Rare Nonpareil Tianmu Lake White Tea Green Tea

I was pretty excited to try this rare green tea sample from Allan. At first I was confused about whether it was white or green tea. Then I found out it’s a cousin of Anji Bai Cha. I had already botched the first brewing when I tried this because I wasn’t sure how to brew it. This morning I brewed it just like I do most of my greens – Western style at 185F.

The dry leaves of this look like Anji Bai Cha as well. It’s got a sweet green pea flavour with chestnut notes. It tends to be on the light side for a green tea and it brews up a pale yellow. I think I have a tea in my collection that is similar to this one: Yunnan Qing Zhen Premium Green Tea Spring 2014. Only I think the YS is a more robust one than this.

I’ve checked out the price of this on Ebay and it is really pricey! I think there are other good teas out there at good prices without having to spend that kind of money. The one tea I mentioned from YS is quite reasonably priced along with some other Anji Bai Cha teas out there. I’m still glad I got to try this tea. It is a good one.

This tea did not come out quite as good today with my filtered water. When I brewed this at the hotel I used Poland Spring water. It came out with a much lighter flavor that time. In any case it is still really good. I still get notes of honey or perhaps honeysuckle and floral notes with a slight undercurrent of vegetal notes. Overall it is an excellent tea and the best green I remember trying. I have only tried twenty or so greens so I am not an expert. In contrast I am sure I have tried over 200 puerhs if not 300. This tea again combines elements of white tea in it. The leaves look like white tea and have a light floral, honey aroma to them. It brews up almost clear like a white tea, not greenish like a green.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 3 min.