Jade Cloud (aka Green Jade)

Haha, I thought I had previously reviewed this one, but apparently not! Excellent! I’m super distracted right now because oh my gosh, I am dating the sweetest boy ever and am currently over the moon. Or on Cloud 9. Sooo Jade Cloud kinda seemed appropriate, haha.

Anyhow, this is another one I drank through rather quickly, but it had a tasty vegetal beany flavour (kind of like Verdant’s Laoshan green?) and I’m looking forward to the second infusion, which I need to make ASAP as all five cups of tea sitting next to me are currently empty.

Thanks for passing this along, Alphakitty! This is definitely my sort of green tea, so I’m going to thoroughly enjoy finishing up my sample :D

ETA: Second infusion, 4 min at 180F and in about half the water, definitely not nearly as tasty, but still drinkable. Wouldn’t try for a third. This seems quite common in western-brewed greens like this though – I should try more leaf/shorter infusions (not quite gong fu, but more like 30s instead of 3min.) Also, note to self, I used 1.5 tsp/8 oz. for this one.

Finally trying the last of the Rishi teas I ordered during the Mother’s Day sale! After my wonderful experience with their Ancient Emerald Lily I was hoping this tea would be similar but alas, this green falls a little flat for me. There’s a very strong steamed veggie smell once it’s brewed, and that carries through to the taste. I don’t really like when my tea tastes mildly of steamed spinach. It’s a shame, because the other notes her are really working for me: there’s a nice grassy taste, as well as a tiny hint of citrus and chestnut.

But steamed veggies + a hint of citrus reminds me unfortunately of a weird tea version of V8. Not exactly the most appetizing taste, and it’s kind of ruining the experience for me. I really want to like this because I love how grassy it is, but I can’t help thinking that someone made tea with the leftover water from blanching vegetables.

EDIT: Tried different brewing parameters (stepped for 1 minute 30 second), still too vegetable-tasting. Bumping the rating down a bit as I didn’t finish either cup.

I am having a hard time writing this review. This tea makes me think of nothing more than sitting outside on a sunny day in the short grass. Sun is shining on your face, and the sweet scent of the lawn washing over you. There even may be a hammock involved. All of that in just a little cup of tea. Bliss. It’s a lovely image, and a really nice cup of tea. Very mellow, smooth, just a hint of astringency at the finish, just making you want to take that next sip all the sooner. It has a hint of sweetness in the aroma – I can see where Rishi finds the “sweetly toasted chestnut” from it’s product description. There are no stand-out notes in this tea for me – just a blended mellowness that I’m really enjoying. I have a feeling that drinking this on a cold, snowy December might instantly transport you to a very spring-like place.

Unfortunately for this review – outside it’s a beautiful sunny day, and there actually is a hammock. Both the cup of tea next to me, and the entire back yard are telling me I need to take this tea outside and sit and enjoy it in the sunshine. I don’t think I can hold out any longer.

(originally posted at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/553/tea-review-rishi-tea-jade-cloud-organic-fair-trade-green-tea/)

Loose
Appearance: dark grey brown curled leaf
Aroma when Dry: leafy, nutty, sweet (eastern), chewy
After water is first poured: bright, vegital, chewy
At end of first steep: vegital, buttery
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: clear
Staple? No
Preferred time of day:any
Taste:
At first?: buttery, sweet, smooth vegital green beans, asparagus
As it cools?: gets sweeter, pea notes surface, gets brothy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, velvety creamy sweet vegital notes high on the palate

Before I say anything else, I want to say that my first experience with Jade Cloud was a thoroughly enjoyable one.

That being said, here’s the thing. The more tea that I accumulate, the harder it can be to distinguish them from one another – especially if I don’t drink them back to back [and I don’t drink teas of the same type right after one another, really].

The more tea that I try, the more the flavors start to blend together until certain ones become indistinguishable until only a select few stand out – either because someone did something noticeably different or the taste is just THAT much better. As I’m typing this out, I’m realizing that perhaps that’s the point of drinking a lot of tea, but I also feel like it’s probably more my fault than the tea.

I guess that this is why they have tea tastings in shops, right? Usually, I don’t brew pots – I brew cups, and I re-steep if I feel like drinking more of it and/or the tea can take a re-steep. Maybe I need to get some shot glasses or some of those tasting teacups and spend a day or two comparing the similar ones. Part of me feels like if the differences aren’t ones that I notice between cups then what do I care, but part of me wants to see if I can notice a difference. [Curiosity will likely win out, because it almost always does.]

