Mountain Roasted Green Tea

This is a basic green tea with vegetal notes and a woodsy aroma. It has a smokey taste, it is slightly astringent but not bitter. Plain Green is not my favorite but in has an obvious base of green tea. Nothing wrong with it but I have found that I just prefer a more flavored tea. I think it may blend well with other teas that I have to make it more to my liking but is nothing against the tea.

2/10/14

3g/6oz/180F/3min. A western style brew. This made a lightly vegetal faintly astringent green tea. A pleasant but unremarkable cup, something I would say, ‘hey, nice tea’ about if I got it in a restaurant, and then chug and ignore through the meal.

Edits to follow for different times/temps/quantities.

I’ve debated a long time about writing this review. I got sent these teas by DCS, because they weren’t to her liking, and I then passed it on as it wasn’t to my liking. This is perhaps the best thing about Steepster. The community.

So, 10 is the grade I would rank for standard tea bag tea. I would rank this tea below that. Probably around a 5-6. I’m holding off on ranking as I would like to see some more reviews of this tea before I leave such a drastic mark.

This was pretty good. I really like my green teas to be bitterness free, so I steeped it at a pretty cool temp. Doing this yielded a really sweet cup, which I like, that was a bit mineral-y but also a hair fruity. More a deep fruitiness, like fig, than a fresh fruitiness like peach. Probably one of my favorites from this company so far, actually.

i do not not like smokey teas. It was not strong but it was there. did not get any of the green tea.

So from the 3 teas I bought samples from Shan Valley Tea, this one is not so bad. Kind of faint praise, but I guess their teas are just not to my taste. This one had a very slight roasted taste so it wasn’t so green and seaweed like as the other green sample but that totally came out more when I had let it sit and cool. I really wanted to like these teas but oh well, I guess. And I can’t be too unhappy, it was cheap to try them.

Backlog:

Slowly, slowly getting there. Sil … I’m going to get there. Just you wait and see!

A really delicious green tea. I love the roasted notes to this, it’s kind of unexpected, even though the name of the tea is “Mountain Roasted Green Tea” … the roasted notes are still something I don’t usually prepare myself for when I drink a green tea. This reminds me of a Roasted Oolong.

Sweet, velvety, smooth, roasty-toasty, with a nice nutty flavor. Yum!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/02/24/mountain-roasted-green-tea-shan-valley/

This is totally different from the green teas I’ve had recently (dragonwell, flavored Lupicia greens, senchas) so my taste buds were fairly displeased at first. Because this tea doesn’t mess around, it hits you with the toasted notes throughout your sip, and afterwards, too.

Very woodsy. In a way there is seemingly little of “green tea” element in this tea. It’s all woodsy and earthy notes, but they are pretty yummy. It smells like cigarettes on your clothes would smell if it were actually ever a nice, not nasty, smell – does it make at least an ounce of sense? It actually makes me want to smoke.

And then, as it sits longer, it actually starts smelling kind of syrupy sweet.

The more I drink it, the more I like it. I am not sure if I am going to buy it any time in the near future, but I would never say no to it when offered.

Thank you, Jennkay, for letting me try this :)

I do love roasty teas, but this one wasn’t too exciting. While steeping, Mountain Roasted green had a great roasty smell. Flavor wise, sweet vegetal yet savory, kinda like yams and squash with a mellow body. The roastyness is a little stronger than a light houjicha, but not as sharp – with the roastyness not as full bodied an interesting like a light roasted oxidized oolong.

I am writing this from under a mound of blankets and pair of cats, still too sick to get out of bed, but certainly better than I was Saturday. I think my fever has finally broken for good (YAY!!) which means that I will be on the slow mend, personally I am most excited about my sense of smell and taste to return to normal so I can actually enjoy the things I am consuming. The Flu is gross, I do not wish it on anyone, if I am lucky I will be back to semi-normalcy by the end of the week.

Today I am reviewing Mountain Roasted Green Tea by Shan Valley, they were awesome and sent me very generous samples of their teas for review, the samples arrived on Thursday so I was able to get two of them tasted before the sickness took over. My one complaint with Shan Valley is they do not have steeping instructions for any of their teas, so I had to do some experimenting with brewing. The aroma of the rather large dried leaves is both nutty and vegetal, mixing roasted peanuts and chestnuts with the aroma of spinach and a touch of kelp. There is a finish of smokiness.

Once the leaves are steeped the aroma becomes a mix of roasted nuts and cooked spinach, it is mostly roasted nuts and the vegetal quality is mild. The liquid without the leaves is pretty mild, not much of an aroma except faint vegetal and a hint of popcorn.

The first attempt I steeped the tea at 170 degrees for 2 minutes, I found the taste was uninspiring. It tasted faintly honey sweet, faintly vegetal, faintly roasted, and faintly smoky. Faint is the word to take away, clearly I need to try warmer water.

Take two! 180 degrees for 2:30 minutes, the first thing I notice is the aroma of the liquid is stronger, more vegetal and the popcorn aroma is also more prominent. The taste is a bit bitter, like kale, in fact the vegetal tastes in this tea are like a blend of cooked spinach and kale. There is of course a roasted taste to this tea, like roasted chestnuts and popcorn, it has a sweet finish and has a popcorn aftertaste.

Out of curiosity I decided to brew some of this tea in my gaiwan, uncovered, using 180 degree water for one minute. I am not sure how much of it is psychological (because I enjoy it so much) but brewing anything in my gaiwan seems to make them taste better. I found that the flavors were slightly altered, the popcorn roasted flavor was much stronger and the vegetal bitterness from earlier is just plain old vegetal. At the end there is a faint fruity sweetness that pops up and is quite nice. Even though this tea did not make me jump up and down in awe and in a lot of ways was just average, I still found myself brewing multiple cups throughout the day. It has a charming, homey, quality about it that soothed my aching head and sore throat, it was perfect because it was so simple, I didn’t have to think about it at all. The tea tasted good, not at all intense, and kept me hydrated. I can see myself reaching for this tea on days when my allergies or a cold make me crave a mild, unassuming tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/shan-valley-mountain-roasted-green-tea.html