To celebrate my turning a quarter of a century old, I’m having this fresh Chinese spring green with my new glass tea pot and tea tray. What else could be a better solitary way to celebrate? (Besides having a tea pet for a companion!)
Brewed with a gongfu glass tea pot. Steeping times: 1 minute, 1 minute and 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes (supposed to have been 4…).
It’s been a while since I’ve last seen such gorgeous leaves. Shaped like silver needles, they are mostly moss-green, with some having enough soft hairs to look white-ish. Their sizes range from just an inch to an inch and a half.
The dry and wet leaf bursts with a buttery, zucchini aroma. So strong, I sneezed. After the second infusion, the wet leaf gives boiled asparagus.
When steeping for the first time in the pot, the leaves look like those from an aquatic plant. That’s not tea, that’s a living creature! One leaf and a bud, two leaves and a bud, two leaves. Vivid green.
The liquor is consistently clear – not cloudy, and also almost having no color, a very, very pale green. The first infusion is creamy, having vegetal and mineral notes, and a almond aftertaste. The second infusion goes away from vegetables and we have sugar snap peas. Sweet, sweet, sweet, very sweet – yellow warblers agree! I feel calmed yet rejuvenated. After this point, the intensity of the flavors decreases and becomes less powerful. Or more gentle, depending on your outlook. Still full-bodied, the third infusion is also sweet, though in a farmer’s market ear of corn sort of way. And in the last infusion, I taste beans.