Green day

Part of my loose leaves order arrived over the weekend. Inside of this box are mao fung, silver needle, sun dried bai mu dan, traditional bai mu dan and 10 kg of Lao Ban Zhang.


Sun Dried Bai Mu Dan

This is my favorite out of the 4 greens. Although I am not a big fan of green, this Bai Mu Dan has the floral aroma of a dan cong, sweetness of a pu-erh and the lightness of a green without the bitterness and grassiness.

4g, gaiwan, crab eye water, bottom throw
It started with a strong sweet floral aroma, liquid is clear yellow, sweet, a lot of flavor for a green. Being sun dried, it should be categorized as white instead of green?! Well, it has all the characteristics of white, no much of green at all. It can take long steeping and hot or warm water, taste great hot or warm. The flavor does not turn bland in anyway. It's a great tea for beginners and every day office drink. You can't make a bad cuppa with this tea no matter what tool you use. Well with the exception of bad tap water maybe. Love it! A good skilless tea.


Silver needles

Attractive looking leaves, young and hairy, though not as hairy as some others I have seen. It's also on the thin side.

4g, gaiwan, crab eye, bottom throw
It was nutty and grassy, astringent, very light yellowish color, sweet after taste, dry mouth feel afterwards, can't take long infusions. It's decent, but nothing to brag about.


Jade pole
interesting looking tea, my first perception was these might be some old leaves. Turns out they are very young and tender, long thin leaves picked right after spring rain.

4 poles (4g), gaiwan, crab eye, bottom throw
Sweet and nutty, a bit astringent, slight sweetness, last 3 brews, faded quickly after the second. Its flavor is better than the silver needles.

I had 3 out of 4 greens so far for the day, and already drunk. But, I am going to hit one more - traditional bai mu dan.


Traditional bai mu dan

This is a true green version, steamed then dried.

4g, gaiwan, crab eye, bottom throw
Light floral, grassy, hint of nutty and astringency, sweet and nutty after taste, last 3 brews, mild in every way as a typical green. Bitter and astringent when steeped for long.


Difference of the 2 bai mu dan

Left: traditional (steamed green); right: sun dried (fermented during drying). Sun dried version is very flavorful compared to the steamed version. The fermentation allowed the break down of the sugar, gave it a honey like sweetness brew after brew. This is my re-orderable item.

Jasmine pearl

Jasmine pearl tea is one of the most popular green tea nowadays. Traditionally it is scented with jasmine flowers over night, then dry during the day, repeat 5 to 10 days. Due to large demand, some producers use artificial flavoring to quicken the process. The product tastes chemical perfume, aroma is short lived.

I am having a naturally scented jasmine pearl tea with real jasmine flowers, according to seller, these pearls are scented 5 times. When dry, jasmine fragrance is very strong, almost pungent, it gave me the impression of artificial scent initially. I then sniffed a little longer, I couldn't detect any chemical perfume like smell. Using gaiwan, crab eye water, about 30 pearls, 45s for 1st brew, the pearl uncurled only half way even after 45s, 45s, 60s, 120s in subsequent brews. Liquid is light yellow, sweet and lots jasmine flavor, smooth, clean mouth feel, not bitter or sour. Good quality although not enough green tea flavor.

I made TGY today, but my body does not go well with it, instead of letting my good leaves go to waste, I mixed the two in a cha hai, 1/3 of TGY and 2/3 of Jasmine, the result was wonderful, the sweetness and roasty flavor is diluted and complemented by jasmine aroma, it's much easier to stomach. Great combination.

Taiwan Lung Jing

It's been a while since I got this Taiwan Lung Jing sample from "Old Brand". I finally have the time to sit down and try this tea.

Taiwan Lung Jing is different from the Zhe Jiang Lung Jing from Mainland in many ways. 1st is the tree varietal, 2nd is the size and shape of leaves, 3rd is the taste of course. Taiwan Lung Jing was an imitation of the Mainland LJ, when the army of early ROC moved onto the island, nostalgia was spread among soldiers after the migration, one of the most memorable item was LJ. Taiwan LJ was evolved from a local green varietal to meet the demand of immigrants.

2g, crab eye water, gaiwan
Dry leaves: Long, thin, green to dark green, some white hair covered leaves, various length, sign of broken leaves, ripen fruity aroma, hint of smoky

1st brew: after preheating gaiwan, filled up 1/5 of gaiwan, then added in tea leaves, let soak for 20s, then filled up to top with raising the water kettle in order to cool off the water a bid, 45s. Sweet taste like dried Guei Yuen (a dried fruit similar to LiChi), smooth and clear, light amber yellow color

2nd brew: filled crab eye from side of gaiwan, steeped for 1 min, more yellow, hint of astringency, less sweet, not much aroma, getting weak

3rd brew: 2 min, yellow, astringent, over cooked tea taste, flat

Over all, a very light tea, good for a single brew, not bad but nothing impressive either.

Unknown age Lung Jing from HangZhou, China

Unknown age Lung Jing from HangZhou, China. I was at my parent's house last weekend, as usual, I look through the cabinets and pantry to find more tea. My father is a tea drinker although not as crazy as I am. There are at least 15 kinds of tea remain unopened at my own home, and I am looking for more at tea shops and my father's reserves.

