Plain and delicious.
Did I mention plain?
This is a well done standard green. The name chunmee sounds Chinese to me and they do not list in the tea description but this tea can be found on the Chinese category through the main menu… so I’m pretty sure I’m right. Which leads to the point of me pointing out that the name sounds Chinese… Picture if you will a Chinese Dragonwell type tea that mated with a Japanese Sencha and you can imagine the results I’m getting from the leaves.
The ‘green’ vegie flavor is totally there but it is not strong. That is amazingly pleasant cause the grassy teas are not my favorite. What is mellowing the flavor out is more of the toasty green tea flavor than the sweet end so you end up with a nutty follow up to the grassy and a present sweetness that kinda lasts through the whole flavor experience. (I need to turn that into an amusement park ride…)
The only thing that I need to clarify about the flavor is that the toasty has a smokey tinge to it… sometimes. Nope I can’t explain why…. and trust me I’ve fooled around with it a bunch and I will explain to you exactly what I mean.
I have gone through about 2 oz of this tea. The smell through the first half of the bag seemed smokier to me than the tea in the last half of the bag. The first couple of cups tasted smokier toasty… shifting into just normal toasty with the occasional hint of smoke. And the last weird thing is that the last scoop in the bag has an almost acidic (not bad like a lemon smells… and not like a orange… and not like the tea has gone bad but like ripe tomato/orange pepper kinda acidic) tinge to it. The best way I can succinctly describe it is ripe veggie and the last half of the bag has seemed more vegital to me.
I THINK this means one of two possibilities:
1. This tea is way more sensitive than normal to storing conditions… meaning in the cool dry closet… in the original bag placed in a tin by itself… where the tea has only been used on plain green teas IS NOT ENOUGH PROTECTION. And really that would be ridiculous as I have never ever even heard of a tea going bad or stale in 3 weeks anyways. Beyond me being anal with teas I’m trying. You get the point…. ridiculous.
2. This tea has a lot of nuance and character and you will discover more layers as you drink more of it and experience this tea.
I like the idea of number two and hope someone someday can discus this tea with me and compare notes.
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It is indeed chinese. It means something like Precious Eyebrows because of the way the leaves are twisted that supposedly looks like delicate eyebrows or some such (I can’t really see the similarity myself.) I’ve got a chun mee myself, but not the same brand, and I really like it. It’s turned into something of a green favourite for me, so I’m glad you liked it too. :)
I haven’t had a Chun Mee in a long time. I do remember it tasting slightly more vegetal than other Chinese teas, though.
oohhh fantastic I’m not going crazy!
It is indeed chinese. It means something like Precious Eyebrows because of the way the leaves are twisted that supposedly looks like delicate eyebrows or some such (I can’t really see the similarity myself.) I’ve got a chun mee myself, but not the same brand, and I really like it. It’s turned into something of a green favourite for me, so I’m glad you liked it too. :)
I haven’t had a Chun Mee in a long time. I do remember it tasting slightly more vegetal than other Chinese teas, though.
oohhh fantastic I’m not going crazy!