Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea

All I can tell you about my impressions of this tea is that it smelled just like asparagus to me, and it tasted like sweet asparagus when I drank it. I imagine if I hadn’t sweetened it, it would have had an entirely different flavor profile (unsweetened asparagus) but I don’t really think I’ll be experimenting. This will go on the swap list.

Thank you to Teavivre for this sample!
Sniffing the brewing leaves was actually kind of exciting! It smelled like delicious, simmering garden greens. I brewed it according to their directions of 194 degrees for 1 minute.
The taste is as good as I was hoping. Juicy, mouthwatering, savory, brothy, salty. I really think green teas like this could make a really good soup base. Onto the shopping list it goes!

This my first sample and tea from Teavivre. Thank you for the chance to try your teas. It will be a great help in my discovery of this world of tea.

I brewed 7g in 8oz water for 1m. It has a wonderful creamy, vegetal taste. It finishes with just a bite of bitterness (the good kind). I love this tea.

2infusion 2m, similar to the first
3infusion 3m, smoother, but still flavorful.

leaves are wonderful to look at in the glass.

Upping my rating for this, really enjoying its smooth, rich, ‘comfort tea’ depth of character this morning. I’ve been starting my mornings with black teas but on a 90-plus degree day like this I wanted something lighter; this was a perfect choice. Both rich and light.

Light tasting sweet green tea. Similar to Dragonwell.

A subtle and delicate tea with a very soft texture, this is my favourite of the 4 Teavivre samples tperez sent me. If I ever order from Teavivre, this is one of the teas I’d like to get. The taste is quite sweet and floral with some vegetal notes. The aftertaste is surprisingly pungent and somewhat tart I would say. It would be nice to see this tea in its fresh state.

Long fuzzy green strips, pale yellow-greenish liquor. The liquor smelled like buttery lima beans, spinach, zucchini vegetable broth. There was an undertone of orchids with plenty of notes of stonefruits, such as apricots and peaches. On the second and third infusion, It was like yummy chestnut broth, umami, seaweed, spinach, sugar snap beans, lima beans, so vegetal with minerals. Lots of natural sweetness of honey and sugarcane and a long sweet finish, pleasant mouth and throat feel. Very nice.

Porcelain gaiwan, 4g, 185℉, 4 steeps: rinse, 30s, 50s, 70s, 90s

I have been on kind of a green tea kick for the past week as I ended up recently acquiring some green tea samples from Teavivre. I mostly ended up with things that were new to me or that I do not drink very often. Of the bunch, this was arguably the tea about which I knew the least. Unless I have tried one under a different name, I do not recall trying a Tian Mu Qing Ding prior to trying this one. Fortunately, I found it to be a unique and highly rewarding green tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose leaf and bud mix in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf and bux mix emitted aromas of cream, butter, pine, olive, hay, chestnut, and honey. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of grass and sweet corn that were underscored by a subtle scent of malt. The first infusion introduced aromas of peas and green beans. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, grass, hay, and chestnut that were underscored by hints of sweet corn and malt. Subtle honey sweetness, notes of pine, and a vague floral presence that reminded me of a mixture of squash blossom and honeysuckle lingered in the mouth after the swallow. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas of lettuce and sugarcane. The tea liquor grew sweeter and more floral with more pronounced and immediate honey, squash blossom, and honeysuckle flavors dominating the entry. Green bean, grass, pea, and olive notes then belatedly appeared with new mineral, apricot, nectar, sugarcane, seaweed, and spinach impressions. The final few infusions offered lingering mineral, cream, butter, grass, and lettuce notes that were balanced by spinach, malt, olive, apricot, green bean, and pea impressions.

This was a very unique and appealing green tea. Considering that I tend to favor very grassy, vegetal and/or very buttery, nutty, savory green teas these days, the pronounced honey sweetness along with the fruity and floral qualities displayed by this tea totally took me by surprise. This was just a lovely tea that offered a tremendous drinking experience. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a quality Chinese green tea that offers something truly out of the ordinary.

Sipdown! (9 | 286)

Well my tea drinking certainly didn’t improve yesterday… I steeped this time sometime in the late morning, sipped on it a little bit throughout the day, and am just now finishing the pot now (the next morning) so I can write a note. Oof. Hopefully now that it’s the workweek and I’m at my desk, I’ll get my tea mojo back. So behind on sipdowns!

Anyway, so this tea is obviously cold and from yesterday, so I’m sure this won’t be the best note… Regardless, it’s delicious cold! Very smooth and nutty with lightly creamy edamame and pea notes. There’s also a soft hay and grain flavors as well. It almost tastes like a cross between green and white teas, but maybe it being cold is bringing out those white-tea-like characteristics a bit more.

Definitely tasty! My previous rating was 92, which seems a bit high to me (though this sample is also old AND from yesterday). So I think I’ll lower it just a little bit.

This sample is from the 2017 harvest and is a tea I’ve never tried before. Following Teavivre’s instructions, I steeped around 4 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 185F for 30, 50, 70, and 90 seconds.

The first steep has notes of green beans and florals, with a touch of astringency. The second tastes like buttered green beans. I can smell a peach aroma in the teapot, but it doesn’t make it into the tea. Although I wouldn’t describe it as nutty, I get what others are saying about it being reminiscent of dragonwell. The next couple steeps have notes of beans, peas, lettuce, and other veggies.

This was fresh and enjoyable, but it doesn’t make me a green tea convert. I’ll have to try it Western style to see if I can pick up on some other flavours.