85
drank Nan Jing Yu Hua Cha by Grand Tea
676 tasting notes

This tea needed a little tinkering to get right. It’s similar to white tea, and in order to get the best flavor you need to brew it as one. Initially, I tried steeping like a standard green tea using temperatures of 175 F and above and got a salty marine-like flavor. Eventually I discovered the best flavor came from lower brewing temperatures, between 160 – 170 F.

The dry leaf is beautiful, thin, pine needle like leaves covered in white down. Scents of soy milk, lima beans, and creamed corn. When heated, it gives off a savory aroma of cooked chard and mustard greens. The color of the tea liquor is almost clear, similar to silver needle tea. The taste is delicate and soft, with creamy soybeans in the front, light vegetable broth, and a gentle hint of chestnut in the finish. Its flavor profile resembles huang shan mao feng a lot.

This tea was a nice departure from the grassy greens I usually drink. I like a nice zippy green tea in the morning. This one isn’t brisk enough though to be a breakfast tea, but it’s low in caffeine which is great because it gives me another option for night time tea drinking.

Flavors: Cream, Lima Beans, Milk, Soybean, Vegetable Broth

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 2 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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My Rating Criteria:

95 to 100: Top shelf stuff. Loved this tea and highly recommend it

90 to 94: Excellent. Enjoyed this tea and would likely repurchase

80 to 89: Good but not great. I liked it though it may be lacking in some aspects. I’ll finish it but probably won’t buy again

70 to 79: Average at best. Not terrible but wouldn’t willingly drink again

60 to 69: Sub-par. Low quality tea, barely palatable

59 and below: Bleh

Fell into tea many years ago and for a long time my experience was limited to Japanese greens and flavored Teavana teas. My tea epiphany happened when I discovered jade oolongs. That was my gateway drug to the world of high quality tea and teaware.

For the most part, I drink straight tea but do appreciate a good flavored tea on occasion. I love fresh green and floral flavors and as such, green tea and Taiwanese oolongs will always have a place in my cupboard. After avoiding black tea forever, Chinese blacks have started to grow on me. I’m less enthusiastic about puerh though. I also enjoy white tea and tisanes but reach for them less frequently.

Other non-tea interests include: cooking, reading, nature, philosophy, MMA, traveling when I can, and of course putzing around on the interwebs.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/melucky

Location

around Chicago

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