88

Thank you so much for the samples, Nannuoshan! I hope my reviews do these teas some justice.. I’m not the most eloquent writer. Already, I’ve noticed there are no steeping instructions on the site for my mug/brew basket infuser/ electric tea kettle type steeping, only for teapot & gongfu methods. So I’m already not able to follow the parameters, which I would have really liked to do. But Gabriele at Nannuoshan guided me to the best way of steeping them. On nannuoshan.org, a teapot method suggests 6grams of leaves for 500 ml of water. Since my mug holds about 350 ml of water, I will use half the sample and fill the mug 2/3 of the way with water, for all Nannuoshan samples. To get the right temperature, I also boil the kettle and wait the amount of time for the water to cool, so waiting 30 minutes after boiling the water should give me a steep temperature of 176 degrees. The steep time on the site also seems a bit long for these teas… I want to follow Nannuoshan’s instructions but I really want to get the best taste possible. I won’t be explaining this every time I review a Nannuoshan tea, but I thought I should the first time. I’m not sure I’m what Nannuoshan is looking for in an official Nannuoshan tea reviewer (I didn’t know that’s what they were looking for when they sent out samples) but I would like to do the best job I can reviewing the teas they sent to me.

To the tea…
I loved the idea that this tea was planted around fruit trees and the fruit influences the flavor of the tea. The dusty green and white dry leaves are actually surprisingly fine and coiled. As I’m accustomed to a Bi Luo Chun looking, but with smaller bundles. The steeped leaves in the brew basket are actually uniform colored and sized green leaf shapes. It’s almost magic that the leaves can transform like that. I filled the mug halfway, added 1 1/2 teaspoons of leaves to the brew basket, and added some more water to make the mug 2/3 full. The flavor of this bright yellow brew is a fantastic green tea. Anything over a three minute steep for this brew method was almost too much. There was a hint of astringency, but nothing that ruins the other complex flavors. It certainly tastes fruitier and sweeter than your average green tea. At first, there is a creamed corn vegetal flavor. Then buttery and nutty notes are consistent through the cup, with a brothy aftertaste. A light pineapple note goes along with the sweet fruity flavors. I don’t think there would be as many fruit notes in the cup if they hadn’t been grown next to fruit trees. Green teas are not usually this noticeably fruity to me. I like that the flavors of this one are so complex and the different flavors are all equally represented. It makes for a delicious, unique cup! The following steeps might not have as much complexity to the flavor, but the first steep was perfect. This tea rates very high up there with my favorite green teas.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp// 12 oz mug filled 2/3 // 32 minutes after boiling (should be 176 degrees)// 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min
Steep #3 // 30 min after boiling // 3 min

Flavors: Broth, Butter, Fruity, Nutty, Pineapple, Sweet, Vegetal

nannuoshan

Thanks a lot for explaining how you brew the tea; I think it definitely helps the reader.
Actually, when we first proposed the free samples it was not our intention to search for nannuoshan’s official tea taster.
We have not been on the market for long, and our intention was just to raise awareness about our tea.
Later we though at our approach to the description on the website. To descrive a new tea we usually gather some friends, prepare tea and collect their opinion to get a wider, unbiased description. We don’t like to put tones of adjective beside every tea name, as it would bring about more confusion than clarification. So we sieve the different opinions and leave for the website only a focussed, concise description.
Then we though: “If we do it with friends, why not doing it with the steepster community?”
You are all, in a way or the other, tea connoisseur and have as reference the tea of other companies.
No sooner said than done, we posted the nannuoshan tea taster contest :)

tea-sipper

I try to explain my odd steeping methods anyway! :D Thanks again for these great samples!

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nannuoshan

Thanks a lot for explaining how you brew the tea; I think it definitely helps the reader.
Actually, when we first proposed the free samples it was not our intention to search for nannuoshan’s official tea taster.
We have not been on the market for long, and our intention was just to raise awareness about our tea.
Later we though at our approach to the description on the website. To descrive a new tea we usually gather some friends, prepare tea and collect their opinion to get a wider, unbiased description. We don’t like to put tones of adjective beside every tea name, as it would bring about more confusion than clarification. So we sieve the different opinions and leave for the website only a focussed, concise description.
Then we though: “If we do it with friends, why not doing it with the steepster community?”
You are all, in a way or the other, tea connoisseur and have as reference the tea of other companies.
No sooner said than done, we posted the nannuoshan tea taster contest :)

tea-sipper

I try to explain my odd steeping methods anyway! :D Thanks again for these great samples!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.

Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
whisperingpinestea.com
justea.com
harney.com
Dammann Freres
fusionteas.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com

Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
angrytearoom.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas

My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.

Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!

I’m always in search of: Hattialli, Qu Hao black, Jin Jun Mei, teas using marshmallow root.

My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors

My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again

I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer… I have a dumb phone so can’t access internet on that. As of 12/20/21 my wifi might start getting unreliable.)

Happy sipping!

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USA

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