Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea

This tea was really quite excellent. It has a sweetness to it that overlays the light vegetable flavor to it very, very well. Absolutely delicious.

However…

Once this tea cools down, it’s downright undrinkable. I had given a little cup of this to Sandy at work, and she really didn’t like it. I’m guessing that has something to do with the fact that she let it cool down… because it’s really taking on an unpleasant, rubbery taste. So yeah, absolutely fantastic tea when drank warm.

I’m starting to make my way through Teavivre’s green tea sample pack and the description on this one caught my interest… We’re currently experiencing some very interesting weather (today sunny with a high of 13c. Tomorrow? Snowing with a high of -12c… No I’m not joking, a 25 degree swing within 24hrs. sigh) and I was looking for something warm but fresh and this sounded like it might hit the mark.

The dry leaf is rolled lengthwise and presents a dark spicy aroma mixed in with some warm grass notes. There were a few nutty hints as well but they were quite hidden among the rest of the scent profile.

My first steeping of 30sec gave a bright, though light, green liquor that smelled of sweet, almost roasted nuts, mixed in with some lovely spicy/smokey notes. It was a warm but yet refreshing scent. The taste was actually pretty similar, roasted nuts (almost like cashews) mixed in with a light bit of spice with a lovely rich sweetness wrapped around it. The finish was slightly astringent and served as a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the tea. And while the mouthfeel was dull and rich it was also very light and refreshing, a very unique combination.

In my second cup (60sec) the bright green liquor picked up a slight floral scent which replaced the slight smokiness of the first cup, while the rest of the notes stayed pretty much the same. The floral not carried though to the flavor as well, while the rest of the flavors mellowed out considerably. The finish was also less astringent.

The pale yellow-green liquor of my third cup (90sec) displayed a soft aroma; the brighter floral notes were mixed in with the sweet roasted nuts. This was quite a mellow cup, subtle in flavor but refreshing. There was still a bit of “spice” in the profile as well which added an interesting contrast to the brighter floral notes.

My last cup (120sec) was even softer than the previous one in both scent and flavor. The floral notes were a nice refreshing highlight and lingered well after the finish. There’s also still just a little touch of the spice left to round out the profile.

This is a dynamic cup of tea, with tons of character. I loved how both the flavor and scent profiles changed over time and how refreshing this was despite the inherent dark"spiciness" of the leaf. This is definitely a tea that I could see keeping in stock for some time to come.

These leaves are beautiful! Long, narrow, perfectly straight, vibrantly green leaves. They’re quite large actually and thus hard to correctly measure. But I think I did all right. The aroma is lovely, fresh green tea.

The taste is even lovelier than the aroma. Light, fresh, vegetal, and sweet. Light is the perfect description. It’s not heavy like Dragonwell.

There’s also virtually no aftertaste (as in the taste doesn’t linger). I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad yet. But it is definitely a noticeable characteristic of this tea. The aroma is grassy, but luckily for me that grassiness doesn’t make it into the flavor much.

Overall, this is a wonderful green tea. The second steep for two minutes was just as flavorful as the first, and I’m sure it could keep going for several more infusions, if I was so inclined. This tea is quite affordable for such high quality. It’s deserving of my stamp of approval! I highly recommend!

Tea provided by Teavivre for review

I’m in a green tea mood today, so I tried my next sample: Liu An Gua Pian.

With my first sip, I was picking up on spicy taste mentioned in the description. It’s really pleasant, and gives the tea body a nice “warm” feeling in my mouth. Next, I was tasting a lot of the characteristics I expect in a green tea (vegetal, sweet). Maybe I used more leaves than I should have, but the tea body had a lot of flavour.

Second to fourth steeps were pleasant, with a consistent but milder strength. There is some bitterness, but it seems to blend well with the other flavours.

Overall I liked this tea, and I downed my cups pretty quickly. Sometimes I prefer a delicate green tea, but this one had a lot of interesting flavours going on. Very happy I had a chance to try this, and I’ll brew some western style another day.

100ml gaiwan, 4g sample, 4 steeps (rinse, 30s,1m,1m30s,2m)

Edit: I prepared this later as western style (with Teavivre’s steep guidelines. It’s much as I expected, but not as flavourful. So short steeps are still my preference with this one.)

A sample that came with my recent order of Longjing. I was curious what one of Teavivire’s most expensive greens tasted like. I was struck by the long spear-like vibrant green leaves, uncharacteristic in comparison to the other greens I’m used to.

Overall I’m pleased, but wasn’t knocked out. I initially steeped for about 30-45 seconds, and I’m imaging I should have let it be, but I was hoping for something more overt and allowed it to brew another 30-40 secs. I think that was a mistake. I ended up introducing a bitter note to what had been a smooth, lightly sweet, mellow vegetal, milky brightness. I think what I was hoping for would have been better corrected with more leaf and less time.

2nd stepping, I backed off and played it safe at about 40 secs.. Not quite enough flavor for me and I introduce a bit more steeping time (10-25 more secs). I’m playing on the edge of bitter, but I like where this tea is going. My tastebuds don’t appear to be so dialed in today, but I’m getting the continued sweet notes and a dry mouth feel. That bitter is just hanging there…. I’m not sure I’d make an investment, but if I had some more of this, I’d certain enjoy and afternoon of playing with quantity, steeping times and temps, getting to know it. But alas, it’s price and with my first impressions, I’m not inspired. But let’s see where this tea continues to go.

My 3rd steep and I think my impatience with this tea has stripped it of what it has to offer. Flavor is weak. There’s not much left to this. I’m tempted to request another sample next time I order from Teavivre.

