. I was hoping for the 2nd infusion at 80C for 10 sec it would be sweeter and not bitter. It still had a slight bitterness & astrincency. Less grassy flavour and not very sweet.
Glad I only had a sample size of this tea. It’s gone now.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Cut grass
This sencha has a good grassy taste and just a bit astringent on the first brew at 65 – 1 min. . The second brew was 10 sec at 80C and it became a bit too astringent at that temperature. It was lacking sweetness which I enjoy in some of my senchas and the deep grassy flavour had faded away on the 2nd steep. Perhaps it’s a matter of just getting the right steeping parameters , but this was only a sample and the last of this tea. I wasn’t overly impressed with it, there being plenty of other senchas that will outshine this one.
Flavors: Astringent, Grass
Actually this tea review is for this one and Royal Tea Bay – Rizhao. I’ve got RTB -Rizhao in Sept and was not that enthused with it. Since I didn’t have any Rizhao tea around to compare it with, I thought it was possible my taste changed. So I ordered my favourite Rizhao from the Aliexpress seller Han Xiang Ecological Tea.
In comparison of the two teas dry, they both smelled good from the bag. Pretty similar – a nice fresh green scent. Both teas had the same twisted shape but this tea from RTB had bigger leaves. Brewed both up with 8oz , 80C, 1 min.
The both brewed a similar bright yellow colour but the tea from HXET was a lighter brigher yellow. The tea from RTB was a little bit murkier, not so clear. When I took a taste of the HXET it was still as good as it’s been in past years: butter, spinach, nutty, creamy, sweet. So good. Then I took a taste of the RTB tea. It tasted completely flat. No taste at all. I let my palate clear a bit and tried this tea again. After waiting a few minutes and taking a sip , it was a bit better but was a plain green with none of the underlying creamy, spinach taste the other one has. It was non astringent with a very faint nutty flavour to it. When I would take a sip of the tea from HXET it had so much flavour it just overshadowed the RTB tea so much , I couldn’t taste it at all.
This tea from HXET has always been really good and this harvest is still holding true.
I enjoyed comparing the two and think I will do a comparison of the HXET Rizhao with some Laoshan Greens I have. They are all grown in about the same area and I think they are all very similar.
