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This was less impressive than Eco-Cha’s other lower priced offerings. It’s light and buttery with an orchid and steamed vegetables flavor. Nothing mind-blowing or memorable, just a decent jade oolong. I don’t get the hype about Da Yu Ling. This is the second one I’ve tried and both were underwhelming. Maybe it’s the scarcity of the tea, but to me its not worth the price it commands. Fortunately there are far better Taiwanese oolongs out there that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

I blew through my green tea stash faster than expected this winter and picked up this tea to hold me over until the spring greens arrived. I’ve never had a pan-fired Japanese green before and was intrigued when I heard about this rare tea.

The dark curled leaf resemble a bi luo chun more than sencha, understandable as this is processed similar to Chinese tea. Wet leaf though is broken and a deep verdant green, like a typical Japanese green. The first steep is mostly nutty, like toasted grains. There’s a bit of grassiness to it as well. Second steep brings out more of the grassiness and a vegetal body as the nuttiness softens. The liquor is bright green like sencha. I would characterize the flavor as a hybrid of steamed and pan fired tea. Third steep is smooth and vegetal. Unlike steamed tea, this has no astringency even at higher temps and longer steeps. It works well grandpa steeped too.

Cold steeped though is where this tea really impresses me. It brings out the best balance of flavors – sweet vegetal with a hint of floral and umami. While I still prefer a good sencha to this, I appreciate its fresh clean flavor. At $12 and some change for 100g, it’s a pretty exceptional value and a great daily drinker.

I love straight teas that taste flavored. This one smells and tastes very tropical and fruity. The wet leaf has an strong aroma of juicy fruit and honeycomb. The tea starts off with white peach and coconut, gentle florals and a soft body. Steeped further, pineapple and a little creaminess develops. There’s a bit of minerality and a delicious lingering fruitiness. The pina-colada flavors remind me a lot of WP’s Golden Lily. Come to think of it, it has some milky tones too.

Only negatives are some rather large twigs and the flavor runs out pretty quickly. By the 4th steep, most of the flavor had been wringed out. All in all, a very pleasant and satisfying tea!

After months of anxiously waiting and dreaming of this tea, I’m ecstatic to be reunited with it once again. And it’s just as good as ever. The dark green leaves scattered with pink buds are visually stunning. The scent of the dry leaf is pretty intense, but the cherry blossom and sencha are in perfect harmony with each other. You can tell they’ve used a high quality sencha base. The tea is grassy and buttery with a hint of floral cherry flavor. Nothing fake about the sakura flavor either. It’s light and very natural, similar to salt-pickled sakura blossoms but without the saltiness.

I underleaf by a lot but otherwise closely follow Den’s steeping times and temps. The cherry comes out more in the first two infusions while the 3rd is mostly sencha. Lately I’ve started blending it with other teas with great results. I cut it with regular sencha when I want to tone down the sakura flavor and genmaicha for added nuttiness. And it’s incredibly refreshing cold steeped.

Of the five teas I purchased from BTT, this was the least impressive. I have to agree with the other reviewers, this Golden Lily pales in comparison to Whispering Pines. It has a very buttery quality, as in someone dropped a pat of butter in my cup. Steeped gongfu there is also a bit of floral and a touch of sugarcane sweetness. But there’s no real complexity to this tea. It’s drinkable, but kind of forgettable.

My go-to tea right now and one I foresee becoming a perennial favorite. This isn’t just tea, it’s an experience – one I would describe as walking through a fresh meadow of flowers on a spring morning. It’s very versatile and forgiving to any steeping method. Different brewing times and temperatures reveal different qualities and flavors. Grandpa steeped, it brims with lovely florals, creamy vegetal tones, and a luscious aroma. When gongfued, it transforms into a high mountain tea with a richer, full-bodied flavor and that distinctive gao shan aftertaste. Other times, it can resemble a light TGY. Personally, I think continuous steeping gives the best flavor and is economical to boot.

I’m impressed by its longevity. I get 4-5 awesome steeps from just a smattering of leaves in a tall glass. To me that speaks volumes about its quality of the tea and makes the price point more palatable.

I can’t help but compare this to the other competition-grade bao zhong I tried from Taiwan Tea Crafts. That too was an excellent tea but to me BTT’s has a more complex and ethereal flavor. Then again, the other one is a spring harvest so it’s probably not a fair comparison.

If I had to describe this tea in one word, it would be broccoli. That’s literally what it tastes and smells like. It’s very strange, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever encountered a tea with such a strong vegetal flavor before. I’ve experimented with temperature and strength, but no matter what it always ends up tasting like a cup of boiled broccoli. What makes it all the more unusual is this is Yuuki-Cha’s highest grade of matcha yet tastes very different than their other less expensive matchas which are actually pretty good.

Despite the flavor, all is not lost because this still works in matcha lattes. It has a vibrant green color and whisks up thick and frothy. There’s none of the bitterness that you find in low quality matcha either. It’s just not something I can drink straight.

Backlog.

One of the more interesting BTT oolongs, I enjoyed how the flavor evolves from steep to steep. The tea starts off vegetal and flowery with a light body and clean taste. A wonderful orchid and honeysuckle aroma wafts up from the gaiwan. A pear like fruitiness develops in the second steep growing stronger as steeps progress, followed by a lingering floral aftertaste. Lots of sweet notes and an occasional hint of tropical coconut. Around the fourth steep, the mouthfeel becomes thicker and more minerality comes into play but it loses some complexity.

To me, this tea straddles the fence between light and high mountain oolongs. Earlier steeps are lighter, and closer to low-oxidized oolongs in taste and goes on to become fuller and more viscous later. Just an all-around wonderful tea and a keeper for sure!

Thanks to Stephanie for letting me sample this tea. I was feeling under the weather last week and reached for this to soothe my sore throat and cold. Although my tastebuds were a little wonky from being sick, I found it quite enjoyable and vastly prefer it to run-of-the-mill medicinal teas.

This tea is herbaceous and spicy, both in taste and smell with a hint of mintiness. The herbaceousness dominants the first steep but remains pleasant, never medicinal. A mellow ginger flavor accents the tea and gives a nice peppery finish. The second steep was even better. Lemony, less spicy and slightly sweet. I didn’t detect the rose or goji berries though that’s probably because I didn’t scoop any in my tea spoon.

This is a great tasting tisane whether or not you’re sick. I think it will appeal to people who don’t like herbals. Really wish Verdant still carried this tea.

Backlog.

Thanks to Tea Ave for providing a sample of this tea. The dry leaf has a fantastic sweet floral aroma that’s heightened after steeping. The first infusion is vegetal with bitterness masking the high mountain flavor. Some sweetness and mineral notes start to emerge with the second steep. The tea really begins to unveil its flavor with the 3rd and 4th steeps. Most of the bitterness has faded and the tea develops a thicker mouthfeel. Nice balance of nectary sweetness and vegetal. There is some honeysuckle although the floral aroma doesn’t really come through in flavor. Not a whole lot of complexity but enjoyable nonetheless. By the fifth steep the bitterness is gone as the tea transitions to a smooth, well rounded flavor with a hint of citrus. A seaweed flavor greeted me on the sixth steep signaling the tea had reached the end.

Overall impressions – an enjoyable everyday jade oolong with more of a vegetal character and wonderful aroma.