Shan Valley

Cold brewing Chinese greens is tricky, and this proved to be no exception. I put about 2 teaspoons in my water bottle into the fridge for 5 hours, and it turned out really bitter. Even putting the bitterness aside, I don’t think I really liked the underlying sharp grassy green tea flavor. I may experiment with cold brewing for a shorter amount of time (3 hrs?), but it definitely seems like this one is not a repurchase for me :(

I seem to be a magnet for bitter today. I ordered a very reasonably priced sample of this from Shan Valley. When I smelled the dry leaves, it smelled like a typical grassy green tea. Steeping it up, it’s still a typical, grassy green tea. It’s also pretty bitter, though, and I didn’t even steep it for very long (maybe a minute or so?). Perhaps I should have waited for the water to cool down a little more, but even if this tea weren’t bitter, there didn’t seem to be anything all that notable about it. I will fiddle with the rest of the sample for sure, but it looks like I will not restock on this tea.

The dry leaf smells very grassy and doesn’t have the same hay like, barn smell that Shan Valley’s Valley Green had. For me this is a positive. After a quick rinse the wet leaf smells like a roasted oolong, that toasty caramel smell and a sweetness of grapes.

The flavor is sweet, raisin like, and roasty. My favorite teas tend to be oolongs so this is right up my alley. It is more astringent than I expected, but it is pleasant.

This is a continuation of last night’s tea session. The third steeping and beyond were average tasting of a more mature green tea, although the roasted taste lightened with each steeping so by the sixth it was almost gone completely. The first two steepings were much too strong for me personally, but the tea mellowed out eventually the more you infuse it and that’s where it really shined. Whether I’ll have the patience to sit through those first two infusions again is another matter…

Warning: Long note ahead! At heart (and work) I am a scientist. I take copious notes when I am in the mood.

The dry leaf smell is definitely Roasted Green Tea. Yum. The leaves are large, and not as tightly furled as other teas I’ve had, but tight enough to not be fully unfurled after a two minute steep.

It came as a generous sample in a vacuum sealed, plastic lined, foil baggie with a large, clearly printed label. The label is colorful, which is nice, but provide no brewing instructions. The back side of the package is clear so you can see the tea leaves. I quite like the packaging, but I wonder if the transparent packaging will protect it from UV at all.

I washed my leaves in room temp water before brewing.

The post-steep smell of the leaves is the normal slightly floral smell of green tea. Not overly fresh, but it has lost the roasted smell.

The first steep was strong in roasted smell and taste, almost to the edge of a bit too dark for my tastes, but still definably green tea.

The second steep is still pretty strong on all notes. 1:30 steep. Perhaps I added too much leaf. The leaves are still not all the way unfurled.

This is probably one of those I would end up resteeping again and again and again merely because it still has robust flavor, but because of how strong it is, but it’s not one that I would WANT to have gallons and gallons of unless I was serving a bunch of people for dinner. The tea is not too strong to distract from the flavor of food, but IMO not one I personally would showcase .

On the other hand, it is still giving up a good burst of caffeine with each steep. Probably more suited to a morning/afternoon tea than an evening tea.

The third steep is at a nice level for me, still fragrant, but not too dark or robust. But I tend to like my teas on the lighter side to the tongue while fragrant to the nose. I believe most of the leaves have unfurled, but they’re still crinkly.

I’m going to stop and save the fourth steep for the morning, else I may be up all night. Stem to leaf ratio is smaller than I tend to expect, but that’s probably contributing that ongoing strong flavor.

This tea was not what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a bad tea. It’ll probably need experimenting with until I figure out the best way to brew it to my personal tastes. Overall, I think it’s a good everyday type green if you’re one that likes the taste of roasted greens. I might brew it in the mornings if I need a strong pick-me-up and take the rest to-go. Next time I brew, I’ll probably try using less leaf (if I remember).

I was sent this sample free for review and am under no obligations to provide a positive review. I’m using the ingenuiTEA by Adagio Teas.

Golden yellow brew. Smells of vegetables and iron..? Some sort of metallic earthiness to it.

