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I normally enjoy Laoshan tea but this recent harvest isn’t doing it for me. It’s got the usual vegetal notes – zucchini, edamame, and cilantro being the prominent ones I picked out – but something about it tastes off, like overripe fruit. It reminds me of pears or honeydew that sat out too long. At the moment, it’s been banished to my work stash where my less loved but still palatable teas go. It tastes better cold brewed or blended with a flavored tea so that’s probably how I’ll drink the rest of it.

Picked up a can of this at Mitsuwa last week. This was an exceptionally good canned green tea. It has a crisp, clean flavor with a creamy matcha like mouthfeel and almost no bitterness to speak of. Good balance of umami and sweetness. Those who aren’t into the grassiness of green tea might like this one as it lacks the mossy green taste of sencha.

I liked this a lot better than Ito-En and some of the other bottled teas out there. Maybe it’s just in my head, but green tea in a can tastes so much better than in a bottle.

A respectable and quite drinkable Li Shan but doesn’t exactly set my world on fire. It has aromas of magnolia, cream, and vanilla. The taste is very clean and refreshing with notes of honeysuckles, water lilies, and a mineral sweetness. That said, it tastes somewhat generic and lacks that buttery, thick body of higher quality Li Shan teas. Goes for several steeps and has a nice, meditative cha qi.

Instagram shot: https://www.instagram.com/p/B8hFSwRAuGR/

Backlog. Finished off my sample of this tea sometime last week. This was a nice flowery gaoshan, smooth with a supple texture in the mouth. Fresh floral aroma with hints of butter and tropical fruit. When brewed the liquor unveils delicate notes of honeysuckles, gardenia, and lily of the valley that linger into the aftertaste. Gives about 5 good steeps before the flavor fades out.

Fushoushan is a pricey tea, up there with the likes of Dayuling. It was certainly enjoyable but not in proportion to the price tag which is usually the case with teas in this range. In any event, I’m grateful that TTC offers samplers that help make these expensive gaoshans more accessible.

So yesterday evening, I decided I was tired of my usual greens and oolongs and wanted something different for a change. I had this Silver Needle tea many months ago and since then, it had been sitting in the back of my cupboard, sadly forgotten. Though I tend to enjoy white tea, I seldom find myself craving it.

Anyways, it was late and I didn’t want something too caffeinated so I grandpa steeped just 1g in an 8oz glass. The flavor was just as I remembered. Sweet and delicately floral, with a faint hay taste mingled with spice and the feel of freshly laundered linens. It’s light and airy with an almost ethereal velvety texture in the mouth.

Silver needle is one of those teas that ages well. It’s been a little less than a year since I purchased this tea and although the flavor hasn’t evolved much, it hasn’t deteriorated either. It tastes as good as the day I bought it which doesn’t happen with most teas.

I have to say this vinegar soda they call kombucha is starting to grow on me. I don’t really consider it tea and it’s still a little too sharp to chug down an entire bottle but there’s definitely something addictive about it.

This one was really delicious. It tastes closer to real juice than other kombuchas I’ve tried. It’s like mango nectar with a little fizziness and added tang. A few sips of this made me feel a lot less stuffed after a heavy meal so perhaps there’s something to the purported probiotic/gut benefits of kombucha after all.

This was the second winter harvest baozhong I picked up from TTC, the other one being the more oxidized “Heritage” variety. It’s remarkable how the same kind of tea grown in the same region, of the same cultivar, and picked in the same season yet processed slightly different can be so radically different.

Out of the bag, I get fresh aromas of orchid and spring flowers (hyacinth, tulips). In a heated pot, the usual lilac notes of baozhong are detected along with sweet hyacinth and an odd hint of black pepper. I brewed this grandpa style starting with 195 F water. First sip is light with lilacs and little green apple in the finish. Fairly thin and light bodied. After topping off with boiling water, a meadowy green flavor emerges along with sweet pea, more lilacs, and a mineral/spring water like note.

While this an enjoyable tea, it’s several notches below Heritage baozhong which I consider a top grade tea. It has a mild, simple floral flavor and lacks the complexity and depth of better baozhong oolongs.

Figured its about time I reviewed this tea now that I’ve consumed more than a third of the 100g pouch. I don’t know if it’s just me or what but I’ve found the 2019 crop of sencha to be lacking. None of the teas from the three usually reliable vendors I ordered from – Yuuki-Cha, O-Cha, and Thes Du Japon – blew me away. This one ranks near the bottom of the Japanese greens I tried this year which is disappointing because I’ve had amazing Saemidori tea from O-Cha before.

Although described as a medium steamed tea, the leaf is quite broken and powdery which leaves a lot of sediment in the cup. Dry leaf has a subtle scent of umami and grass. The color of the liquor is a vibrant lime green. I brewed this tea using a wide range of temperatures from 145 – 180 F. At lower temperatures, I get a gentle wheatgrass like taste mingled with umami. At higher temperatures, the tea has a more assertive brothy vegetative flavor but also bitterness due to how quickly the broken leaf infuses. Notes of artichoke, spinach, and grass. Overall, more savory than sweet and without much depth of flavor. Good for about 3 steeps unless you increase leaf quantity which also also leads to increased bitterness. Cold brew was not terribly impressive.

Sipdown. My last few teaspoons of this tea were getting stale but ambient brewing rescued it. Despite the freezing cold and endless snow we endured in Chicago today, it was really refreshing to drink this over ice. By the magic of room temperature steeping, the sour, stale seaweed taste was transformed into a floral bouquet in my cup. So delicious that I made two ambient brews and finished off what was left of this tea.

I must say cold/ambient brewing has been a godsend for less than perfect teas and those past their freshness. I’ve been able to salvage so many teas that I might have otherwise thrown out this way. Highly recommend giving cold brewing a try before giving up on your less loved teas.

This was a chance discovery at Aldi. The list of ingredients here – sencha, strawberries, regular and holy basil, and hibiscus – was unusual yet intrigued me enough to pick up a bottle. It turned out to be a terrific flavor combination. It has a natural fruitiness and a sharp but pleasant tang that complements the strawberry. The basil adds a subtle herbaceous tone. I couldn’t really taste the sencha though and I suspect the hibiscus is just there to add color. Really refreshing and has just enough sweetness without being too sweet. I can definitely see myself chugging this stuff down during the warmer months.