Tag: Green Tea

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Teakan’s Lu Shan Yun Wu

Lu Shan Yun Wu by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$38.00 for 61g

Lu Shan Yun Wu is part of Teakan’s Volume 6 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Lu Shan Yun Wu makes up 15g of the 61g kit.

First Impressions

As part of Volume 6 Exploration Kit from Teakan, Lu Shan Yun Yu is a Chinese green tea that came to me in a very familiar sealed (and resealable) kraft paper pouch that has a black and white label on the from and the back with details regarding this single origin tea. Lu Shan Yun Wu is from Lu Shan, Jiangxi, China. This is a green tea that was harvested during spring of 2021.

The leaves of Lu Shan Yun Wu is wiry, with a mix of cream to deep green colours. The aroma is grassy, with just a light bit of floral in the background. It’s pleasant and inviting, to say the least. It’s a pretty dry leaf to look at, which is always agreeable to me.

Preparation

Teakan has steeping instructions for both western and gongfu styles of steeping.

For western steeping, Teakan recommends using 80°C (176°F) water and steeping for 1 minute.

For gongfu steeping, Teakan recommends using 80°C (176°F) water and steeping for 20 seconds.

I opted to do an initial steep of Lu Shan Yun Wu in the western steeping style, and steeped for 1 minute.

First Taste

Lu Shan Yun Wu steeps to a lovely clear yellow that’s quite pale in colour. There isn’t a lot of tea dust present at the bottom of the cup. The aroma is lightly grassy. The flavour of Lu Shan Yun Wu is interesting – it has a lightness throughout the sip, and is thin in texture. The flavour is lightly grassy, mildly vegetal. It reminds me a bit of dark green leafy vegetables, it just has the savoury quality about it. Lu Shan Yun Wu has a sweet aftertaste to it, that isn’t off-putting and enjoyable.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Lu Shan Yun Wu four times (five steeps total with the same leaves), and added an additional 30 seconds for each steep. The flavour of Lu Shan Yun Wu got more vegetal and less grassy, as I steeped the leaves again and again. Lu Shan Yun Wu did get milder in flavour by the second resteep, and continued to get weaker in flavour after that.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Lu Shan Yun Wu. There’s just something very pleasant about this green tea that was a joyful experience for the senses from the dry leaf, to steeping, to drinking. I would highly recommend resteeping Lu Shan Yun Wu, since it just does so well. It has a pleasant flavour, it’s not overwhelming strong in any which way, and I would follow the steeping recommendations because I feel that a 2 minute initial steep would be far too long for this delicate tea.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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DMDQ’s Dragon Well

Dragon Well by DMDQ
Green Tea / Straight
$7.27 for 200g

First Impressions

Another week, another impulse grocery store tea aisle purchase!

DMDQ’s Dragon Well came in a cardstock carton that’s taped closed. Inside, is a vacuum sealed foil package of 200g of tea. The foil packet itself is tightly bunched up, because of the sealing method. Dragon Well comes from China, but there’s little other information on the packaging in regards to where specifically.

That said, Dragon Well is a classic Chinese green tea. I’ve reviewed multiple dragonwell teas before (it’s also known as Long Jing), and I really bought this because it was a great deal in terms of dollar per gram (3.6¢ per gram) and wanted to know if it would be a potential tea cupboard staple because I really enjoy drinking dragonwell, but also like saving money if I can. The leaves themselves are flat, long-ish. I found that a lot of leaves aren’t full pieces, I found a lot of broken leaf pieces in the spoonful that I got out of the packet. The colour is green, a mix of mid to dark greens with a dusty texture to the leaves. It does have a grassy smell that I’ve come to anticipate when it comes to Chinese green teas, so it does have the right aroma.

Preparation

I couldn’t find steeping instructions on the packaging, at least not in English or anything that the Google Translate identified as being steeping instructions.

That said, I opted to use the green tea setting on my kettle (175°F/80°C) and did an initial steep of Dragon Well for 2 minutes. If you’re ever in a similar situation, you can check out my chart of tea steeping times and temperatures for a general steeping guide.

First Taste

Dragon Well steeps to a green-yellow colour, and I found that there was a lot of dust that settled at the bottom of my tea cup. I wasn’t surprised, given at how dusty the tea leaves were before I had began to steep the Dragon Well. The aroma of the leaves is grassy, and just slightly sweet. I found the flavour of the Dragon Well to be sweet, grassy, and there’s a mild amount of umami in the background. There was no bitterness or astringency with the initial steep of 2 minutes.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Dragon Well twice, adding an additional 30 seconds to each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour stayed consistent and was just a bit weaker. The leaves themselves are, unsurprisingly, pieces of leaves rather than full leaves as I’m used to seeing in other long jing teas.

My Overall Impression

I liked DMDQ’s Dragon Well. I was mildly impressed at the flavour that these leaves were able to produce in my cup of tea. I had hoped that the tea would be a higher quality, but given the price I’m not terribly disappointed. That said, if you prefer a tea with less dust, then this isn’t the one for you. But as a lower priced Dragon Well, it certainly fits the bill for a green tea that I won’t mind sharing a lot or steeping large pitchers to have iced this summer.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Is It a Good Deal? Thoughts on Matcha

Matcha is green tea that has been ground to a fine powder. With history that tracks back to Tang dynasty of China, the more familiar matcha that you may know and love is from Japan. You may have tried matcha from your favourite local coffee shop in the form of a matcha latte, or ordered a flavoured matcha blend from an online retailer.

In your search for a matcha to buy for your very own, you’ll find that companies often give their matcha names like ceremonial or culinary grade. While not standardized, these names can really be provided to any matcha sold by anyone. That said, often times a culinary grade matcha is lower in quality while a ceremonial grade matcha should be higher in quality. Culinary grade matcha should also be cheaper, due to the lower quality.

I won’t make much comment on matcha blends – they should be considerably cheaper than pure matcha options available to you because of all the additives (sugars, flavourings, powdered milk, preservatives, etc.). However, these can also be delicious and I am still on the search for a great instant latte option.

Signs of a good quality matcha:

Spring-green in colour
Very fine powder
Has an umami flavour, not bitter
Forms a layer of froth easily

Signs of a poor quality matcha:

Yellow-green in colour
Clumpy powder
Often bitter
Forms a layer of large bubbles, instead of froth

All good quality matcha should come from Japan, and also be ideally single origin in nature. It can come in either sealed foil packets or tins, with appropriate labelling. While matcha has been deemed a “super food” and can be found in a lot of grocery stores, matcha is not going to be as high quality compared to matcha purchased from specialty tea stores (brick and mortar or online). Quality doesn’t come cheap though! A good benchmark is ~$1CAD per gram – that $9.99 tin of 250g of matcha might seem like a great deal, until you realize it’s incredibly bitter and doesn’t even work well in cookies.