2019 Spring tea time! Today I’ll be drinking two new green teas, Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha and Shi Feng Long Jing, from Adagio Tea’s new Masters Tea line. Masters by Adagio features limited edition, fresh, and exceptional teas.
I love trying the newest, freshest teas but sadly I’m just not a green tea drinker. That said, you get a review from a more cranky perspective. Steeping method for both teas will be grandpa style, I’m throwing in 3 grams of leaf, small The Wall mug (9oz/280ml), 79c/175F water and letting it do its thang.
Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha
Opening the package and Wowza that’s a smell! Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha smells like a fruity lychee jelly cups due to the lychee and grassy scent. The leaves are long skinny-spun buds looking like nuclear green pine needles from far away.
The tea has a creamy grassy scent. As this tea steeps, the leaves unfold and lighten to a mint colour. The flavour is mainly crisp grassy. Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha is fresh and sweet, with the sip developing a buttery flavour, with that lychee note dancing around in the background. As it steeps and I drink down the liquid, the buttery notes come out more and a delicate floral aftertaste forms. The grass note shifts to a buttered green bean taste. After about 5 minutes and a water refill, the tea is astringently squeaky on the teeth.
It was at this point I was reminded why I don’t like green tea as it was just hitting my stomach weird and I was feeling the downer energy.
Shi Feng Long Jing
The leaf of Shi Feng Long Jing smells like one of those Chinese almond cookies. Its sweet nutty almond. The leaves are flat and bubbly edges.
Shi Feng Long Jing’s flavour is interesting and delicate. It’s cookie-like with chestnuts and sweet almonds. The sweet nutty flavour lingers delicately after each sip. As it steeps, a stronger grassy and buttery note shows up. Some sips I taste a green wood note. Early on, the Shi Feng Long Jing gets astringent. My gums are drying out.
After a water top up, the Long Jing leans more buttery, but some sips show off that almond note, other the grassy one. It remains delicate and soft as the astringency grows.
Comments
The Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha I felt was a better grandpa style drinker – it didn’t get that astringent and resteeped pretty well. Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha also had the most powerful of energies – I felt that relaxing downer feel fast. Out of the two greens, I’d lean the Shi Feng Long Jing as the better one as it has some really wonderful comforting flavours. I also don’t like greens and it was over the fastest.
Both 2019 green teas felt good quality due to the complexity of the notes and the energy produced. They were also very pretty teas. With fresh teas like these, now is the time to buy to get it as fresh as possible and drink fast.
(tea provided for review)
