Imperial Grade Laoshan Green Tea from Shandong * Spring 2017

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea Leaves
Flavors
Asparagus, Bamboo, Butter, Chestnut, Grass, Honey, Lettuce, Mineral, Nectar, Seaweed, Soybean, Spinach, Squash Blossom, Sugarcane, Toasted Rice, Umami, Walnut, Vegetal, Broth, Cookie, Leeks, Nutty, Sweet, Warm Grass
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 0 sec 6 g 4 oz / 109 ml

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3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Going back to school is such a pain. I was looking forward to it so much, and now with classes starting Monday, I’m dreading it more and more. I also keep looking at my now barely manageable...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “Smells vegetal and tastes that way, which many love. Its just not my cup of tea. There is some complexity but the savouriness just doesn’t get me excited.” Read full tasting note
    52
  • “This tea has unbeatable dry leaf aroma. The wet leaf smell is also very enticing, sweet and soothing. It reminds me of beef broth, leek and some kind of cookie which I couldn’t identify. The taste...” Read full tasting note
    88

From Yunnan Sourcing

Laoshan village is near Qingdao in the province of Shandong at an altitude of just 300 meters. Laoshan village is also near a sacred mountain, and not far from the ocean. Tea has been grown in Laoshan area for many generations. We are offering this “Imperial Grade” Laoshan Green tea made from the tippiest first flush of spring 2016 tea leaves.

Our Laoshan teas are grown by the Liang family, who have a small family operation growing Laoshan tea and doing all the processing of the tea themselves as well. You will notice that the tea is grown undercover of greenhouse which are fully covered in the winter to protect from frost and also in the earliest part of spring as well just as the leaves are starting to sprout. In the middle and later part of the first flush growth stage the coverings are removed and the tea bushes grow in full view of the sun until plucking in the first week of April.

Our Imperial Grade Laoshan green tea is small leaf, tippy (but without silver hairs) and tightly rolled, but not compressed like a Tie Guan Yin. The varietal grown is Long Jing #43 and as such the tea from Laoshan shares it character. The brewed tea is vegetal, sweet, savory with an umami-like green chestnut (bipolarity of astringency/savory and sweet).

We feel confident you will enjoy family-sourced Laoshan teas and invite you to try them all!

Area: Laoshan village near Qingdao in Shandong

Time of harvest: early April

About Yunnan Sourcing View company

Company description not available.

3 Tasting Notes

95
1049 tasting notes

Going back to school is such a pain. I was looking forward to it so much, and now with classes starting Monday, I’m dreading it more and more. I also keep looking at my now barely manageable backlog of tea reviews and feel extreme trepidation with regard to the process of getting them all posted. I suppose I may as well start here since I have not reviewed a green tea in about a month. I think I finished a pouch of this tea back around the end of April or start of May. I can’t be sure at this point. I tend to love the Laoshan green teas Yunnan Sourcing offers, and no surprise, I loved this one. As a matter of fact, I am more than a bit shocked that this tea only has two prior reviews and that it’s reception to this point has been so mixed. In my opinion, this was an excellent green tea and a slight step up from its sister offering, the Laoshan Classic Green Tea from Shandong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected pleasant, fully-formed aromas of grass, soybean, seaweed, and roasted walnut. After the rinse, I found a stronger soybean scent and new aromas of toasted rice and spinach, though the latter was rather subtle. The first infusion then introduced scents of bamboo and sugarcane along with a hint of roasted chestnut. The tea liquor offered notes of soybean, grass, spinach, seaweed, and bamboo that soon faded to reveal impressions of sugarcane, toasted rice, and surprisingly enough, both honey and butter. Subsequent infusions revealed belatedly emerging impressions of roasted chestnut and roasted walnut as well as stronger sugarcane and honey notes. Squash blossom, umami, mineral, nectar, lettuce, and asparagus impressions emerged as well. The final infusions offered lingering mineral, grass, umami, and butter impressions underscored by hints of nectar, sugarcane, seaweed, and toasted rice.

Though this tea did not offer anything out of the ordinary for a Laoshan green tea, it was extremely enjoyable nonetheless. Compared to its aforementioned sister tea, it demonstrated a bit more smoothness and staying power while also displaying admirable depth and complexity for a tea of its type. I cannot fault this one much at all. It definitely made me want to try this year’s version, though I doubt I will be able to spend much more on tea this year. Definitely give Yunnan Sourcing’s Laoshan green teas a chance if you are at all interested in Shandong teas. I doubt they will disappoint.

Flavors: Asparagus, Bamboo, Butter, Chestnut, Grass, Honey, Lettuce, Mineral, Nectar, Seaweed, Soybean, Spinach, Squash Blossom, Sugarcane, Toasted Rice, Umami, Walnut

Preparation
6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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52
30 tasting notes

Smells vegetal and tastes that way, which many love. Its just not my cup of tea. There is some complexity but the savouriness just doesn’t get me excited.

Flavors: Vegetal

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 0 sec 3 tsp

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88
984 tasting notes

This tea has unbeatable dry leaf aroma. The wet leaf smell is also very enticing, sweet and soothing. It reminds me of beef broth, leek and some kind of cookie which I couldn’t identify.

The taste is a mix between nutty/floral taste of Long Jing and vegetal/umami taste of Sencha. At low temperatures it is more brothy and floral at higher temperatures the astringency and nuttiness is more present.

If you like green tea, you absolutely shouldn’t hesitate with this one. You won’t be disappointed.

Flavors: Broth, Cookie, Leeks, Nutty, Sweet, Warm Grass, Vegetal

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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