42 Tasting Notes
The dry tea has gentle yet distinctive floral fragrance, which, in traditional Chinese tea jargon, is specified as orchid fragrance (however I personally have no experience of fragrance from an orchid plant). In the first a few infusions, tea water is light yellow with some green hint. The aroma lingers around the upper palate up into nasal cavity. The aroma is a mixture of early spring flower and grass. Later infusions of this tea yield more intensive yellow color with golden hint. The flavor shifts from upper palate to closer to throat, generate a warm feeling.
This tea caught my attention in a few ways. First, this is a traditional, famous varietal that is rarely seen in market nowadays. It took me some time to find a good product of Bai Ya Qi Lan. Secondly, this tea is made from the same tea cultivar for Wuyi Qi Lan. However, by tasting, it’s almost impossible (100% impossible for me) to tell the two Qi Lan are from one same tea cultivar. In tea world, there are many tea cultivars that display distinctively different characters when grown in different area and processed with different methods. Again this tea demonstrates such diversity.
Comparison with other tea: People who favor green style Tie Guan Yin, Chinese green tea and Taiwan high mountain oolong may like this very well. People who favor Wuyi Qi Lan, it will be interesting to try this tea and compare, but don’t expect this tea to resemble Wuyi Qi Lan in any way :P
5g tea in 4oz. water. 30sec. steep time is for first 3 infusions.
Preparation
I am 100% happy with this product, considering both its quality and price.
First, I would like to point out this is not a matcha product. Even though the pack says “matcha”, it’s really just a green tea product. The package is labeled this way because many Asian people take matcha and green tea powder as the same concept, however in Japan, matcha is strictly distinguished from other green tea products.
This green tea powder product from Asian grocery. It’s fine enough to function as “matcha” in desserts. The pack is half a pound, all for several dollars. I don’t think I could ever possibly finish this big pack.
I use this powder and light cream to make green tea popsicles. The green tea taste is very refreshing. It stands out from the background cream flavor very well. This is my favorite summer cold dessert.
Another easy way to use this powder is “matcha” milk tea – similar to starbucks matcha frappucchino. 1/4 teaspoon of green tea powder in a glass of milk, stir with a chopstick or an electric milk froth maker. Easy and yummy!
Preparation
Fake matcha… sad day!
I wouldn’t call it fake matcha, because matcha in Japanese and Chinese simply means fine green tea powder. But matcha as a specific term now means the finest form of this kind of powder. It is worth noticing, though, many Asian products labeled as “matcha” are not matcha in the most real sense.
If I get my hands of any of this, I may try your ‘matcha milk tea’ idea’. I guess that’s basically like a matcha latte?