Brewing turned out great! Was unsure how long I should steep this as the samples didn’t come with instructions, but I think I did well considering there was no bitterness. This isn’t like a typical green tea, which I think I like. I’m not the biggest fan of greens because they usually taste very vegetal, but this one is a bit more complex. I pick up hints of metal/copper at the forefront (but not in a bad way), which is followed by an almost sea-weed type flavor mixed with steamed broccoli or fresh green beans. An interesting cup, and I honestly don’t mind the different profile. I may not be dying to keep this in stock, but I will definitely drink the rest of this. For some reason, this seems a bit easier to go down than most green teas I’ve had. I would describe the mouth-feel as rich and smooth.

EDIT: As I sit with the cup a little longer, the metallic notes seem to die down a bit and aren’t as pronounced. Delicious cup; possibly changes my views on green tea!

This and the Shan Valley Mountain Roasted tea are like sisters, with the latter being the older, stronger sister, but whatever, they’ve still got the same genes. I like them both and it really just depends on my mood which I prefer, this (the slightly milder, mellower version) or t’other.

All the Shan Valley teas have been good, but to me this one was the most balanced. Smooth but very flavorful. It will probably end up being my favorite, but I want to give them all another try, as the other steepings were plagued by a combination of bad luck and my own ignorance. I kept steeping them a little too long, didn’t use enough leaf, etc., and while they really held up quite well, I bet they would be better prepared properly.

Unlike Shan Valley’s black tea, the leaves of Valley Green are very whole. The dry leaf smells similar to a barn, very much like hay. However after brewing the tea, the leaves smell like a young raw puer, sweet and fruity. It brews a pale gold brown liquor. It has a feint astringency and is feels viscous. The flavor is somewhat fruity and sweet and tastes strongly of hay.

Second steep with same parameters. Man oh man does this smell like a young raw puer to me. This brew is a little more astringent, a little less hay like, a little more sweet, and a mineraly flavor.

Impressions: I was not too keen on the first steep, but the second one I’m enjoying a lot more. I would consider brewing this tea for a shorter period of time but keeping the other parameters the same. If you like green teas that are not grassy, but that have a hay like flavor, this one may be up your alley.

The tea that makes you wonder if you somehow grabbed coffee by mistake. Though definitely not an every-day tea, sometimes you just have to have something punchy-strong to get you through the morning.

Note: don’t oversteep this. A lot of my black teas say steep for 5 min.; 3 minutes is plenty for this one.

This tea doesn’t mess around. I wasn’t sure what to make of the name at first — Black Tea, beginning and end, about the least descriptive name in the history of loose leaf. But I kind of get it now. The tea is strong and decisive, packs a punch, and doesn’t wait around for adjectives. It reminds me of an Irish Breakfast. Very good, but you do have to like hefty tea.

Getting a bit of mineral flavor, which I think is an effect of the roasting. I agree with Sonofabrat there’s something oolong-ish about this tea; it’s on the darker side for a green tea and tastes quite robust, with the vegetal notes at a minimum. If I’m going to drink plain green, this is the style I like, so I am very happy with this sample. Shan Valley’s other green samples were quite good too, but I think they planned them with the idea that this one would be the strongest and most toasted, the first flush would be the greenest (as in most raw and most vegetal) and the valley tea would be the middle ground between the two.

Drank this last night. Definitely a stronger tea than the first flush green I previously tried from Shan Valley. Flavor was fuller all around and there was a slight bitterness, but it didn’t diminish the tea. A little bitterness is fine, I think, as long as the rest of the flavor can stand up to it. And the bitterness might be entirely due to user error anyway — I oversteeped this by at least two minutes, so I will need do a re-tasting before I write my official review. Even as it was, I quite liked the tea.

The sipdowns continue as I carry out my quest to clean this tea cupboard up a bit. Received this as a sample quite awhile ago. I think this is a quality tea, but it’s just not my style of tea. It tastes a bit raw, a bit seaweedy. I liked the other things I tried from Shan a lot better (which I guess explains why THOSE samples are long gone).

