Special Grade Green Tea

Well, this is my 300th review on Steepster, and I’m going to forego my usual “cut to the chase” review approach to say a couple important things. Skip to the REVIEW section if you don’t want to hear anecdotes.

I’ve been going through a lot of big changes in life lately, and finding that a lot of things are distracting me from my productive potential. Social media was the big one. I took measures to get myself away from it and have been feeling a lot more focused and clear-thinking since then. I thought I’d spend more of my free time on hobbies, not frittering it away on likes, comments, statuses, and posts. Reviewing tea has always been a relaxing hobby for me, but lately I’ve found myself just not feeling it. I’m having trouble describing things or devoting my attention to it long enough to write a detailed review, and I find myself having “productivity guilt” when I do it more than I ever used to, not viewing it as very productive anymore.

The result is that this 300th review seems like a good stopping point for me. I might still review teas on here in the future. I’m not sure yet, but if I do, they will be really brief, just a few short sentences on my impressions and a rating, not the more detailed reviews I typically write. (I can hear some of you thinking “I don’t know you and I don’t care”, haha).

It feels fitting for me in a way that my 300th review is a tea given to me by a friend. He knows I’m a sucker for good green tea and brought me a refill when I ran out of my first bag (also a gift from him).

REVIEW:

The scent of the leaves after the first infusion is like cooked spinach, forest foliage, toast, and pistachio.

The first infusion has a rich, spinachy taste, with subtle sweetness equal to subtle bitterness, the former gradating into the latter. There’s a bit of a pecan-like nuttiness to it.

The second infusion has a stronger scent, like leaves and rain, and a really subtle floral scent. This infusion is definitely more sweet and rich. Good balance of umami and sweet flavors with just a subtle hint of bitterness in the finish to balance things. As for taste, this infusion reminds me a lot of matcha, maybe a little like pecans as well.

I find most green teas only seem to give around 3-4 good infusions, even when brewing Gongfu style, but this tea is a pleasant surprise, and I find myself enjoying at least 5 infusions in a gaiwan before it starts to lose its flavor.

In terms of flavor, this green tea doesn’t knock my socks off like some have, but it’s a really enjoyable everyday drinker, one I’m glad to come back to. It’s mild and easygoing.