This is also a long-winded way of saying that the flavors I got out of this tea are going to sound mighty similar to other teas that I have previously logged. It is nutty, but with a grassy sweetness to it – warming and comforting, and I really liked it. It was certainly welcomed into my day since we’ve been having some rather dreary weather, but I see this as being something I’d revisit regardless of what the hell’s going on outside.

After wasting pretty much my entire day doing no work but instead reading through the site Texts From Last Night (thanks takgoti, I totally blame you!) tea has been the most worthwhile thing I’ve done today.

I’m actually liking this one more as it gets older (seems less salty which is something that can keep me away from Chinese greens). I keep thinking I don’t really like this tea so I don’t drink it. Then I figure I really need to use the tea so I can use the tin. So I make some and realize that this is actually really good and I should drink it more.

I brewed and drank this tea out of my large gaiwan Chinese “glass brewing style”. The first sip of this tea surprised me at how smooth, mellow and sweet, with a very strong sense of freshness. The leaves floating around the gaiwan stand out as being an unusually bright green as if they were freshly plucked from the plant even though I know that they are not. This is not a tea to really go deep into and try to find flavor notes as it is just a fresh and mellow summer tea.

Had this iced at the Milwaukee, WI airport Friday morning. Holy cow it was bitter!

This tea is like the perfect party guest. It saunters into your mouth casually and says “Hey…I’m Chinese green tea…what’s up?” It’s not demanding; it mingles with the other guests without any legwork on your part, cleans up after itself all night, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

In sum: not too grassy, not too nutty, not too creamy…not TOO anything. Perfectly balanced, very light and laid-back. A thoroughly inoffensive, if not quite charismatic, green tea.

Definitely one of the lighter green teas I’ve had this week — it has exactly the right amount of grassy-ness. I haven’t got it to stand up well to multiple steepings. The first cup is great but the second cup loses a lot of flavor. The third and fourth steepings are a little better but still not as good as the first.

My favorite morning green tea now. Hardy, vegetal with a bit of sweetness. Goes well with food, or just a morning tea to clear your head. Bought a tin of this at Whole Foods for a good price. Excellent intro to Chinese green teas.

very nutty, grassy with a hint of sweetness. a really comforting cup to drink on a morning when it is icing and snowing out.

I don’t typically drink green tea, but I really enjoyed how mellow this one was. I steeped this one twice and the second time around it was weaker, but perfectly drinkable, but I’m not sure I would have gotten a third out of it.

It’s green tea, y’all.

Nothing remarkable. Also nothing bad. Steeped at Rishi’s recommended quantity for their recommended time, Jade Cloud yields a clear liquor with a mild vegetal scent. They say hints of chestnut; I’d say hints of water chestnut.

Flavor is mild, slightly sweet, slightly grassy, with occasional hints of pear. Zero astringency when prepared Rishi’s way. Very drinkable but forgettable. I could see this one as an everyday tea if you got a good price on it. Just flavorful enough to know you’re drinking tea, and neutral enough you could drink it with anything.

Package claims two steeps. No disagreement from me; second is weaker but drinkable, third is a no go.

This one’s fair trade, which earns it warm social justice fuzzies but doesn’t affect the flavor.

This is a high quality green tea that can easily be steeped for 3-4 infusions (despite what it says on the packaging). The grassy aroma and taste reminds me of a good Sencha. one thing to keep im mind is that it should be steeped for slightly longer than most green teas (at least for the first infusion).

This is a great, standard green tea. Nice crisp flavor, almost minty even, I enjoyed this tea every time I had it. Very refreshing. I would definitely buy more, although I would probably try some other green teas before I come back to this one.

I didn’t realize I liked this Rishi tea as much as I do. The nuttiness is great and unexpected from a Japanese green. I feel like I should like this tea less since it comes packaged from the market in my neighborhood, but if I’m ever running low and need to pick-up some tea locally I won’t hesitate to buy this again.

The raw tea leaves have a clean scent and a hint of something like fresh cut hay. The tea steeps to a mild yellow.

First steep: Light clean taste. Slight hint of vegetativeness, but not overpowering nor unpleasant. This is a very mellow green tea.
Second Steep – Same temp 5 minutes: Lighter taste, still pleasant. No vegetativeness this steeping.
Third Steep – Same temp 7 minutes: Pretty similar to the last steeping, maybe a bit less flavor.
Fourth Steep – Same temp 10 minutes: Too watery to enjoy.

Good solid green, nice “roasted” flavors.

Excellent tea to start off the morning; just enough relaxation with energy!