Anji bai cha

This is one of Teavana’s better tea offerings. They tend to do really well with the micro lot offerings as those seem to be intended to market to serious tea drinkers to keep them coming back.

I started by brewing this in a gaiwan with 4 grams of tea leaf in about 90 Ml of water, I didnt wash it as greens dont usually need it. Steeping it for about 30 seconds at 175 I got a very very clear light color liquor. The first aroma’s were a slight floral, spinach, grassy scent. Tasting it , it was sweet, light, refreshing with just the teeniest tiniest hint of a slight mouth watering astringency, I didnt even list it as a flavor its so mild.

The second steeping was much like the first, with the same flavors and aroma’s and I cant quite pin the floral scent, maybe slightly herbaceous.. its sweet and makes me want to drink more. Maybe a tiny bit of honey aroma?

I upped the temp to 185 to bring out a bit more flavor in the third steep, it did add a tiny bit more to the astringency but not enough to interfere with the flavors. The sweetness also comes out a bit more at this temperature surprisingly. But this does tell me its not first picking anji as that should have very very little astringency even when taking up the temperature. But at this price that isnt surprising and the tea is still very enjoyable.

Fourth steeping the floral notes came out a bit more and the astringency went away mostly, still at 185. Grassy spinach notes are still present.

Now all this is interesting because the first time I brewed this tea, the flavors were nearly much reduced, they were a bit more pronounced this time. I much more prefered this steeping, its strange how tea’s vary from day to day.

I recommend this tea for people who like green, light tea, refreshing tea, and sweeter greens over more astringent ones.