Life In Teacup, Frosty Spring Yunnan Roast Green

Life In Teacup Description:
Production Year - 2013
Production Season - First day harvest of the year, on March 5, 2013
Production Region - Yunan Province, Jing Gu County of Puerh City region
Style - Hong Qing (roasted)
Like most Yunnan green teas, this one is from one of the small-leaf cultivars (green tea cultivars) and not a large-leaf cultivar (puerh cultivar). But the leaves are still larger than leaves of most other green teas. 

Sample provided by Life In Teacup

My Review:
I saw Yunnan in the name of this and immediately invented in my head how this should taste. Yunnan black teas are among my favorite teas. So of course, this being a green tea, I am completely wrong on the taste profile. When will I learn?

I opened the sample bag and pulled out some of the leaf. For Chinese green tea it is huge. It is long, kind of twisted, with some bulk to it. I have to admit I held it under the light and played with the leaf long enough that any non-tea person who would have seen me might start avoiding me. You know, because I'm one of those strange tea people.

I used an overflowing scoop of leaf, in an amount similar to what I would use for white tea. Dry the leaf had only a slight aroma that was slightly grain in nature. I heated the water to 200 F and steeped for 2 1/2 minutes. The result was a beautiful golden liquor. The wet leaf was bright green in color. The aroma of the leaf reminded me of stew beef.

The taste is really difficult to describe. I have never used the word umami in a review as I am not entirely certain I understand the term. I am going to use it here. This tea is quite subtle in taste. It tastes similar to a lot of Chinese green teas with a vegetal taste but not grassy or buttery. It is strangely more savory like meat. The liquor, to my perception at least, had a broth like quality.

The style of this is listed as roasted but I never really caught and roasted, smoky, toasted, qualities in this one. It is an interesting and different (not in a weird way) tea. I don't recall an aftertaste with this one, which is strange. I am not sure I am doing this tea justice. I simply can't come up with a description that makes better sense. How about I just say I enjoy a good mystery.

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