Snowflakes on Green Lake Bi Tan Piao Xue

Okay…so…first things first…70+ points just for the concept and photo of the snowflakes on the lake…(see pic in description)…neat, neat, neat!!!! :)

A while ago I used to not like Jasmine Teas. I think it was because I had OLD Jasmine or Over Infused Jasmine because once I started really trying to taste them for what they were…JASMINE…FLOWERS…I started to appreciate them more. OR maybe, I was just getting more serious about being a tea reviewer than to totally discount it!? Not sure…but…regardless…on to the review of THIS tea, shall we!?

Yes…Intense JASMINE scent. Very much so – Before, During, and After Infusion. While the green tea leaves were infusing all I could think of was seaweed or water plant life going with the flow of the water. It was a very cool experience to watch it. It lives up to it’s description because the petals do rise to the middle and top of the liquid that is steeping. It really does give it the affect of snowflakes on a lake. It’s lovely and a brilliant idea for a tea.

The taste is VERY Jasmine…VERY FLORAL…with a pleasant aftertaste…it’s NOT bitter at all. I really like that!!!! It almost has a sweeter or juicy ending…NICE.

I read a previous review making special note on the 2nd infusion…I am going to put it to the test…stay tuned. A VERY quick thumbs up for this tea! What an experience!

When I requested a sample of Life in Teacup’s first picked green tea of this year, I told Gingko (LiT’s manager) to surprise me on the two other free samples he offered with the green tea. The teas on LiT are more “serious” looking than any teas I’ve had so far, it was late at night, and I love surprises. This jasmine green tea is one of the surprise samples I received (and you’ll just have to wait until I review the other one to know what it is). I should add, since this my first tea from LiT, that Gingo responded to my email quickly and I was emailed when the teas were shipped. A+ for customer service to LiT.

So, I’ve never had a jasmine tea before. I wasn’t sure I’d like a jasmine tea, or any floral tea for that matter. I worried I’d have to write a “I don’t like this” tealog for tea samples I was kindly given. Turns out I didn’t have to worry, not only did I like this jasmine green, I really liked it. I didn’t expect to like teas with smokey notes (A&D’s Yunnan and Jackee), but I did. I do have to brew them on the mild side so I don’t know if I’d like a truly smoky tea. So far, I’ve liked all new tea types I’ve tried, despite any prior expectations. Good, right? Maybe. I can only store and drink so much tea.

The tea sample packets came with no steeping instructions so I had to look on LiT’s website for them. They are also on Steepster. I did find them a bit vague. My leaves did not float mostly, only a dozen or so with most at the bottom, so I had to guess at steeping time a bit. Luckily, I seemed to have guessed pretty close to right.

I opened my sample packet and looked and smelled. The leaves were small dark, dark spring green curls. There were very few jasmine petals in my sample, but I think such is the luck of samples. The smell was all flower. I’d call it gardenia since I’ve never smelled a jasmine flower. The wet leaves lightened in color a bit and smelled like gardenia’s on a hot summer day after a rain shower. The tea had the same smell and was a warm, bright tan.

I tasted. Flower! Just what I’d expect a flower to taste like if I were to decide to eat one for some bizarre reason. I like flower taste? Really? Weird, but I do! The green tea is light with absolutely no bitterness.

I oh-so-rarely steep a second time as soon as I’ve finished my first cup, but I did. In the middle of writing this tasting note, in fact. Same steeping parameters as the first cup. Lighter in color and only slightly lighter in flavor.

I wish I’d made this tea during the day so I could have resteeped it as much as I could or until I tired of it. (Oddly, after tofu coconut curry leftovers for dinner tonight, I wanted to try this tea. It sounded like it would go with Chinese/Thai foods. As it grew later, I wasn’t even sure I would make tea tonight but I kept thinking about trying this.) Although, I might do a third steep even this late at night. Luckily, I should have two more tries out of this sample to enjoy. This tea makes me eager to try my other samples from LiT soon.

Well, I had to use a bag on this one because I’m at work and didn’t bring my infuser. I guess that makes this Snowflakes in Green Lake? Mine didn’t have a chance to dance.

I don’t know the exact water temp, but it’s pre-boil, around 170 ish. 1 minute steep time.

It smells very floral, very fresh. Even the scent in the package had me thinking that this would make a wonderful soap. (For the scent, remember, I hadn’t tried it yet!) It’s just such a clean, fresh and invigorating scent. I really love it and if I get more, I might store it in my closet so that my clothes smell as lovely.

The taste is very floral. It’s still the nice, clean scent, however, it’s also quite strong. It’s not bitter, which is nice, but it’s still a very floral cup of tea. I cannot make out the green tea with which it is paired.

What a tea. Upon opening my newly shipped bag I whiff fresh jasmine and a clear fine quality tea. I followed the instructions here on steepster where I covered most of the bottom of my pre-heated mug (had to be my clear glass one) with leaves and added close to rolling boiled filterd water. Must’ve been between 1 1/2 cups of water.
How pretty this tea is. The Chinese clearly know what they’re doing when it comes to names. I really enjoyed watching the snowflake-like petals “dance” throughout and the soft little buds open up making a lake bed.
Such as the scent is most pleasing! I can never go back to typical shelf jasmine green teas now that I know what I’m playing at here. The smell is very true and relaxing, not headache inducing that most overpowering jasmine teas give me.
The taste is sweet and gentle with floral notes. Very clean, and very fresh….I even ate one of the petals and found it added to the effect. I was worried that by leaving the leaves in my mug that it would get bitter from oversteeping like most greens I’ve delt with, but no! I expect good quality leaves allow this.
I’m only on my first steep, buuuut….I think I’ll stay up longer into the night just so I can try more infusions. I’m sure they’ll be wonderful c:

This is wonderful stuff! The best Jasmine I’ve had. The second steep is absolutely exquisite!

Not to be confused with jasmine tea one gets in grocery stores, this is an entirely refreshing experience.

Sipdown no. 169. Another sample I’ve been considering for a while and finally decided to try.

This is a visually fun tea, particularly when prepared as suggested at the LIT site and as described in other folks’ notes, where you cover the bottom of your mug with tea, pour in water, and then wait for the leaves to fall to the bottom leaving the jasmine flowers floating on the surface. It looks a lot like the picture, though my tea’s liquor ended up being a darker, more golden yellow. It was fun to watch, but I confess that when I went to drink the tea, after the first few sips I poured it through an infuser basket because the petals kept sticking to my lips and I found that disconcerting. YMMV.

I really love jasmine as a tea flavor, and this is a nice jasmine green. The jasmine is strong — pretty intense, actually — on the dry leaf, in the aroma, and particularly in the taste. But it tastes very natural (unlike some jasmine greens I’ve tried where the jasmine tastes sort of sprayed on). I can definitely discern the tea underneath but not enough to be able to separate it from the jasmine and describe its character as a green. Mine was just a tad on the bitter side, but I think that was because I usually only steep greens for 1.5 minutes max. That’s what I intended to do here, but because I futzed around a bit with the petals sticking to my lips before I decided to strain them out, I left the tea steeping a bit too long for my taste. In other words, I don’t think it is necessarily the tea’s fault.

If I had more of this, I’d try it again and see if I could improve my results. But since I don’t and I’m unlikely to be in the market for any green tea soon, I have to rate this based on this single experience. And I would have liked to be able to taste the tea a bit more and the jasmine a bit less. That said, I like it well enough that I’d definitely give it another shot given the opportunity.