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Once again, I wildly overbought green tea this year so I could do some educational comparison sessions. This time, I’m focusing on three kinds of Anji Bai Cha, two from Seven Cups and one from Camellia Sinensis.

Tea bush: Bai Ye
Location: Zhejiang Province
Picking date: April 12, 2025
Price in USD/g: $0.46

For the side-by-side comparison, I steeped 2.4 g of leaf in 120 ml of 185F water for 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded. I also did a more normal session with 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water, with times as above.

The dry aroma had notes of green beans, asparagus, cut grass, honey, and magnolia. In the side-by-side session, the first steep featured green beans, cut grass, asparagus, heady magnolia, kale, lemon, and orange. Later on, I tasted green beans, grass, asparagus, kale, and magnolia, with the florals persisting until the end of the session.

With my regular setup, the first steep had notes of green beans, asparagus, white sugar, lemon, orange, and magnolia. Later steeps lost this complexity and focused on green beans, asparagus, grass, and faint magnolia. The end of the session was grassy and vegetal.

This tea was sharper and grassier than the Seven Cups offerings. It had a heady, almost perfumey magnolia aroma and flavour through most of the session, as well as a good amount of citrus. It also had the sweetness of the other Anji Bai Cha, though to a lesser extent in later steeps. If I hadn’t done a side-by-side comparison with the Anji from Seven Cups, I’d say this was a perfectly nice green tea, and it’s still great for the price.

Once again, I wildly overbought green tea this year so I could do some educational comparison sessions. This time, I’m focusing on three kinds of Anji Bai Cha, two from Seven Cups and one from Camellia Sinensis.

Tea bush: Baiye #1 (White Leaf #1)
Location: Anji County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Picking date: Mid-April 2025
Price in USD/g: $0.79

For the side-by-side comparison, I steeped 2.4 g of leaf in 120 ml of 185F water for 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded. I also did a more normal session with 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water, with times as above.

In contrast to the sweeter, more beany Ming Qian Anji from the same company, the dry aroma of this tea featured asparagus, honey, florals, herbs, and citrus. The first steep of the comparison session was slightly bitter and had notes of herbs, asparagus, kale, beans, lemon, and unidentifiable florals. Subsequent steeps showcased asparagus, green pepper, grass, herbs, lemon, honey, and florals. The citrus held on until near the end of the session and the tea was always more vegetal/bitter than the Ming Qian, though not unpleasantly so.

With my normal leaf-to-water ratio, the first steep had notes of green beans, asparagus, rosemary and other herbs, orange, lemon, and florals (daffodils?). It was once again more vegetal and bitter than the Ming Qian Anji. Subsequent steeps featured buttered green beans, asparagus, grass, and more florals. The final steeps were grassy and vegetal but not too bitter.

Although this tea was more vegetal than I preferred, it had many intriguing notes to compensate for that. This was the most citrusy of the three Anji Bai Cha I tried. I liked the normal session more than the comparison session since the lower leaf-to-water ratio mitigated the bitterness. This is still a high-quality Anji and I’ll have no problem finishing my 25 g bag.

Once again, I wildly overbought green tea this year so I could do some educational comparison sessions. This time, I’m focusing on three kinds of Anji Bai Cha, two from Seven Cups and one from Camellia Sinensis.

Tea bush: Baiye #1 (White Leaf #1)
Location: Anji County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Picking date: Early April 2025
Price in USD/g: $1.19

For the side-by-side comparison, I steeped 2.4 g of leaf in 120 ml of 185F water for 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded. I also did a more normal session with 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water, with times as above.

The dry aroma of this tea featured honey, green beans, pastry, and soft florals. In the first session, I got initial notes of green beans, snow peas, pastry, honey, lilac, and other florals. Subsequent steeps were consistent, revealing green beans, asparagus, grass, pastry, and lilac florals. The tea never got overly bitter, though at a 2:1 leaf/water ratio, it was potent!

The first steep in the normal session had notes of green beans, asparagus, honey, pastry, nuts, lemon, and florals, maybe lilac. Subsequent steeps were more vegetal, with some cucumber, although the nutty, pastry goodness persisted. The tea got a bit drying when forgotten about. The final steeps faded into grass, green beans, and some floral hints.

