Organic Bai Hao (White Downy) Green Tea

Sipdown! (113 | 210)

I had a random sample of this one lying around, finally finishing it off! :D

This is a very smooth and easygoing green tea. Lots of buttery nutty notes that make me think of cashews, and a creaminess similar to edamame. Maybe a hint of artichoke as well? And at the end of the sip is a subtle apricot note that I find to be common in Chinese green teas, and a touch of astringency mimicking the fuzzy skin.

It’s a very tasty and super drinkable tea, but there’s nothing special about it IMO. These days I tend to prefer the intensity of Japanese green teas anyway, so it’s not something I would order.

Another 2016 harvest in a sealed sample packet from Leafhopper!

Very sweet, very gentle. Full-bodied and silky. Basically liquid powdered sugar-melon-sweet beany with mild floral and vegetal accents that gives way to a sweet corn, mouthwatering and mineral swallow. Mouthfeel turns creamy right as the aftertaste shows up with sweet corn and apricot, some mild bitterness emerges on the back of the tongue.

So sweet. Simple and very easy to drink. That said, not my cup. I like less upfront sweetness and more bite – but I know many will love this :)

It is 0 dark thirty and the dogs wanted to go out, so here I am. Who knows how long this visit to the great outdoors will last, so I thought a cup of tea would be just the thing, considering that I don’t think I’m going to get back to sleep.

I’ve lost interest in drinking the August Uncommon Teas now that my order from Tea Vivre arrived. I bought one 100 gram bag of one black tea (the name escapes me at the moment), and a bunch of samplers—one gift box of green tea samples, one of black tea samples, another black tea sampler that wasn’t in a gift box (maybe because those are the less fancy black teas?), and a ton of samples, since they had a special where you could get five samples free, plus then there were another three available when I checked out. My tea cupboard runneth over into a giant silver bowl on the counter filled with silver sample packs. It’s going to take me a while to work through all of them, and I’m ridiculously looking forward to the experience. there is something deeply pleasurable to me about just plunging my hand into the bowl and grabbing a random tea for the day. It brings a tiny bit of novelty to my well-ordered world.

This bai hao tea is my first of the samples. Its taken a few days to drink it, since I’m getting multiple steeps out of the leaves. I got three steeps from my first serving of the tea. The tea leaf has a delicate aroma, and the brewed liquid has a light vegetal, rather seaweed sort of smell. Flavor-wise, it has a creamy, nutty note that I’m really enjoying. I don’t find it to have a strongly grassy taste, which a lot of greens seem to have. I don’t think my palate is refined enough to pick up any fruity notes the tea profile mentions. I feel rather proud that I can identify some, even if it is by looking at a list of potential flavors and saying, “yeah, I get that.” Anyway, this is a fabulous tea that will probably go on my buy again list for green teas. I’m really enjoying it.

Fresh corn reminding flavor. Quite enjoyed it.

15s,15s,20s,25s

Sipdown (256)

The new year is looming so my goal is to get in a few sip downs before 2019 is upon us. Ideally, it would be nice to get to a round number like 250 though with my mom still being temperamental we will see how far I get…

This is a tea that Angel from Teavivre was super kind to send me. Unfortunately I hardly ever drink straight green teas so I always overlooked this. In fact, it has been overlooked so many times that its best before date was a couple months back and I am only getting to it now. I used the whole sample in a 16 ounce mug which means I may have overleafed this.

I think I did something wrong or this tea is just too old because there is a bitterness here that I am really not enjoying. It starts off like a grassy/hay profile. Typical Bai Hao but a drying bitterness quickly just takes over the whole cup.

Here is another review from the backlog. I think I finished a couple samples of this tea during the first half of November, but I can’t really be sure. Prior to trying this offering, I discovered that I had actually tried a Bai Hao green tea back in 2016. That kind of surprised me too because they are not the most common things in the world. Unless it is Liu Bao, you do not often see Western tea drinkers paying a lot of attention to teas from Guangxi. Interestingly, I rated this tea about the same as the one I tried a couple years ago. I found it to be very, very good, but maybe not quite something I would seek out for daily consumption.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of peach, apricot, straw, and plum. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of chestnut, sorghum, and sweet corn. The first infusion then introduced a malty scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of sweet corn, corn husk, peach, apricot, sour plum, chestnut, and malt that were backed by hints of sorghum molasses and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of lemon zest, grapefruit, spinach, green olive, and hay. New impressions of minerals, lemon zest, grapefruit, cream, butter, spinach, hay, umami, pear, and green olive appeared in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging straw notes and stronger impressions of sugarcane. As the tea faded, notes of minerals, malt, straw, chestnut, and corn husk came to dominate the mouth, though they were backed by hints of lemon zest, umami, sorghum molasses, butter, and sugarcane.