Quantity: 20 leaves, hot water (shrimp eyes) in gaiwan (100ml)

Dry leaves: earthy greenish brown, uniformed, aged aroma unlike fresh green smelling Lung Jing

1st brew: light yellowish color, slight smoky aroma, a bit green grassy taste, smooth, sign of aging in taste and color

2nd brew with boiling water: more yellow than the first brew, clean smooth texture, indescribable light aroma, it can take the boiling temperature quite well, no bitterness or astringency

3rd brew: I added a few blooms of the tea tree flowers, the aged LJ came back to live with honey roasted aroma. I am really digging these flowers!

Opened leaves: it's actually greener! mixture of leave types, one tip, or 1-2 leaves and a tip, good but not the best grade

This should be one of those tea for drinking in the office, make a quick cup, it's not bad but doesn't require "high maintenance" type. Lung Jing is not my favorite choice, I guess it's not one of my father's either. It seems to be aged for at least a year to two.

"Jasmine Bi Luo Chun Green Tea"

After spending 3 days at my parents’ house, I am finally back to my little cocoon here. A little surprise was awaiting me, told by the building manager as soon as I pull in the garage. This is what I found at my door, a box of tea in fancy package along with a note from a neighbor whom missed my tea party a week ago. I have very nice neighbors and managers.

This is "Jasmine Bi Luo Chun Green Tea" from FuJian TianHu Shan, prepacked in small pouches for convenience. Well, I truly appreciate the friendly gestures and well intents of my friends, coworkers, neighbors and whomever buy me tea. However when it comes to tea, as most of you might feel the same, I prefer choosing my own unless it's from tea masters?! Although this tea appears to be an expensive high grade tea, which was made to fool westerners, whom got sucked into the green tea health benefit hype. I don't remember Bi Luo Chun is or can be a jasmine scented tea. It's either Bi Luo Chun or Jasmine green tea, but not combined.

1.5 gram in gaiwan with hot water (crab eye)
Dry leaves: various sizes of pellets, very sharp jasmine perfume smell, too sharp that you can immediately tell it's scented
Tea soup: light yellowish green, pungent perfume smell, chemical taste, crisp texture
Open leaves: machine cut, mix of small and large broken leaves, relatively young, even a few tips

In this picture, the bottom dish contains 2004 Bi Luo Chun I got from China Jan. of 2005. Top grade Bi Luo Chun is how this should look like. Young curly spring tips like a snail, thus the name "Green Snail Spring".

ProsperiTEA - rose green tea

This is ProsperiTEA, a rose green tea, Chinese is Jin Yu Mon Tang. An offering tea by Ten Fu in commemoration of APEC China 2001. It was a gift for all attendees of the meeting. I purchased this from Ten Ren, a tea shop owned by my teacher, who is the nephew of Lee Rie Ho - Chairman of Ten Fu Group and Ten Ren Tea. I saved enough for a couple of infusions. An other characteristic of good tea is they preserve well despite common theory that the freshness and flavor deteriorate within 2 years.

Dried leaves: green tip covered with white hair, uniformed in size, color and shape, sign of hand picked high grade tea

Taste: very fragrant, sweet rose flavor, strong but not overwhelming, liquid is light yellow, tea is a light green tea with a bit of smoky taste, bitter if let steep for more than 2 min.

After taste: Light, fragrant, refreshing

You can get 3 good brews out of this, given first 2 brews less than 1 min.

This tea is $65 for 150g. The staffs of this particular Ten Ren tea shop always offer me the best tea they have. Even though Ten Ren does not always offer the best price, however I am usually satisfied with the quality of their tea. Their ooglong is among the best available in the US. I am not comparing to other regions of the world here.

Jasmine tea

Jasmine tea - there are many varieties of jasmine tea, from china and Taiwan. Common ones from China are in dragon pearl (3 or 4 leave tips rolled into a ball), twisted knots or dragon fly (single leave tip in knotted or dragon fly shape), and small pearl forms (single leave tip rolled into small pellet). Taiwan on the other hand is loose leaves of green tea mixed with jasmine buds. The lowest grade (dim sum) of jasmine from China is also processed the same way as Taiwan. There is an overwhelming demand for jasmine tea in the west. Methods of processing of jasmine tea have also been altered to meet the demand with competitive price. Dragon pearl jasmine tea are commonly scented with artificial flavor. Tea leaves has an amazing absorbing property which made it possible to add floral fragrance for flavoring enhancement. Traditional process of jasmine tea is long and tedious. When green tip tea is picked and processed into dry readily drinkable tea, fresh jasmine flower buds are wrapped in cloth bags, placed in container containing dried tea leaves, sealed for over night, allowing the leaves to absorb the moisture full of jasmine fragrance. The flowers are then taken out next day, tea leaves are baked lightly to allow moistures to evaporate. New batch of fresh jasmine flowers are placed in sealed container along with tea leaves again for another night of absorption. This process repeats 7 to 10 days for maximum flavoring.

The difference in taste is rather noticeable. In dry form, artificial flavored jasmine tea associates with a sharp perfume like smell, rather intense and pungent. The naturally infused jasmine tea, on contrary, has a mellow, mild lingering aroma which is very refreshing with a hint of sweetness in the air. The former tea taste also has a sharp chemical flavor, while the later is smooth and sweet, subtle fragrance of jasmine flows above puff by puff. The former will lose the aroma quick after the first brew, while the later can last 3 or more brews. I saved a small amount of a small pearl jasmine tea I came across in Harbin, China 8 years ago. The fragrance still lingers today without a staled smell. Wonderful tea! See picture.