I’ve never tried a green version of Tie Guan Yin tea before so this should hopefully be interesting.
Table of Contents
Tea Specifications
Brand: Verdant Tea / Liu Family
Tea: Tie Guan Yin – Green
Harvest: May, 2020
Location: Longjuan, Anxi, Fujian
Elevation: 700 Meters
Tea Varietal: Tie Guan Yin
The tea coin weighs about 7 grams and appears to be very, very compressed.
Review
I brewed the whole 7 gram tea coin in a small glass pitcher which holds 1 medium gaiwan worth of water.
I don’t have any spring water on hand so I am using distilled water.
I gave the tea a 10 second rinse under hot water and discarded the rinse.
First Steep
Steeped for 35 seconds.
This is so light I can barely taste it, but there is certainly some essence of tie guan yin there.
The tea cake has not unfurled at all and the tea soup is very light in color.
It almost looks and tastes like normal water.
Second Steep
Steeped for 45 seconds
It brewed a little darker this time, but not by much.
Very light, mild green tea flavor, with more bitterness then I was expecting.
I’m not sure if this green tea has simply lost it’s freshness (it’s a little over a year since harvest date), or if it’s simply low-quality, but I am not impressed by this tea. That being said, I’ve never had a green tea version of Tie Guan Yin before, so I suppose it could be possible that this is simply what it is like.
Third Steep
Steeped for 1 minute.
This steep has some flavor reminiscent to Tie Guan Yin, but without those darker notes.
Notes of vegetation, grass, orange blossom honey, and a moderate bitterness.
Conclusion
I hate to say it, but I didn’t find this to be a great tea.
I am not sure, but perhaps they should stick to Tie Guan Yin oolongs.