As expected, this was an excellent, if pricy, Anji Bai Cha. There wasn’t a lot of citrus, but the florals and lack of bitterness made up for that. The sweet, pastry notes were a nice bonus. You could tell that this tea was picked sooner than the others while the leaves were sweeter and less vegetal.

I bought this 2025 Old Garden Sweet Dew to compare to the one from Camellia Sinensis. I was also intrigued by the fact that the tea is from heirloom bushes. This usually makes for a more interesting, unique flavour. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded.

The dry aroma is of chestnuts, bread, grass, and lemon. The tea starts out gently with notes of bread, chestnuts, lemon, apple, honeydew, cucumber, lettuce, and umami. In the middle steeps, the bread, nuts, lemon, honeydew, and cucumber are all very noticeable and the tea is sweeter than expected. I get a lovely honeydew aroma at the bottom of the cup. The cucumber starts becoming a little more bitter as the session goes on. I get little whiffs of some other fruit that I’m tentatively identifying as banana. The final steeps feature lettuce, cucumber, and grass and are not overly bitter.

This is a beautiful green tea with some unique fruity notes. It had good longevity and only became vegetal near the end of the session. It was well worth the high price tag, although I like other green teas from Seven Cups a bit more.

I’m still finishing off the ridiculous amount of green tea I bought this spring. Camellia Sinensis had two versions of Meng Ding Gan Lu this year, this being the first. The product description matched the one on this page almost exactly, so I’m including my tasting note here. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water for 4 minutes, resteeping as needed until the tea faded.

The dry aroma is of nuts, bread, sweet corn, and flowers. The first steep has notes of hazelnut, bread, corn, kale, spinach, butter, and faint florals. This tea is fairly vegetal right off the bat. Further steeps reveal slightly more florals, plus grass, minerals, and what Togo calls lime. The tea is rather drying. The final steeps are grassy, nutty, mineral, and vegetal.

This is a nice enough green tea, but it gets too drying and vegetal to be a favourite. The hints of citrus and florals are fun, though.

This is the first Jin Jun Mei from Meng Ding I’ve come across, and I was curious enough to add 25 g to my last order. At around $20 CAD, it was much cheaper than the Zheng Shan Tang Jin Jun Mei from Lapsangstore I’ve had on my bucket list for a while, which comes in at an eye-watering US$155 for 50 g. I steeped 6 g of this much more humble tea in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma of these black and gold fuzzy leaves is of heady roses, dark chocolate, and malt. The first steep features heady, realistic rose backed by bread, malt, dark chocolate, and brown sugar. I get more dark chocolate and some tannins in round two. The rose persists through the next couple steeps, with the addition of honey in the background. In steeps five and six, the rose starts to fade, leaving a tea with notes of bread, dark chocolate, malt, honey, and minerals. The tea is also a bit drying. By the eighth steep, the florals are evident but not specifically rosy. The final few steeps feature bread, malt, honey, earth, minerals, wood, and tannins.

As someone who enjoys floral teas, I was quite happy with this nontraditional Jin Jun Mei. The real JJM is supposed to have a strong rose component, and this fits that profile. Most affordable JJM emphasize malt, honey, and chocolate. These flavours can be nice, but there are lots of chocolatey teas out there that aren’t Jin Jun Mei. Though some might find it too perfumey, I like this tea and it seems to be high quality. I need to go through my tea museum to find the two other Jin Jun Mei I bought from this vendor back in 2023 or 2024 to see if they’re as good.

I ordered a mystery box from The Sweetest Dew, and this was one of the teas I got. This is a wok fried Mao Feng from Qimen, which is apparently saltier and more edamame forward than regular Mao Feng. Following some instructions on TeaForum, I steeped 3 g of leaf in 120 ml of nearly boiling water for 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 seconds, plus 2, 3, 5, and 10 minutes.

