I am apparently in the minority here, but I was not thrilled with this tea. Overwhelmingly lemongrass up front! You get the ginger a little bit after, but even that seems to have a bitter bite to it. Really worried it’s not going to mellow, that the green won’t balance it out..
I think I must have done something wrong here. This tea was top 5 in Flavored/Blended Green at the 2008 World Tea Championships, and to me, it’s just bitter. The water was fine, the steep time was fine (maybe a bit long?), the proportion was fine.. I really don’t know for sure what happened.
Going to try second steep, see if it helps any.
And it did! Perhaps I let it steep too long the first time. Second steep MUCH less bitter, but still almost medicinal.The lemon definitely carries over from the smell to the taste, although it loses some pungency. The ginger comes to life in the steeping, but I really still can’t find much green in there. Maybe guo lu is milder than what I’m used to?
Definitely relaxed a bit as it chilled (thank you, overenthusiastic office air conditioning).
I think I prefer this iced, but I’d be wary of how to steep it well. Brewing a cup and letting it chill gently seemed to do very nice things to it; will have to experiment further!
