Liu An Gua Pian (Melon Seed)

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Astringent, Grass, Honey, Musty, Sweet, Umami, Floral, Fruity, Raspberry
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by TeaWithPolly
Average preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 13 oz / 374 ml

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3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “The dry leaf is interesting, greyish green, with some large, rightly rolled cylinders, and small broken pieces. Faint vegetal and musty smell. Steeped the liquor is an amber gold. Nutty, sweet, and...” Read full tasting note
    75
  • “Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! After cleaning, writing, and baking some banana bread, I figured this tea would be a good way to relax. Many thanks to Tao for giving me a sample when I visited his...” Read full tasting note
  • “I steep it for about 25 seconds. It’s a nice light yellow colour. Mmm… very light. It has a mild fruit taste… like berries or currants. But it’s very subtle. I’m going to need another cup! Yes, the...” Read full tasting note
    100

From Tao Tea Leaf

This is another one of Chinas famous teas. It has won many awards for its remarkably refreshing taste. Its leaves are large, flat and oval shaped similar to a melon seed. Liu An Gua Pian has a remarkably rich and sweet taste. The flavour of the smooth liquor gradually evolves from a light sweet taste to a strong floral flavour. This tea has won several awards based on its sweet taste and refreshing qualities.

Region: Xi Tou Mountain, Anhui Province, China

About Tao Tea Leaf View company

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3 Tasting Notes

75
894 tasting notes

The dry leaf is interesting, greyish green, with some large, rightly rolled cylinders, and small broken pieces. Faint vegetal and musty smell.

Steeped the liquor is an amber gold. Nutty, sweet, and grassy on the nose, with similar notes on the palate. Light honey notes, with a bit of umami. Faintly astringent.

Taste wise, this feels quite similar to many of the senchas I’ve tried recently. I think I should have steeped it a few seconds shorter than I did.

Flavors: Astringent, Grass, Honey, Musty, Sweet, Umami

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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987 tasting notes

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

After cleaning, writing, and baking some banana bread, I figured this tea would be a good way to relax. Many thanks to Tao for giving me a sample when I visited his shop a month ago.

For some reason, this tea isn’t listed on the Tao Tea Leaf site – so I have no idea what the correct steeping parameters are. For now, I just did my standard thing for greens: 1 tsp per 8 oz, 80C, for 3 minutes.

The results were surprising. The dry leaf was sweet and fruity – I didn’t get the raspberry note that Polly mentioned below; instead, it seemed more to me like stonefruit.

The dry leaf is long, dark sage green, and tubular. Because of the length, it was difficult to measure, so I might have overleafed this.

Once the tea was done steeping, I was greeted by that same fruity scent.

The liquor was fairly light but darkened as the tea sat and cooled. I took my first sip after it had a chance to cool down and….

Interesting! It reminds me an awful lot of Nina’s Paris’s “Demain” tea – the green tea with raspberry and strawberry flavouring. It’s got that same musty, dusty undertone I’ve sensed in that tea, and the fruitiness is definitely similar. I would not be surprised at all if this tea variety (Liu An Gua Pian) were revealed to be the base of Nina’s greens.

I have enough left for maybe a largish cup. I’m not quite sure if I’ll restock this, but I’m glad I got a sample.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 24 OZ / 709 ML

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100
17 tasting notes

I steep it for about 25 seconds. It’s a nice light yellow colour. Mmm… very light. It has a mild fruit taste… like berries or currants. But it’s very subtle. I’m going to need another cup! Yes, the second cup is a bit more developed. It has just a whisper of fruity/raspberry taste. Yet, it’s so light! It evaporates on your tongue, leaving a very clean finish. Almost like it wasn’t there! This is a very nice summertime tea. Nothing at all like artificially flavoured “berry” tea, this one is fresh, clean, light… like raspberry scented dandelion fluff! Cup #3 is still delicious, but it has changed a bit. A little more floral, mixed with the fruit. I don’t know how many infusions it will take, but it shows no sign of stopping with the deliciosity!

Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Raspberry

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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