The aroma of the dry leaves is of smoke, grass, and salted edamame. The first couple steeps are smokey, salty, sweet, and slightly drying, with vegetal notes similar to lettuce and edamame. Though I usually find smoke to be off-putting, this tastes like slightly charred barbecued veggies with lots of salt and is actually kind of fun. Steeps three and four are still smokey and saline while becoming more vegetal, with kale and asparagus added to the beans. By the next couple steeps, the smoke is mostly gone and the tea is increasingly vegetal, though still somewhat sweet. The final steeps have a light, vegetal flavour with some minerality.

It’s hard to give this tea a rating because it’s so far from what I’m used to drinking. However, I think it’s high quality and well worth trying if you know what to expect. The wok frying really comes forward in those first few steeps.

I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately, but haven’t been posting tasting notes. For one thing, it’s been way too hot this summer, and for another, I’ve been drinking through some big packs of oolong. I bought a sample of this Tai Ping Hou Kui in my Seven Cups order this spring, and they generously gave me an entire 25 g bag. I steeped about 18 of these long, flat leaves in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed until the tea faded.

The dry aroma of these big, beautiful leaves is of heady orchids, sap, and green beans. The first steep has notes of orchid, green beans, asparagus, butter, and sap. The tea is quite soft, though the flavours are fairly pronounced. In subsequent steeps, I get strong orchid notes, plus sweet pea, gardenia, peach, green beans, asparagus, grass, and sap. The final infusions are pretty vegetal, with notes of grass, green beans, and asparagus.

The tea has a great floral, peachy flavour and a spicy/sappy note that contrasts with it nicely. However, I didn’t think it had great longevity and the taste wasn’t particularly complex. While I liked it more than the TPHK I bought from Teavivre last year, I’m not sure I need this tea in my life every spring.

After much agonizing over tariffs, I decided to go ahead and order various green teas from Seven Cups. My decision was motivated by the amazing First Pluck Bi Luo Chun I bought from them last year. The thought that I wouldn’t get to taste that tea again for another four years made me sad, so I decided to ask Canada Border Services for more information. It turns out Canada’s tariffs are only charged on U.S.-made products, not products from other countries, so I made my order and hoped for the best. The package arrived in record time and with no tariffs attached!

I’ve never had this tea before and I was intrigued by its history, lovely appearance, and interesting tasting notes. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water for 3 minutes, then added water as needed until it was steeped out.

The dry aroma of these long, mostly straight leaves is of peas, honey, lemon, and flowers. The tea starts out vegetal, with notes of peas, cucumber, arugula, and chives, followed by lemon and honey. The aftertaste is sweet, vegetal, and floral. In subsequent steeps, lemon, honey, and wildflowers gain more prominence, though I still get peas and that spicy, herbaceous note. The tea never becomes overly bitter or astringent. The final steeps still feature lemon and flowers, though the veggies are more apparent and there are spinach and mineral notes.

As I’ve come to expect from this vendor, this is a high-quality, unique green tea. I like the lemon and balanced sweetness. The tea feels very springlike without being all about the veggies.

I picked up a sample of this tea in my last Camellia Sinensis order. This company has a few unusual black teas that I’ve been interested in trying, and this hongcha from Guizhou is one of them. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The glossy, rolled dry leaves have aromas of honey, malt, bread, and florals. The first steep has notes of buckwheat honey, malt, bread, florals, faint tannins, zucchini, and unripe red berries. Honey, sour/unripe berries, tannins, and malt are even more prominent in the next steep. The tannins are fuzzy in the mouth and I get something reminiscent of rye bread. The next couple steeps have notes of bread, malt, honey, and florals, with faint berry and plummy fruitiness and some astringency. Steeps five and six are similarly full of honey, rye bread, and tannins, with some floral hints and something vegetal that I’ve called zucchini. By steep seven, the tea loses its fruitiness and focuses on honey, lots of malt, rye bread, tannins, and minerals. The end of the session has notes of malt, honey, minerals, and earth.

This is a nice breakfast-type tea that is a bit heavy on the tannins for me. I wish I could detect a little more fruit and that the malt was less overbearing. This is not a bad tea, just not the one for me.