Indonesia Harendong Twisted Green Tea

This is one of the better non-Japanese green teas I’ve had I believe. The leaves are very attractive looking – nice green color and all twisty looking. I used 160F water with 5g tea in my 100mL gaiwan. I could get a good 8 steeps out of this tea.

I got some citric herbal flavors off of this throughout, reminding me of lemongrass and thyme. There was also a nutty flavor, which for about three steeps (3-5) took on a popcorn quality. Lots of popcorn flavored things are gross to me, but this was not. The flavor in general started to fade after about the fifth or sixth steep, but I did still get a few more lightly herbal infusions with some nutty notes alongside. This was a really easy drinking green tea which, when brewed at the recommended temperature, never got at all bitter. I didn’t try it with higher temperatures though, so I’m sure you could make it bitter if you decided to ;)

As a I have recently become a big fan of the P.T Harendong tea estate, I was very excited to try this tea and I am not disappointed at all with the results.
After doing a quick rinse of the leaves to wake them up a bit, a brewed it for about 45 seconds then poured it into my porcelain zen monk tea cup.

Although quite a seemingly pale infusion it didn’t lack any flavour and was quite a refreshing and incredibly clean tasting tea as described.
After around four or five infusions in it seemed to have a smooth sweetness develop to it that was still quite enjoyably clean tasting.

Overall I would recommend this tea to someone that wants quite a refreshing dependable green tea that isn’t particularly grassy, PLUS the fact that its organic is always a bonus.

Indonesia Harendong Twisted Green Tea: the tea that made me fall in love with green tea. Gentle, exquisitely balanced, easy to brew. Light sweetness, smooth texture, rounded mouthfeel, that Harendong cleanness, the slightest bit of floral and vegetal — this tea is all of these and yet in other ways none of them, since they harmonize so perfectly that no single characteristic announces its presence.

Even now that I have embraced — even craved — astringency, bitterness, smoke, and other acquired (for me) tastes and sensations, it is wonderful to return to this tea. I’m excited by the comparable exoticism of teas that I once ran from, like the Vietnamese greens Fish Hook and Wild Tiger Monkey, yet still delighted by a quiet evening with Harendong Twisted Green.

Alistair recommends 75°C / 167°F water for this tea. My Zojirushi’s 175°F setting may seem like it’d be close enough, but on the occasions that I’ve forgotten to cool the water before pouring it over the leaves, I have noticed that the hotter temperature results in a hint of sharpness and a thinner mouthfeel. All is not lost, but I do prefer to first cool the water: I dispense the 175°F water first into a pitcher or teacup, wait a few seconds, and then pour it into the teapot.

Western is my usual brewing method for this tea. I use a glass teapot, one heaping tsp or two flatter tsp of leaf, 5-6 oz of water, and 1 min to start. My most recent session went 4 steeps, though I’ve done more at other times. I’ve also tried 3g in a 150ml ruyao teapot, which I enjoyed also, and for a larger number of steeps.