Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea

I just got back from the new Star Trek movie. I loved it. Lots of classic cliche lines. Lots of cowboy type action. A good follow up to the reboot of the franchise.

The tea – I am writing a separate note for the second cup. This one was delightful. Sweeter than the first, greener, creamy and mineral at the same time. The bite is mostly gone and the aftertaste really lingers.

I have not had tea for the past few days because I was sick. I am so glad to be getting back to my teapot and my calming evening cup of green tea!

This is a sample of the 2013 harvest sent by Teavivre. Many thanks!

When I made this tea, the kitchen lights were all out but one, so I saw the dry leaves only dimly. Everyone was getting ready to head to bed. After it steeped, it wouldn’t have mattered if all the lights had been out. The leaves were such a vibrant green they would have lit the room. They were so beautiful – fresh, alive, and crying out that they were the newborns of spring!

The aroma was of soft spinach, no hard or bitter edges. The liquor was a much paler color than I expected after seeing those electric green leaves.

The flavor is mild and smooth, nothing harsh or biting is to be found here. There is almost no aftertaste, which is having the effect of making me drink more and more because I want to keep experiencing the flavor.

Hubby came in after I had already finished two cups. He poured himself a cup, then another, and was about to pour another but the pot was empty. I asked if he wanted a resteep and he said, “Yes, please!” I made the second pot and he drank a cup and told me he had to go to bed now. He left the room and was back in less than three minutes pouring another cup of tea.

There is a mineral freshness to this along with the vegetal flavor, rather than the butteriness sometimes found in a vegetal green. My mouth feels so fresh and clean, yet there really wasn’t any astringency. I have really enjoyed these two pots of tea tonight, and hope they go a long way to rehydrating me!

Thank you, Angel and Teavivre, for these beautiful samples!

I really should get around to reviewing the rest of my samples of Teavivre’s spring harvest in a timely fashion. Thanks so much again to Angel and Teavivre for sending me a sample of this new 2013 spring harvest.

The dry leaf on this one reminds me almost of dragonwell in that it is long, flattened and kind of broad. The leaves are quite dark as well, a very rich green. The freshness is really evident in the strong aroma, which is leafy and buttery. Steeped, it smells of butter-sauteed snap peas, spinach, and slightly of chestnuts. Overall the flavor is very mild and as others have mentioned, it doesn’t linger much. It is as ephemeral as a beautiful spring day.

This is a very pleasant green tea, although I have to say it doesn’t leave too much of an impression on me. It’s mildness is nice and welcome, but it means that I don’t really think about this much as I drink it. It’s a tea that I probably wouldn’t ever crave, but I’d still happily drink it every day if it was served to me. I’m glad I got a chance to try it!

I’ve been very bad about getting to these samples. Now as I’m typing this, I realize that I had already sampled this one. doh! I really did feel like a green tea though. And this is a mighty fine green. sweet and smooth. Vegetal and just barely floral. It’s a bit like green oolong, but lighter with less heavy mouthfeel. Me gusta.

It’s been kind of a crazy summer.

Thank you Angel for this sample.

The raw leaves are beautifully green and thinly rolled. For the most part they are still intact with little to no damage and no stems/sticks are present.

They have a beautiful spinach and perfume floral scent that is quite thick yet sweet.

Once steeped this tea is yellow in colour and has a sweet, vegetal aroma.

First Steep
Flavour is thick and vegetal (broccoli, spinach) and also rather grassy. There is also a sweetness like peony.

Second Steep
Still very thick and vegetal but the sweetness has toned down. It has a buttery tone that makes it easy to drink and it defines the spinach flavour beautifully.

Third Steep
Gentle now and refreshing. Less vegetal and more floral. Toned down from the first steep but still left with enough flavour to be pleasing.

Overall it’s a very nice thick, vegetal green tea. Very similar to the Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea – Teavivre.

A full review will be posted soon on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are my snippets:

The flavor of this tea is like none other. Seriously this is not your average green tea! Yes there is a note of vegetation and unlike my SororiTea Sister I do get a bit of a grassy note, but it is so much more complex than that and I am in agreement with my SororiTea Sister Anne, that it is a stellar green tea to covet! Like her, I think my new favorite.

I too get that kick of a spicy note and a deep earthiness for a green. Something like peat moss perhaps. This is easily a tea that I could get all flowery with the words about but rather I want to just sit back and relax into this sublime cup. It is sweet, a tiny bit tangy and tart, a kick of spicy, a whole lot of grounding earthiness, vegetal, subtly grassy, with a touch of fruit flavor very much like that of a melon yet I also detect something perhaps like lychee with a light floral undertone to it.

An absolute MUST try!!

Backlog:

This is definitely a favorite tea of mine. For a long time, my favorite Chinese green tea has been Tai Ping Hou Kui, but, this one might be edging out that tea for me! This is just so good!

The leaves look so beautiful … like they’ve been meticulously rolled up like scrolls. Lovely.

The flavor is sweet … Juicy even! Soft, sweet, vegetative, with notes of spice. A really lovely tea!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/05/07/liu-an-gua-pian-green-tea-from-teavivre/

This is a part of the batch of samples that Angel and Teavivre sent me to try out. Thanks guys!

I think this is the best green tea I’ve tried so far. It’s the least stewed-veggie tasting green I’ve tried. I do get a just a bit of that to start off with but then it moves into a sweet almost spice taste. It’s really interesting that I can’t put my finger on actual spice this flavor comes closest to. It reminds me of several different spices, almost. I just get to thinking it’s like so and so and then I lose it and it’s different. It’s chameleon tea! Now I have to talk Dylan into to liking this enough that it’s the green he wants to keep around. ;)

I got a sample pack of this from my swap with aisling of tea! Thanks dahling!

Usually I have a straight up black tea in the mornings, but today I had a hankering for a pot of green.

This is such a pleasant, gentle tea. I find the taste to be light and delicious – no astringency and so gentle, in fact, that I kept my leaves in throughout drinking the entire pot and it just got tastier and tastier, without a hint of bitterness!

The taste is slightly sweet and spicy, like a pink peppercorn. Definitely not heavy like a Dragonwell – I think it’s like comparing a thick juice to a flavoured water! Very quenching.

As I get to the end of the pot, the aroma is grassy and the flavour reminds me of fresh black olives – juicy and savoury – just a bit nutty.

So happy I got to try this one!

I was in the mood for a green tea this evening and I picked a good one. The dried leaf has a nice aroma but my spider senses tell me it’s the 2011 harvest. I have a Liu An Gua Pian that was sent from Anhui that looks much fresher. That tea is definitely this years harvest. This is still a very vibrant tea with a nice full flavor. This tea is also making me perspire on my forehead. I can feel the purifying effects of this lovely tea upon my body and mind.