This tea comes in a 5 gram sample, unlike most of their other teas which are usually 7 grams. I think they’re doing themselves a disservice. Brewing in a my little Finum, which is like a 5 oz cup, I think I would have had a better experience with 7 grams of tea. But then the nature of the size of these leaves would have made it difficult to fit them all and get an even steep.

I’m going for it with the 4th steep leaving it in for a solid 2 mins as recommended by Teavivre’s gaiwan instructions. There is certainly a long-lasting sweet aftertaste, bordering on saccharine. Even as I have abused this tea, there’s still a distinct vegetal smell. Bitter is gone, and surprisingly enough, I find this steep somewhat satisfying. What a weird little trip.

From a caffeine/theanine standpoint, I’m honestly a bit jacked from this tea. But then that might have been all the dark chocolate nibs I had earlier…. Or it might be that these leaves are considered more mature. Who knows. Interesting experiment overall, results inconclusive.

I’ve been debating which of the many wonderful choices to order from Teavivre, and it occurred to me that I still have not developed a full concept of Liu An Gua Pian. Time to rectify that situation posthaste!

I brewed up a big tetsubin, using the full sample (I believe 7 grams), and the first excitement is just the sight of the gorgeous dark shale green leaves. They are long and log-like—except that they are twisted beautifully. Then, upon infusion, they unfold like papyrus scrolls to reveal the wisdom hidden within. The infused whole leaves—and they are big!—are a bright, vibrant green—a sure sign that this tea is fresh and something of a wonder, given how dark and hard the dried leaves are!

The flavor is more robust but in a unique way. It does not really taste like cooked vegetables and nothing at all like sencha. To me the taste is indescribable, as it does not seem particularly spicy. The liquor brews up yellow tinged very palely green, and the glass becomes more golden after a couple of minutes.

Given how unique and delicious this tea is (now that I’ve given it a full brew and tasting), I’ll be adding Liu An Gua Pian to my upcoming order chez Teavivre. Thanks so much for the generous samples, Angel! I very much appreciate your help as I continue my journey through the vast and fascinating world of China green teas. ;-)

second infusion: this was really delicious

third infusion: I recently discovered that third infusions of high-quality loose leaf green teas make excellent iced tea—and I can even drink it late at night! I’ll no doubt be quaffing large volumes in the months to come as I lie sweating before a fan…

Sipdown and one that I am sad to see go. I am bumping the rating up for this one because I brewed it stronger tonight and new and fragrant notes came through that were light, savory, fresh, and mineral all together. It was particularly purifying after an afternoon of sampling craft beers from Colorado and Georgia both. I am headed to Colorado in a couple of weeks so we wanted to try some from there before we arrive. It was fun, but I was really looking forward to a mild green tea afterwards with nothing added and this fit the bill perfectly. Resteeps nicely also. I am moving on to my third and it is still quite lovely, if a touch watery. Goodbye for now, Liu An Gua Pian!

Thanks again to Angel and TeaVivre for this new sample!

Let me quickly again sum up my feelings about green tea: not much into it. However, I am always willing to try new varieties, and have found a few that I’ve liked, not enough to make them a daily habit, but they’ve been tasty.

The flat bright green leaves in the sample package of this selection had a sweet grassy aroma. I steeped them for two minutes at 175 degrees as recommended in the instructions (176 degrees was recommended, but close counts).

The brewed liquid was an extremely pale golden green. The steeped aroma was very faint and slightly sweet.

It took several sips before my brain and taste buds could process enough flavor information to classify it. Then, I began to discern a sort of sweet, slightly spicy, kind of grassy taste. The flavor was smooth, very light, and too delicate to produce any bitterness.

This tea was pleasant to drink and may be a fine late afternoon or early evening selection, but I prefer stronger and more robust flavors. To be fair, I should also mention that we are now in peak pollen and allergy season here in South Carolina, so my tasting apparatus isn’t as sensitive as it is at other times of the year.

Having said that, there is nothing at all wrong with this tea’s amiable flavors. The volume just isn’t pumped up enough for my preference.

This is the second tea I ordered from Teavivre (the other being Yunnan Dian Hong-Golden tip) and overall, the second Liu An Gua Pian I’ve ever had (my first one was the small sample that comes in Teavana’s Forbidden Kingdom tea gift set). While I did enjoy Teavana’s offering, I’m always trying to compare their quality with other vendors and boy, I was not disappointed with this one.

The dry leaf of this tea is very pretty, long and tubular, these richly green colored leaves were all perfectly preserved and almost identical to each other. This tea has a hefty green aroma, like if you were walking among trees during the summer.

I brewed this tea according to the suggested brewing guidelines of 175F water and 1-2 min brew time in a Gaiwan.

I brewed this tea twice. My first cup was brightly green with a light grassy aroma. The tea has a very nice sweet flavor, slightly grassy, and a heavy mouthfeel with a slightly smoky/spicy finish. To be precise, the taste reminds me a lot of Japanese green teas, like a more flavorful and heavier bodied sencha. My second cup was even better than the first, as all the flavors were slightly more pronounced.

I was amazed with the wet leaf. In this department, the tea reminded me a lot of Pouchong, as in the way how the leaves slowly unfurled in to perfectly shaped leaves. After my first infusion, the leaves were still slightly curled up, meaning this tea had still a lot more to offer. After the second infusion, the leaves unfurled completely into perfectly shaped bright green leaves. They’re so attractive to look at, you might think someone grabbed some leaves from a nearby tree and just placed them in there.

When I first had Liu an Gua Pian, I was very pleased with its flavor and Teavivre’s offering was even better. Like I said, It is similar in taste like that found in Japanese greens, but with a unique Chinese twist. I would greatly recommend this tea.

Past sipdown – unfortunate, didn’t actually record this one. I’m sure I enjoyed it, but don’t really remember beyond that.