My free samples from Shan Valley just came in the mail! I am so psyched! Not only did they send a sample of all four of their teas (in very cute resealable bags), the samples are extremely generous. At a guess I think there might be as much as 50 grams in each one. I’m sure there’s at least 30. Anyway, I finally settled down and picked this one to try first. It’s light and smooth, a bit vegetal and a bit mineral. I’m getting just a touch of astringency, but it’s not a bad thing at all. Overall, a solid green tea. :)

Thanks Shan Valley for the free sample. On first appearance, the leaves of this green tea are quite dark. After the first steep the aroma of the leaves surprised me a lot. While I smell the expected woodsy-ness and smoky aromas, there’s a strong smell of something very rich (think tobacco or burning pine) that comes through a lot. While I’m not big on strongly roasted greens, this aroma really surprised me. The tea itself is quite easy to drink. It’s pretty roasted and doesn’t lie too heavy on the palette, just make sure you steep at a bit lower temperature to not bring out too much of the astringency that can come through with “oversteeped” roasted greens unless ya know, you’re up for that kinda thang

The leaf of this tea looks like it is CTC. The scent after brewing is somewhere between a light smoke and freshly cut tomatoes. The flavor is strong. It’s astringent but not bitter. Very pleasant and robust. The flavor works on its on, but could also go well with spicy or heavily seasoned food. This tea reminds me of a tippy Yunnan black I used to have: earthy, smokey, and bold.

I kept the second steep at the same parameters because the first steep was so strong. The flavor evolved with a stronger mineral flavor while cutting back on the smokiness. This steep is much less astringent and in your face. I prefer this steep to the first.

Overall Impressions: This is an enjoyable everyday tea. I could see myself using this is a travel mug because it doesn’t go bitter, and strong enough to pair well with food. It’s a good tea for this snowy winter season and I’ll be enjoying many more cups of this tea.

Backlog & Sipdown (88)! I went on another weekend road trip down to LA, so I needed a nice cold brew to keep me company for the drive. I steeped this in the fridge for 3 1/2 hours, and it was nice at first when it was still ice cold. However, as it came to room temp, the bitterness and sharpness from the grassy flavor just all became a bit too much for me to handle, so I sadly did not finish the whole water bottle of tea. I won’t be repurchasing this one just because it was just not special or tasty enough to make me want to buy much more of it, but I did really appreciate the cold brews it gave me while it lasted!

I’m getting so excited that fruits are coming back into season! One of the many perks of warmer weather. Anyway, I did something a little different with this cold steep. In addition to adding the green tea, I added some sliced up strawberries to the water bottle as well. I let the whole concoction sit for about 6 hours with delicious results! The strawberry flavor was much stronger than I anticipated, but I think it complemented the green tea very nicely. Also, it kind of makes me feel like I’m at a spa or something where they have those refreshing fruit infused waters. This was fun, and I think my next target will be orange slices. Gotta love fresh fruits!

As I mentioned in previous tasting notes, this tea as a hot tea didn’t impress me much. However, as a cold brew, it was pretty refreshing, so I cold brewed it again. This time, I didn’t leave it in the fridge for more than maybe 8 hours or so, which prevented the bitterness I tasted last time. It’s a refreshing, though a bit generic-tasting, iced green tea.

Cold brewed this for a bit too long (probably over 12 hours?). I got a nice, grassy taste that ended with a sweet note. I think that oversteeping did add some bitterness, but it was easily forgivable. Since I wasn’t too big of a fan of this tea hot, I will probably use up the rest in my cold brewing frenzy.

I ordered one of each of Shan Valley’s teas when they first came out with the 1 oz samples, which are very reasonably priced. I love my roasty oolongs and houjichas, so I was expecting a little more from this than what I got. For the first few sips, I was snacking on some heavily flavorful foods, so I didn’t even notice any taste at all from this tea. After I stopped eating, though, I did notice a very mild, subtle roasted flavor and not much in the way of a typical green tea. I usually take my teas very mild, but even for me this was too subtle. Perhaps I need to play with the steeping parameters a bit, but I have a feeling that this tea is just fine, but nothing extraordinary. I’m curious to see how the other teas fare.

Green tea flavor strong but with a nice balance. Some ocean/marine aroma and taste. Not a particular favorite for me. I seem to tend to like a more flavored green tea so I will probably blend it with a fruity tea. No brewing notes so i just brewed as a regular green tea.

Well this is my first cup of tea with my new Breville!!! So after tasting the difference between the cup of this tea i made this morning is huge! this one has some great color and awesome re-steepablity. Initially, I noticed the grassy flavor that is often easily recognizable in green teas. However, i noticed this green really has that fresh flavor, not overpowering but fresh and crisp. I don’t know if its just me, but i noticed the taste of edamame (soybeans)…and normally that would come off as really strange, but this time it just added to the freshness of the cup. I was pleasantly impressed by this one. As i am normally not a huge fan of greens, the folks at Shan Valley seemed to do a good job with this one:)