Laoshan Bilochun Green

Mmmm having a cup of this tonight while I watch friends play video games. I can’t play them for crap but I do love the story lines :)

I can’t recall if this was a sample from kittenna or a purchase but I am enjoying tasting this green. Greens aren’t my tea of choice but I can appreciate a nice green when I have it.

This is a tasty tea. I think i’m just too tired to write a tasting note that talks about the tea haha

So the time has come for me to open more of my hoarded Verdant samples lol. This one has been on my mind for a few days. I couldn’t remember exactly how much of the Laoshan green I had been using to make my cups, but I used about 1.5 tsp in my brew basket and did the first steep as 10 seconds and have been increasing by 2 for each resteep.

First off, the dry smell is like a faint Laoshan green. I have only had the summer harvest (have an autumn sample waiting to be opened though hehe) so that is the tea I will most likely be comparing this to. After 10 seconds, the tea is a very light yellow, so beautiful, I have been snapping pics of it sitting in my double walled tea cup in the sun here, might upload them later :D The steeped smell is a tinge sweet.

And now, the flavor, I am pleasantly surprised that this is very different from the regular Laoshan green! This one is very light and creamy, but instead of savory, it is definitely more on the sweet side, and I find that a sweet, nutty taste is the most prominent. It actually is reminding me a bit more of the Laoshan Genmaicha due to that lovely sweetness, but it’s a bit different than that too, more nuts than corn like. I gave the second steep to my boyfriend, who downed it quite happily as he does with straight green teas. I may have slightly underleafed this time around though, it seems a little on the light side, but the flavor is still very good. Maybe I will increase steep times for the next few cups to see if it will help my underleafing.

Overall, a very delicious cup of green tea. I might prefer the straight laoshan green savoriness a bit more, but that might change after I have a few more cups of this! Another wonderful tea from Verdant that I’m happy I snagged to sample while it was available!

ETA – The third steep is a rich light green color, a sharp contrast to the first two. The flavor has also become a bit more savory, but with a sweet aftertaste. Mmmmm this is a very nice tea, I am enjoying how the flavors have been slightly changing already!

I had the pleasure of drinking this unique offering and the Autumn Harvest Laoshan Green with my mum yesterday after I set up her Zojirushi (more on that later). I gifted my mom with four of Verdant’s green teas for Christmas as she is often talking about needing/wanting to drink more green tea (she started drinking coffee this past year!?!!) We started with the regular Laoshan Green and infused it at least six times between a walk and sweeping her patio. She had hard time tasting much the first two infusions. I told her her tongue would get used to it. But I found it very beany, sweet and creamy.

This Bilochun was immediately more savory, nutty and stronger but still creamy, sweet and with the distinct green bean quality of Laoshan’s terrior. I also kept thinking it had an almost roasted quality, even though I was pretty sure it wasn’t roasted and it maintained a very fresh greenness. Interesting what a little bit of hand rolling will do. My mom preferred this one and while I certainly enjoyed it, I think I prefer the lighter sparkling sweetness of the non-rolled, but need to try it again. I’m very curious as to how the the hand rolling might affect Laoshan Black.

I can’t wait to try the Autumn Harvest Laoshan Dragonwell Style Laoshan Green with her and see if she can pick out the cherry notes in Mrs. Li’s Dragonwell. We both got glass tumblers with flat strainers at the top for Christmas so we can sip together all day. Unfortunately the Zojirushi is not going to work out for her and I need to find another variable temperature kettle that has a 170-175 setting, will hold that temperature but does not automatically bring the water up to a boil first. But that’s more for the forums.

Holy hazelnut batman! I have only a minute to write this but oh man this is SO delicious. And I didn’t even have a chance to try it hot. Got stuck on the phone and by the time I got there it was almost iced haha.
There is a very deep, nutty flavour, accented by a light fresh note, like watercress. Slight astringency. I am blown away by the decadent lingering aftertaste. I feel as if I’ve eaten a hazelnut truffle dipped in champagne.
Wayyyyy in the background of course, there is a vegetal bean-ish taste. An odd combination, but it works!!
The second infusion should be interesting…

I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews for this one!

I brewed a bit of this up tonight out of curiosity. Stuck with typical green tea infusion parameters as I was too lazy to look the tea up. The result is a very delicious, beany/sweet/vegetal brew that certainly does make me think of Laoshan Green. I’ll really have to compare the two at some point. I suspect it’s not different enough to make me want to purchase this again, but it’s fun to have had the chance to try it!

Yummmm. For some reason I hadn’t opened my sample of this yet, and decided tonight was a good night for it.

I can taste similarities between this and the laoshan green, but this is far sweeter, creamier, and slightly nutty. It feels thick on the tongue instead of sparkling. I taste a little of the laoshan green bean/asparagus flavor but it’s a lot more understated in this tea. The sweetness in this almost reminds me of a spring oolong.

Another fantastic tea from the He family. :)

Don’t laugh…I’m sipping tandem cups of this tea & Spring Harvested Laoshan green, just to see if I can detect a difference.
4 G + 4 oz @ 3 sec (175) = the answer is yes, I can!

The Bilochun has a sweet & nutty taste, with mild greens. It reminds me of when I used to make Congee in my crockpot.
I used a little 1 Qt crock, Here’s the recipe (from Moosewood restaurant New Classics:
3/4 C short grain brown rice
3 C H2O
Plug in the crock & let it go over night while you’re sleeping, or all day.
In the morning, stir in 2 crumpled veggie bullion cubes (Morga or other) and some frozen spinach. Top with any of the following:
soy sauce or fish sauce or coconut aminos
minced garlic, chives, shallots, or green onion, raw or sauteed
cilantro, parsley
toasted nuts, french fried onions
grated ginger, pepper flakes, dash of cayenne
tofu (baked, fried, smoked, or plain) or tempeh
broccoli, or any veggies
Kimpira gobo
Any veggies or protein sources

There’s also an awesome sauce recipe:
in a skillet, sautee in 2 tsp peanut or coconut oil for 4 minutes:
6 minced garlic cloves
1.5 C scallions, thinly sliced
(diced up or grated ginger, my addition)
Add & stir for 1 or 2 mins:
1/2 C soy sauce
3 T Mirin
remove from heat & add:
1/2 C minced cilantro (opt)
1/4 tsp black pepper

Put some Congee in your bowl, spoon some sauce on it, and top with toasted cashews! YUM! Have a baked sweet potato along side or for dessert, with melted coconut butter, sprinkled liberally with cinnamon!

So, to return to my comparison, the Bilochun is sweeter, more like the above recipe, with nuttiness and light grain flavors. The Spring green is a much more savory, green beany brew, but also delicious.

Hmmm. I like this. A nice sweet spinach taste. Lasts a little longer through steeping. I thought it would taste just the Laoshan green. To me it is very different. The Laoshan green has a buttery snap pea taste. This is more of a savory spinach.

I just drank my first few steepings of this tea. There are not yet brewing instructions on the website so I improvised based on previous experience with another bilochun tea which favored lower temperature steepings.

This tea tastes very similar to the usual Laoshan green to me but it seems to be a little sweeter and taste a little more more like snap peas.

The initial steeping was very good, but it became too bitter after that (from steeping too long I think).