Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Water Use’

Big, bold, brassy. This tea is by no means a delicate wall flower of a green tea. Or a delicate anything, really. It comes right out and lets you know that it’s here, it’s a green tea, and that it means to be taking center stage, thankyouverymuch.

However, in its efforts to inform the world of it’s intentions, it may scare some people off. It almost scared me off. Opening the pouch of tea, the scent is an inviting green tea aroma with an enhanced nutty quality, brought about by a roasting step during the processing of the leaf. Steeping the tea, it’s a delicate, pale green color with just a hint of brown; the very picture of an inviting cup of tea. But then, sipping shocked me. Very astringent. Almost a sour quality. And the drying sensation wasn’t restricted to just the mouth, it went down the throat as well. As the brew cooled, the sour faded, leaving a sweeter quality to the cup.

To try and get the best out of this tea, I tried multiple steeping parameters. My first two tries, I used the method referred to on the packet – 1 tablespoon per 5-6 oz of water, steeped in 180 degree water for 3-5 minutes. Their website also recommended trying more leaf with a shorter steeping time. This method resulted in a brew where the sour flavor held on, even once cooled. I then tried the old tried and true proportion of 1 tsp per 8 oz. This resulted in a much lighter brew with reduced astringency and reduced sourness, and a hint of nuttiness at the back of your mouth.

If you are a fan of the big, bold and dry red wines, you will likely love this tea brewed to the original directions. I preferred the weaker brew, but other greens have tickled my fancy more than this one.

You can purchase the Rishi Teas Organic Green Needles (Lu Zhen) Roasted directly from the Rishi Tea website.

Roasted teas are interesting.  As a step during the finishing,  they are roasted in a manner similar to roasting coffee beans for a short period. This imparts a “nutty’ or “toasted” flavor and scent.  (Green teas are usually withered by steam, stir frying (think of a huge wok), or occasionally roasting. Green Needles (Lu Zhen) is a spring harvest (Qing Ming) tea, that is noted as a very brisk and strong tea, unusually so for a green.  Roasted teas are sometimes recommended for people trying to move away from coffee.

This tea from the great folks at Rishi, shows a long pine needle shape with a slight curl and whites tips on dark green.  There is a fresh, sweet smell to the dry tea.

2.5 tsp (about 6g) tea in 6 oz water @180F in my green Xing for 3 minutes. Tan with hints of red in the cup, with a brothy, nutty nose with a hint of toasted nuts. Nutty, complex, big flavor with a big astringency and a lingering dryness.

This is a very big green tea!  My first pass at this tea caught me off guard – much larger personality than the usual greens I drink.

Wet leaves unfold to a leaf and a bud shape expected from this type of tea.  Leaf is consistent in size and shape, with almost no broken leaf.  A mark of quality I expect from Rishi.

2nd Infusion 185F for 4 min. Nose more typical green, with more roasted nuances, taste nutty and dry.  I got 2 more infusions out of this @5 minutes before it washed out.

Wow, this is a big, strong, green tea. This is not the soft, introspective kind of green. This is a strong, energizing tea – reminds me of the energizing effect of Yerba Mate – with a good bold, robust flavor. This is a  green for first thing in the morning to get you up and running, or any time you need a pick me up.

You can purchase Rishi Teas Organic Green Needles (Lu Zhen) Roasted directly from their website.