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This was a sample I got through last year’s Lupicia group buy. It came in one of those silky pyramid shaped tea bags. I don’t like the idea of plastics in hot water so I cut open the teabag and dumped half of the 4g of leaves in a brew basket. The leaves had a wonderful floral-woodsy aroma.

Steeped it for 2 minutes in an 8oz teacup using water on the cooler side, 187 F, for the 1st infusion. The brewed tea had a gentle woodsy, roasted aroma. Pleasantly smooth flavor reminiscent of butternut squash with a light maltiness. Upped the temperature to 195 F for the next infusion and doubled the brewing time. The tea had a very nice fruitiness this time and an almost grape-like flavor.

Lupia describes this tea as green, fresh, and spring breeze like. To me that sounds like a green tea or light oolong, something I’d never mistake it for. Darjeelings are often described as floral but I’ve honestly never tasted any such qualities in any darjeeling tea I’ve had. To me, it tasted like a lighter, slightly fruity black tea with woody tones. More autumnal than spring to me.

After a string of subpar Baozhongs recently, this spring’s harvest has once again restored my faith in this tea. It’s deliciously fresh and teeming with complex florals.

As I always do with baozhongs, I brewed this one grandpa style. The leaves emit a very fragrant aroma of hyacinth, lilac, and violet. The tea has an exquisite floral flavor. At first sip, I’m greeted by sweet lilacs followed by granny smith apple and lingering flower nectar. Fresh. Mouth coating. Really smooth and luscious.

When my cup got down to 1/3, I topped it off with boiling water. This dropped all of the leaves and produced a brighter green color. New floral notes of orchid appeared in my cup along with melon and sweet pea making the tea more luscious and perfumey.

Enjoyed this one immensely!

Spring 2021

There are some teas that are phenomenal the first time you try them but then are never able to recapture the same magic. Such is the case with this tea. I was over the moon excited when I first tried it some 5 years ago and have been ordering it every year since then. But for whatever reason, it’s always felt lackluster. Last year, I struggled to finish my stash. This year’s crop unfortunately didn’t fare any better.

Initial steep is colorless and bland. When the flavor comes through, it’s fennel heavy with the usual Laoshan soybean taste and some honey. Notes of raw zucchini, spice, and dandelion along the way. There’s a lack of freshness and depth to the tea.

After two sessions, I’ve relegated it to my stash of less loved teas that are used for blending and cold brewing only. This year’s regular Laoshan green is far better. Not likely to repurchase in the future.

Here’s a nearly 2 year old tea I found buried in the back of my cupboard. A happy discovery as I’m exploring more low caffeine options for the evenings.

I blended it with a little white silver needle since these fruity teas are usually too potent for me on their own. Served in a tulip shaped Turkish teacup which showed off its gorgeous scarlet red color. The tasting notes on the Rishi website were spot on. It tasted like tart cherry or pomegranate juice thanks to the hibiscus and berries. The cranberries in the mixture accentuate the tartness and blueberry is also prominent in there, especially upon resteep.

Not usually a fan of tart teas especially hibiscus but this was decent. A little sweetener would have enhanced this tea too.

Polished off the last of this a few days ago and I’m really going to miss this one. It came as a sample with my Sazen order. This is a lightly steamed sencha that has a clean and fresh flavor.

Forest green needle shaped leaves brew up a clear light green liquor without any cloudiness. Smooth, buttery, and rich in umami . There’s a lima bean creaminess which coats the mouth and leaves a lingering umami aftertaste.

Resteeps are more or less the same. Lima bean / cashew creaminess and lots of umami.

I ordered this tea not realizing that it’s a Baguashan grown tea. This region in Taiwan is known for producing budget oolong and the quality is usually reflected in the price.

It suffered from similar problems as the Ali Shan oolong I had prior to it. Namely, it was an unremarkable tea with a very weak/watery taste. It offered some tantilizing aromas of tropical fruit and flowers, but none of it came through in the tea. I did have better results cold brewing it but otherwise this was another dud.

0 for 2 so far with 2021 high mountain oolongs. I have bunch more TTC teas to go through so wish me luck!

I ordered this tea not realizing that it’s a Baguashan grown tea. This region in Taiwan is known for producing budget oolong and the quality is usually reflected in the price.

It suffered from similar problems as the Ali Shan oolong I had prior to it. Namely, it was an unremarkable tea with a very weak/watery taste. It offered some tantilizing aromas of tropical fruit and flowers, but none of it came through in the tea. I did have better results cold brewing it but otherwise this was another dud.

0 for 2 so far with 2021 high mountain oolongs. I have bunch more TTC teas to go through so wish me luck!

First spring 2021 oolong and a rather disappointing one at that. This one is practically flavorless with zero body or depth to speak of. Vaguely floral with a little citrus and honey notes here and there but that’s it. Tried it gongfu, cold brew, and grandpa style and no matter what it’s just flat and insipid. Luckily, this was only a sampler so no big loss.

The first shincha of 2021! I picked this up with my new Gyokko shiboridashi from Sazen Tea recently. Had been eyeing it for a long time and in the end, just couldn’t manage to convince myself that I didn’t need a 4th shibo hehe. It turned out to be a good move though as its an elegant and shapely vessel that’s beautiful in its sheer simplicity. The only negative is that it’s unglazed because I want to steep everything in it!

Back to the tea at hand. This medium steamed sencha is what I broke in the new teapot with. Saemidori is one of the better Japanese green tea cultivars out there and this one was no exception. Out of the bag, it had an intensely sweet aroma of umami and grass. First steep was light and fresh. Rich umami mingled with gentle grass and a touch of sea air. Second infusion was greener, as it usually is, both in color and taste. Notes of spinach and wet meadow grass. Third and final steep is mellower with vegetal tones and a more generic sencha taste.

My only knock on this tea is that it loses its potency rapidly. It was amazing when I first received it but a few weeks after opening it, the flavor isn’t quite the same. Still good but the freshness has evaporated. Hence why I’m lowering my rating slightly.

Instagram pictures of the tea and shibo:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPGvLGlgZ0S/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_b4Ceg67l/

One of the things the pandemic changed is the way I buy tea online. Pre-Covid, it was easy to do quick one off orders from Japan or Taiwan whenever I was running low on a favorite tea thanks to inexpensive international air mail shipping. Well that option is no longer available – at least not for US customers – leaving only the more expensive express shipping via DHL and FedEx. This has resulted in less frequent tea buys and led to a search for US-based tea shops that direct source high quality tea.

I discovered this company through Instagram and Amazon. They are based in Japan but have recently begun shipping from the US. I ordered some fukamushi as I was all out of Japanese greens and wanted something more intense than the lightly steamed Sencha and kabusechsa I’d been having lately.

The tea arrived within days and came vacuum sealed which made me very happy. Properly sealed tea is so important for preserving freshness so you can taste it at peak flavor. Otherwise you’re just buying stale tea.

The tea itself was excellent with all of the flavor elements I like. Freshly cut grass, rich umami, chlorophyll sweetness, and pleasant vegetative notes of spinach and chard along with a little peppery arugula in the aftertaste. Occasionally there’s a faint astringency but it complements the other flavors and is not off putting. Very refreshing and energizing.

Normally it takes me a while to get through a 100g bag but I tore through 2/3rd of this tea in just a month and a half. A real testament to how delicious this tea is!

Instagram photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CM-Er1_hNJL/