Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Green Leaf’

Bi Lo Chun is also known as Spring Green Snail tea and is as famous as Dragonwell tea. The original Bi Lo Chun is still grown in the Jiangsu area of China, most notably in the west part of Dongting Lake, home of the dragon boat races but now other provinces are also producing this exquisite tea. The highest quality is pre-Qing Ming (plucked before April 5 annually), distinct silvery-green tips. Bi Lo Chun is known for its youthful pekoe (“hairy”) tip that curls over looking like a little snail. It takes 60-80,000 tips to make 1 pound of this tea. Both the smell of the leaf and the liquor is refreshing, aromatic with a pale yellow liquor. Stone fruit trees such as peach and apricot are planted amongst the tea trees, providing the floral tones in this delicate tea. Conventional Bi Lo Chun (picked after April 5th) will not have as perky flavour and the liquor colour will be more dense.

The sample of Bi Lo Chun was very small, only 2.8 grams but my goodness, what a beautiful pluck with small elegant curls and a lazy twist to the leaf. The silver-grey tips were heavy with pekoe and constituted about 70% of the sample with the remainder a darker possibly older olive-green leaf with less pekoe. What appeared to be dust in the sample bag was actually the presence of pekoe. Pekoe carries the briskness in tea and also provides the best health benefits as it is rich in anti-oxidants, caffeine and aromatics. Usually the bud and the first leaf are picked for Bi Lo Chun provided the leaf contains sufficient pekoe.

I used a glass tea pot. The 1st steep was in 5 oz/150 ml water at 170 F/75 C for 1 minute and produced a somewhat cloudy, pale golden yellow liquor. The cloudiness came from the amount of pekoe floating in the water. When poured in a white ceramic cup, the pekoe becomes invisible and the liquor was clear. I smelled the liquor and it was unremarkable. I had my much anticipated first sip and immediately tasted the flavour of green beans. As much as I was expecting fragrant fruit or floral notes, I just couldn’t find it. There was also low astringency. I was a bit perplexed as I was expecting Bi Lo Chun flavours and I wasn’t getting them. Then, I got a head rush from all that pekoe and realized that some teas are going to deliver something special. I was anxious to see what a second steep would produce now that the leaf had opened.

The second steep of about 40 seconds with slightly cooler water at about 160 F, was again cloudy. There was more astringency now. There was a fullness in the mouth and an umani taste. I was still missing something though – a wisp of roastiness, a chestnut flavour, anything! I had to remind myself that this really was a delicate tea, and not to demand tea to taste a certain way, but to understand what it is giving you. Maybe this Bi Lo Chun also has a subtlety that may be lost on my inept palate. There was an unusual sensation though, of all those pekoe hairs that were dancing and tingling on my tongue. I must tell you that this tea gives you an unexpected experience and pleasure. By the way, the 3rd steep of 40 seconds at 160 F was also cloudy with pekoe and with less significant taste than the 2nd steep. I felt very cleansed and alert after my tasting no doubt due to all that pekoe.

Grace Tea doesn`t list this tea on their web site. I think if you wanted this rare and intimate Bi Lo Chun , you`d have to ask for it. If you were diving into a book on poetry or philosophy, this tea would make a good compliment. I wouldn`t take any food with this tea or you might miss the delivery of its message.

You can purchase Grace Tea Company products directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

Organic herbal blend, caffeine free.

5 Minute infusion reveals a medium brown brew.

The package is really neat, a silk pyramid filled with cacao, cinnamon, fennel, licorice root, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper. After the 5 minutes, the silk pyramid is full except for just a teeny bit of space at the tippy top of the pyramid. What I really like about Tea Forte is the attention to detail, the pyramid is like a work of art with a cute little green leaf that wraps delicately over the rim of my favorite tea cup.

Smell after brew time is of cinnamon and chocolate (like a really nice expensive chocolate).

First sip revealed a hot cocoa taste with melted chocolate inside. This tea would make a great dessert tea and an even better before bed kind of drink.

Rich and yummy, a dieters dream come true… all the taste of chocolate with zero calories!

This is definitely going on my shopping list, good job Tea Forte.

You can purchase Tea Forte Coco Truffle Tea directly from their website, and in various high-end establishments around the world.

The leaves of the Castleton Darjeeling are very green and twisted. When I first tried one of these 1st flush Darjeelings a few days ago, I was thrown off by how similar the 1st flushes are to green teas. I don’t have any prior experience with Darjeelings, but I really thought that they were black teas and perhaps the later flushes are. I don’t know.

What I do know is that this tea is much more like a green tea. If you go into it, like I initially did, expecting a robust black tea that would take milk and/or sugar you will probably be disappointed. However, I’m going into this tasting thinking that this is a green tea.

The dry leaf had a very green smell, but not vegetal; almost a bit musky, but not off-putting. This Castleton brews up a rich, golden hue similar to that of apple juice and has a medium floral aroma. The first sip begins slightly buttery, followed by a light floral taste. As the cup begins to cool slightly, the fruity scent begins to come into play. It is a bit hard to identify the fruity taste however that Darjeelings are famous for (well, from what I’ve read).

This tea is pretty good, but is best when drank before allowed to cool too much. A light, pleasant floral aftertaste lingers between each sip.

You can purchase the Castleton FTGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling directly from the Lochan Tea website.

This Taiwanese tea is actually an Oolong, not a green, though I can understand the purveyor classifying it as green.   Oolongs are fermented between 20%-80% of their total sugars.   The ones on the low end of the scale are very flowery in nose, very delicate in taste, and very light in leaf color. These oolongs are sometimes referred to as green oolongs, and tend to need to be steeped at lower temps (below 180F)  The ones on the high end – think Da Hong Pao (Red Robe) – tend to be more robust in taste, aroma, and darker in leaf, tend to be steeped in the 180-200F range.  

The tea is a dark jade green leaf, twisted and furled, with a inviting perfume smell,  The leafs are  quite long, common with well processed Pouchong.

1st Steep: 1 TBLS tea (3g) in 6oz water @ 175F for 3 min in my oolong xing pot.  Yellow and bright in the cup, with a nice floral perfume nose.  Excellent sweet “oolong perfume” taste, and a dryness that is much like a green tea.  A touch of that savoriness in the aftertaste that lingers.

Wet leaf is well shaped, long and broad, with a good musky smell.

2nd Steep:  4 Min @ 180 F.  The aroma is much more balanced, with suggestions of Peonies, very pleasant.   The taste has mellowed to a very distinct flower presence, with hints of butteriness, that I associate with Taiwanese Oolongs.  The aroma and taste linger well after.  This steep is the best.

I got two more good steeps from this leaf,   This is a satisfying, refreshing, bright tea, of excellent quality.

You can purchase the Pouchong directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!