Pine Needle

Dag nabbit. I just lost my entire note!

Hello Steepsters :) Internet and tea-drinking took a backseat to nursing myself back to full health and attending to more pressing affairs this month. Sorry I dipped out in the midst of the “Tea Tag” thread taking off. Now that I’ve caught up on y’alls tealogs and have one more tasting note to add of my own, I’ll pop in there.

I managed to drink through an entire bag without taking one note, so this tasting note is for yesterday’s bowl. Spring 2022 harvest.

The aroma is vegetal-sweet and savory much like split pea soup with bacon. Thick, rich and sweet with low-toned but clear nutty-umami taste. I think about corn husk, sweet roasted chestnut and hazelnut, molasses and malt, peas, scallops, straw and white wine. Earthy-vegetal undertone like lightly smokey grilled asparagus and seaweed. The tea becomes more pungent and astringent with each top off. It’s a powerful tea that for me is not to be drank on an empty stomach. It went well with some vanilla yogurt and heavily buttered toast. If sheng pu’er upsets your constitution, I’d steer clear.

My first cup of this tea many months ago when it was very fresh was grandpa in a narrow thick-walled glass. In their description, Mandala likens this to an unoaked Chardonnay, and that’s exactly what the first cup was like! Now the white wine is more of a background vibe than an upfront character.

This is likely the same tea as Yunnan Sourcing’s Yunnan Pine Needles Green Tea I had before I joined Steepster. I remember not liking it back then as it was too intense and nutty, which is a flavor profile I often have trouble appreciating. It’s still not much my style but I can say this style of Yunnan green tea has plenty to offer.