Brewed gongfu, this was a surprisingly thick, filling tea. I was greatly impressed by the strength of its aromas and flavors as well as its longevity. It had something of a unique profile compared to many of the other Chinese green teas I have tried; in some ways it was a little reminiscent of some of the higher end Vietnamese green teas that are currently available. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this tea, but it would not become an everyday thing for me. Its chewiness, heft, and richness marked it as being just a little much for a daily drinker. Still, I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a memorable, resilient Chinese green tea.

I got this sample because I didn’t notice that I could get black tea samples. I’m really glad I did. I keep thinking I don’t like green tea much, but some of the samples I’ve tried (this especially included) are changing my mind.

The dry leaf was colorful, ranging from deep green to the soft white down of its name. It smelled kind of vegetable, like sugarsnap peas maybe. I steeped it on the lighter end of the recommended time, 3 minutes.

The tea has the same veggie taste I smelled, but only lightly. It’s mostly sweet, and mild. Nothing too sharp or grassy, but definitely flavorful. I think I taste something floral, too, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to steep it again and see. This is one I’d be curious to try gongfu, because I think it’d be fun to explore all the flavors.

I still prefer a rich and comforting cup of black tea, but this is lovely for the evening. I appreciate the chance to try it.

I don’t drink a lot of green tea. I prefer the high-octane black teas, particularly while I am working. But, I liked the name of this free sample from Teavivre and knew (based on the great track record Teavivre has, with me enjoying virtually all of their offerings) that this one was worth a try.

When I opened the silver sample package, the long wrinkled green leaves strongly reminded me of something that is smoked instead of drunk. The unbrewed odor also kind of reminded me of the same…uh…herb.

I followed Teavivre’s guidelines and brewed the leaves for five minutes (the recommended maximum) at 195 degrees (the instructions said 194 degrees but what’s one degree between friends?).

The steeped color was a brilliant gold. The flavor was nutty and slightly grassy but exceptionally smooth. I didn’t detect any other flavors riding piggyback on this. However, there also was an underlying tangy sweetness to the taste that I liked immensely. The slightly sweet and airy aftertaste floated gently on my palate until it regrettably drifted away.

Teavivre has done it again! They have taken a tea that is usually low on my priority list and made it so enjoyable that I heartily recommend it.

If I ever get to retire one day, and no longer need the full-body thunderbolt that black tea gives me in the morning, I will positively include AT LEAST ONE green tea to leisurely sip while I slowly churn back and forth in my rocker. Thank you, Teavivre!

Another delicious green tea sample provided by Teavivre!

I brought this one to work because the Brew Guide said 194 degrees and I figured it would be less easy to ruin it using the crappy kettle at work than one that required a lower temp. Also because drinking tasty tea at work makes my day a little bit brighter!

I probably oversteeped this but it still wasn’t bitter. I found it mellow and sweet and still has the umami type brothy flavourful appeal that these fresh greens seem to.

Still need to do a great comparison between all of them to test myself on noting the differences, but as of now I’ll give this one a great big thumbs up for sure. I’m so spoiled now, freshly picked green tea leaves?! Yes please!! Forever!

This nutty and grass-sweet is a beauty to see. The image here doesn’t quite do the trick of conveying all the brilliant shades of silver-green long leaves piled together. The lush sweet and nutty scent is also absent; my nose interprets the aroma as nori with sesame oil.

If my lovebird was still alive, he’d try and be all over this with beak and talon, due to the taste and smell of hot millet. That stuff is the catnip of the granivorous bird world. Sweet and nutty grasses are mainly what I get out of this. When I western steeped it today a corn note became apparent as well.

I personally find there to be a bit of a bitter edge to this tea as well, much like actual grass grains. It really came out during a haphazard gongfu session; it reminded me of a less endearing version of Nepal Silver Oolong (What-Cha), which has distinct floral and orange-citrus notes.

Steep Count: 3

(2017 Spring Harvest)

Tea sample provided by Teavivre. Thanks for the chance to try this!