Taiwan 'Faux Spring' Qing Xin Green Tea

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea Leaves
Flavors
Asparagus, Bread, Butter, Cream, Cucumber, Custard, Grass, Green Apple, Honey, Lemon Zest, Lettuce, Lilac, Mineral, Orange Blossom, Pear, Plum, Seaweed, Spinach, Sugarcane, Sweet, Umami, Vanilla, Violet, Zucchini, Floral, Flowers
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 7 oz / 209 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Okay, time to get another review out of the way and then head for bed. This was yet another early spring 2020 sipdown. I recall it being a tea I had been looking forward to trying for some time...” Read full tasting note
    93
  • “Another non-rated tea yet? Okay, let’s write something down. What-cha recommends quite fast steep (60-90 s), I think I did 2 minutes, but 300 ml of hot water. Ehm, hot? Warm! I have not used...” Read full tasting note
    87

From What-Cha

A very smooth green with a sweet floral taste which lingers in the mouth and no detectable bitterness.

The sunny winter period this year tricked the tea plants into producing fresh leaves before the usual Spring harvest, resulting in a very rare pre-Spring harvest I have named ‘Faux Spring’.

Tasting Notes:
- Fresh floral aroma
- Sweet floral taste with green notes
- Very smooth

Harvest: ‘Faux Spring’, January 2019

Origin: Ming Jian, Nantou County, Taiwan
Altitude: 350-400m
Farmer: Mr. Chen
Sourced: Direct from the farmer

Cultivar: Qing Xin Gan Zhi
Picking: Hand

Brewing Advice:
- Heat water to roughly 70°C/158°F
- Use 1-2 teaspoons per cup/small teapot
- Brew for 60-90 seconds

Packaging: Non-resealable vacuum-sealed bag packaged in Taiwan

About What-Cha View company

Company description not available.

2 Tasting Notes

93
1048 tasting notes

Okay, time to get another review out of the way and then head for bed. This was yet another early spring 2020 sipdown. I recall it being a tea I had been looking forward to trying for some time prior to actually making time for it. How did I end up liking it? Well, I enjoyed it tremendously. It actually exceeded my expectations. Though Qing Xin is a cultivar that is primarily used for oolong production, it actually is quite versatile, and while I was well aware of that prior to trying this tea, I was somewhat surprised to discover just how well it can work in the production of a green tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 fluid ounces of 158 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed 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 tea leaves produced aromas of cream, custard, baked bread, grass, lilac, and snap peas. After the rinse, I detected aromas of butter and zucchini. The first infusion introduced aromas of lemon zest and asparagus. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented delicate notes of butter, cream, grass, zucchini, asparagus, and sugarcane that were chased by pleasant hints of custard, lemon zest, lilac, orange blossom, baked bread, violet, and sweet corn. The majority of the subsequent infusions added aromas of cooked lettuce, spinach, cucumber, sweet corn, and lightly salty vegetable broth umami. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of lemon zest and sweet corn came out in the mouth alongside impressions of brothy umami, cooked lettuce, minerals, spinach, pear, green apple, yellow plum, and cucumber. I also picked up on hints of honey, vanilla, and seaweed. Notes of minerals, grass, cream, cooked lettuce, cucumber, spinach, brothy umami, and zucchini remained obvious as the tea faded, though they gave way to hints of butter, seaweed, lemon zest, honey, sugarcane, snap peas, and asparagus after each swallow.

While I wish that some of this tea’s lovely floral characteristics had been a little more apparent, I really could not find much else to fault with it. This was a truly lovely green tea from a place not typically renowned for its green tea production. The tea was aromatic, flavorful, balanced, firm, crisply textured, and very, very drinkable and relaxing. Overall, this offering was an absolute gem.

Flavors: Asparagus, Bread, Butter, Cream, Cucumber, Custard, Grass, Green Apple, Honey, Lemon Zest, Lettuce, Lilac, Mineral, Orange Blossom, Pear, Plum, Seaweed, Spinach, Sugarcane, Sweet, Umami, Vanilla, Violet, Zucchini

Preparation
6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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87
1839 tasting notes

Another non-rated tea yet?

Okay, let’s write something down. What-cha recommends quite fast steep (60-90 s), I think I did 2 minutes, but 300 ml of hot water. Ehm, hot? Warm! I have not used thermometer, but I think it was just around 75°C, maybe even lower.

The tea brews very light green colour with bit of lilac aroma. But when sipped! It is light, floral tea, slight vegetal / green flavours; just plain enjoyable tea! It is not much of complex, not the freshest tea as well (well, it is year old), but the taste is clear and no off notes! It is not overly vegetal, or too astringent too.

Flavors: Floral, Flowers

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
LuckyMe

This pretty much sums up my experience with Taiwanese green teas, They are incredibly aromatic but have a simple flavor. Not really as complex as Chinese and Japanese greens.

Martin Bednář

It’s not bad choice when you are looking for something simple. I am not always fan of complex flavours, especially, when I don’t have much time to enjoy it fully!

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