I’m eager to try this tea commissioned by Taiwan Tea Crafts. They explained on their site that they do not sell Taiwanese green teas unless they produce or commission them because allegedly most green Taiwanese teas are imposters from China. So I’m interested to try some real Taiwanese green tea. This tea is made from Qing Xin cultivar, which is usually used for oolong, so it likely won’t taste much like the usual green teas I’m used to.
Out of the bag it already has a really sweet, rich, vegetal aroma with hints of flowers and herbs. After the first infusion in a gaiwan, the leaves smell abundantly of lush tropical growth like you might experience in a greenhouse, and the brewed tea has a bit of a citrusy smell to it. The liquor is almost colorless, yet full of flavor. On the first sip, the flavor is unique… striking me as somewhere between Chinese green tea and Tie Guanyin. It has both the green bean vegetal notes and nutty notes (pecan this time) I’m used to in Chinese green teas and the mountain vegetation notes I’m used to in Tie Guanyin and other rolled oolongs.
This tea takes substantially longer to brew than other green teas. The leaves seem to be thicker and larger, also twisted similar to a Taiwanese open-leaf style oolong (Baozhong, Bai Hao, etc.) which seems rather tight and may be more responsive to hotter temperatures (I’ll have to experiment with this).
On the second infusion, I’m getting more of all the aforementioned flavors, but more intense, a hint of camphor in this infusion. The color is a nice pale green. The flavor is really nice and reminds me of spiced cookies with nuts, though of course the vegetal notes are still alongside this, but blend well because of the strong nutty flavor.
By the third infusion, it is really starting to taste a lot more like your usual Chinese green tea in its flavor profile, mostly nutty, green beans, vegetal.
I think this is a really nice green tea overall though, and would encourage Taiwan Tea Crafts and their partners to keep producing it!
Flavors: Camphor, Green Beans, Pecan, Spices, Vegetal
