Ah, so this is melon seed tea. I had never heard of this tea before and did some searching about it while I was enjoying it.
The colour of the leaves I have are not quite like in the picture. Mine are quite dark, still green but looking almost black. I could smell a bit of spinach off the dry leaves.
The brew is a yellow colour. Not dark and not light – just yellow. It was grassy, a bit spinach & vegetal. The spinach & grassiness added that umami feel to it. There was also a slight nuttiness I always get from the Chinese green teas but wasn’t very strong in this one. What stood out more was the grassy flavour and that wasn’t overly strong like in Japanese teas but strong for a Chinese tea.
The first cup was excellent but in later brews the bitterness started creeping a bit into this tea. That was fine with me since I don’t always want plenty of infusions of every tea.
I’ve only had this one and Jin Shan Shi Yu so far and at this point I like the Jin Shan Shi Yu better than this one . This one is lacking the strong nutty/sweetness that the other had.
Flavors: Grass, Nutty, Spinach
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I find that green tea tends to only yield 3 infusions for me before it is bitter or otherwise lacking in flavor, but even when I brew it gongfu style I don’t do particularly quick infusions. It seems to take longer to develop a round/robust flavor than other types do.
Yes, I rarely even do a 2nd infusion with any green tea. The first cup is always the best. I have so much tea, it’s a relief not to think I’m wasting the tea when I haven’t done multiple infusions. I agree about it taking a bit longer on the infusion time for gong fu. Probably because such low temperatures are used, it takes a little more time to get the flavour out.
I find that green tea tends to only yield 3 infusions for me before it is bitter or otherwise lacking in flavor, but even when I brew it gongfu style I don’t do particularly quick infusions. It seems to take longer to develop a round/robust flavor than other types do.
Yes, I rarely even do a 2nd infusion with any green tea. The first cup is always the best. I have so much tea, it’s a relief not to think I’m wasting the tea when I haven’t done multiple infusions. I agree about it taking a bit longer on the infusion time for gong fu. Probably because such low temperatures are used, it takes a little more time to get the flavour out.