Tag: Teakan

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Teakan’s Ana’s Green

Ana’s Green by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Ana’s Green is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Ana’s Green makes up 15g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

Rounding out the last tea in the Volume 4 Exploration Kit is Ana’s Green – a first flush green tea from Maipokhari, Ilam, Nepal. The tea comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch with a minimalistic white and black label. I’ve probably only had a handful of opportunities to taste single origin teas from Nepal, so it’s always a treat to get to do so.

The leaves are beautiful. Tightly coiled, twisted, and a blend of shades of green as you can see. There’s fuzziness to the lighter leaves, and it’s just a brilliant mixture of greens from pale creamy green to a deep hunter green. The aroma of the leaves is vegetal – it reminds me primarily of dark green vegetables like spinach, gailan, and broccoli.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Ana’s Green in 75°C (167°F) water for a steep of 1 minute (western style) or 15 seconds (gongfu style). I opted to follow the steeping instructions and did an initial steep of 1 minute before pouring a cup of tea.

First Taste

Ana’s Green steeps to a bright yellow after the one minute steep. Just look at the brilliant colour! It reminds me of a liquid sunshine, and it has a beautiful vegetal aroma. The sweetness comes through in each sip, with a stark vegetal flavour that reminds me of dark green vegetables – just a hint of bitterness at the tail end of each sip but I do find it quite enjoyable. It adds something to the mouthfeel and I find that the tea has a thickened mouthfeel to it.

A Second Cup?

Resteeping Ana’s Green was a delight. I did five resteeps with the same leaves (six steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The leaves open up an remarkable amount, and the uniformity of the green colour of the unfurled leaves is beautiful. The flavour remains vegetal with sweetness, and the bitterness goes away by the second resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Ana’s Green. This Nepalese green tea does a beautiful job of being resteeped, and has a wonderful colour and delightful flavour throughout each resteep. I found it to be pleasant to drink, and smooth. It does have a nice bitterness to it, that I actually enjoyed it as it balanced well with the sweetness that was naturally found in the tea.

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Teakan’s Ya Shi Xiang, Phoenix Dancong

Ya Shi Xiang, Phoenix Dancong by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Ya Shi Xiang, Phoenix Dancong is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Ya Shi Xiang, Phoenix Dancong makes up 10g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

Ya Shi Xiang directly translates to duck shit – and is surprisingly not smelling of poop if you know what the name translates to. Phoenix Dancong is a bit of a more forgiving name, that is for sure! This particular Ya Shi Xiang comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch with a white and black label across the front and back. To be specific, this oolong was harvested in spring of 2021 from Wudong, Guangdong, China.

The dry leaves are long, slightly wiry with a light twist. The colour of the leaves are a deep brown, with light pops of tan and lighter brown throughout. The aroma of the leaves is floral and sweet, nothing at all like the name suggests, with hints of what reminds me of the smell right after a rainfall.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Ya Shi Xiang in 95°C (203°F) for 2 minutes (western style) or 98°C (208°F) for 5 seconds (gongfu style). I opted to steep western style, due to ease on my part.

First Taste

Ya Shi Xiang steeps to a clear light golden yellow after the 2 minute steep. The aroma of the steeped tea is mostly floral with hints of fresh rain and wet moss like you get when going for a walk through the forest, and it’s pleasant to the nose to be sure. The tea itself has a smooth texture, sweet, floral with very light nuttiness at the tail end of each sip. It has a thickened mouth texture but pleasantly smooth and easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

Ya Shi Xiang resteeps nicely – I did six resteeps of the same leaves (seven steeps total) – and added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The leaves open beautifully – look at those lovely green leaves! The flavour gets a bit deeper for the first two resteeps, and then slowly begins to wane in flavour intensity, but I do enjoy each resteep thoroughly.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Ya Shi Xiang, Phoenix Dancong. The tea resteeps beautifully, and has a lovely floral flavour with each steep. The flavour remains fairly consistent with each steep, and lends itself to a really tasty cup of tea – despite of what the name of the tea is! I even had a cup of it cold (due to leaving it too long), and really enjoyed it as well – so there’s that.

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Teakan’s Rizhao Green

Rizhao Green by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Rizhao Green is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Rizhao Green makes up 15g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

Packaged in a sealed, resealable pouch, Rizhao Green came as part of the Volume 4 Exploration Kit from Teakan. Another green tea, this one comes from Rizhao, Shandong, China. As with the other teas, Rizhao Green is in a kraft paper pouch with a white label with black print. This particular green tea is harvested in spring 2021.

The leaves appear to be short, wiry, with a varying green colour from spring green to a deep, dark forest green. The aroma is grassy, vegetal, and sweet. Rizhao Green is really quite pretty though – as you can see for yourself:

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Rizhao Green in 80°C (176°F) water for 2 minutes (western style) or 15-20 seconds (gongfu style). I opted to do an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Rizhao Green steeps to a light yellow colour – it’s cheerful and inviting. The aroma is grassy, lightly vegetal, with a hint of something sweet. The flavour of this green tea is crisp – vegetal, sweet, grassy, with hints of a roasted nuttiness that lingers at the back of the tongue. As a full disclaimer, the first time I tried this tea, I accidentally set my timer for 3 minutes instead of 2 minutes and was met with a cup of very bitter tea… I would highly recommend not going over 2 minutes for the initial steep. Save your taste buds.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rizhao Green a total of seven times (eight steeps total), and used the same water temperature but adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep – and found that the flavour stayed pretty consistent throughout. It got a bit more nutty and less sweet as I went, but overall stayed very similar to the initial steep. Plus, check out the leaves! They’re definitely not short or small, and have a beautiful spring green colour.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Rizhao Green. This Chinese green tea was a treat for the senses throughout the process of steeping it. The look of the dry leaf, and the taste of the steeped tea – just a nice cup of tea. And it doesn’t hurt that it resteeps very well (something that I will recommend!). I would just recommend minding your steeping times and temperature, as this would be one of those green teas that I would consider to be sensitive.

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