Sanxia Green Tea (Spring Pick)

Homemade Advent Exchange Tea #8

This is a lovely green. I thought it was a Korean green at first because it tastes a lot like sejak. I get some umami – almost like seaweed or miso soup but with more loamy minerals. It’s actually very well balanced for a green tea that I overleafed and oversteeped. The bitterness is balanced by the potent flavour without being overwhelming. It is not astringent or drying like tannic greens can be. It reminds me a little of a vegetable broth but without the salt. The flavours are subtle in general, but strong for a green tea. Lightly vegetal but I can’t pick out any specific vegetables except maybe faint kelp.

Sweetness: 2/10
Sourness: 0/10
Bitterness: 4/10 (in a good way)
Potency: 7/10

Well, this is a delightful little number. Maybe an oddly springlike choice for a fairly dreary late October day, but I’m enjoying it!

It’s very smooth and silky, and actually quite mild. There’s a hint of sweet pea and powdered sugar and very little grassiness or vegetal earthiness. So mellow!

Light umami and… mint(?) on the first short steep.

Good god, so many flavors at once. The top of the gaiwan was light mushrooms and bright cooked peas for a couple seconds, then dried to sugary fried things, like an elephant’s ear from the fair. Wet leaves are creamy vegetal like overcooked-asparagus soup — turned over a little, they give up gorgeous spring florality. Liquor is so pale it looks clear until it’s 1/2" deep, then it’s the palest yellow. Smells like a lighter and wispier version of the leaf aroma. Creamy mouthfeel and taste, surprisingly delicate vegetals versus the smells, but not at all unsatisfying. Cooled, the wet leaves are allll flowers now. Incredible.

Wet leaf has morphed to green bean and orchid. Taste remains delicate; I think it could probably frustrate some drinkers who enjoy and anticipate more of that fat, cooked vegetal green that’s on the nose, but I loved it.

Third steep is close to last. Fluff of flour. No astringency.

Now that I take a look, the website recommends grandpa at 195-205F. A couple more fuggedaboudit steeps did bring some astringency, so I’m not altogether convinced on the temp/time recommendation — but this was honestly a delight. I might do the final 5g of this in a bowl and just tuck in.