Bamboo Leaf Green Tea (Zhu Ye Qing)

My Life in a Teacup samples are here! I grabbed this one 1st because it’s so unique. I love bamboo shoots, but I rarely eat them so I can’t really remember what they taste like… So I’m kinda winging my description.

The sample is 6.86g. YAY for getting a large sample, but not yay that the bag isn’t resealable.

2.25g of leaf/6oz water ~200 degrees F.

Wow! what an interesting tea. The leaves look very needley like silver needle, but are much more sharp on the ends. Once I add the water, this is one of the most gorgeous non blooming/rolled teas to watch steep. The leaves start floating on top of the water, but then some of them slowly begin to drift down in a verticle position. The liquor is a wonderful golden color.

The aroma is incredibly sweet- not fruity or floral sweet, but almost honey-esk. This is the 1st time I’ve had a tea that smells like honey.

The flavor is also really sweet and honey-esk… but there’s also just a hint of something else… I just don’t know how to describe it… is it bitterness? Astringency? If it is, it’s not a bad thing. If it wasn’t there, this’d be too sweet.

It’s a very sweet tea so it’s not something I’d drink all day every day, but I will be ordering it again. Thank you, Gingko!

Interesting! I dropped some leaves in my mug and poured down-a-bit-from-boiling water in, then spent several minutes going “ooh” as the leaves gracefully unrolled and arrowed down through the water. The water started darkening almost right away and was a pinkish sort of gold by the time most of the leaves were off the top of the mug and I could start sipping.

The first steep of this was really strong. Not bitter, but certainly harsh. I wasn’t enamored, but I figured I might as well keep going (if nothing else, the excuse to get up and walk away from the project documentation I’m writing for long enough to heat the water was a draw!).

By the second steep, all of the leaves were down on the base of the mug, but many of them were just barely touching down, like they were dancing around down there. To my surprise, this steep was very different, smoother and with a lingering sweet aftertaste to each sip. For the third steep, it’s sweet almost all the way through, with a lingering astringency and juiciness.

Steep Information:
Amount: 5.1g (it was too hard to spoon measure)
Additives: none
Water: 1 teapot (2c) full filtered boiling, then let sit to 165 degrees
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: grassy
Steeped Tea Smell: grassy
Flavor: watery, vegetal, but smooth, maybe a little nutty?
Body: Light
Aftertaste: bitter, vegetal that lingers
Liquor: transparent with a green tint

I got this as part of a sample set from Life in Teacup.

I failed to follow directions and left the lid on (http://www.lifeinteacup.com/brewing-tea) the water was too cool, and perhaps I should have steeped a bit longer sigh. I am not even sure if i used too little to too many tea leaves.

Overall it was the weakness of the flavor and the bitter aftertaste that are turning me off. At first you sniff and there is the hint of grass. The you sip and you get smooth water…then grass/vegetal…and if you look hard enough this slight nut flavor comes out. Then you swallow, and you get this bitterness coating your tongue. The bitterness fades and you entire tongue seems to have a sheen of vegetation on it, it’s a fuzzy feeling.

Post-Steep Additives: none

My blog with images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/02/life-in-teacup-loose-leaf-green-tea-zhu.html