This is the dreaded fresh green tea month of the White2Tea club. Green teas are not my thing, I much prefer young sheng, low oxidized oolongs, or matcha, as all of those teas give me more bang for my buck. My personality also includes the more I dislike or am picky about something, the more I put up with less crap tea. Surprisingly, no there is Dragonwell this year, but instead, White2Tea went to Sparrow’s Tongue and Ganlu. I think that is a nice change of pace, especially to show more puer leaning people other green teas.
Since I got fresh tea in my hands, I drank this one a few days after getting it in the mail, vs my usual lateness or airing out time for puer. All these teas are buds too. Combined with fresh 2018 tea, I am hoping for potential face punchers than downers, which relaxing refreshing feel is what I dislike about green tea.
April 2018 White2Tea Club Sparrows Tongue
The dry leaf looks like green buds with a fresh spring grass and floral scent.
So IDGAF and the instructions say this tea can take boiling water. I used 1 gram of tea to 25ml of vessel size, flashed steeped in boiling water. The hot leaf smelled like stewed to bitter greens.
First and Second Infusion: Ha, it’s not bitter! I boiled this.
Sparrows Tongue is sweet and has a juicy salivation effect in the mouth, right off the bat. The flavor is quite beany, like squeaky green edamame beans with that mellow green and buttery flavor. Funny, as I had edamame for lunch before I sat down to drink this stuff. The tea is also rock sugar sweet, refreshing and squeaky feeling. There is a sweet lingering aftertaste. I dig the salivation of this tea, I could drool after each sip or get out a spit bucket. The second infusion was more or less the same, with a slight bitterness brewing.
Third Infusion: Sparrows Tongue is a touch bitter, the edamame got overcooked and tossed in spinach. It is even more squeaky, I’d say it has more astringency than bitterness as it has a squeaky mouthfeel and dryness in the cheeks. The finish is very fresh, and the aftertaste leaves a squeaky spinach note with some sweet grass.
Fourth Infusion: I oversteeped this infusion. I added water, took an instagram video, then answered a comment, then had an OH HOOT I WAS STEEPING DIS POURPOURPOUR! This infusions tastes just like the third infusion but a bit more astringent but not any more bitter.
Fifth Infusion: Sparrows Tongue tastes like bitter peppered beans. It is sharp bitter, setting off my brain to think it is peppercorns. It is super dry here now too, drying out my cheeks, tongue, and throat. Drinking more of this tea is a trap, as it just makes me feel more dried out than refreshed. Though there is still a nice fresh, almost minty, aftertaste.
Grandpa: I used a little less leaf here, 3 grams for Large The Wall mug, with 175F water this time. Sparrow Tongue came out sweet and beany. As it steeps it does get astringent, but there is a refreshing herb flavor as an aftertaste. I got 2 refills. It did get pretty bitter, but still drinkable. This was actually pretty good grandpa style and one of the best grandpa style greens I’ve had.
Comments
Out of the greens here, Sparrows Tongue is the one I’d personally drink again, however, I am the type who likes low fussy steepers. Sparrows Tongue is more flexible and has clean, vegetal, and sweet notes, plus it resteeps well even in boiling water. I found steeping a green tea in boiling water entertaining. It also cost me downvotes on reddit/tea when I mentioned I have been boiling green teas as that seems to set people off. Try it yourself!
April 2018 White2Tea Club Ganlu
Opening the package unleashed a fuzz bomb.
I tried smelling the Ganlu packaged, I got some grassy smells with a ton of fluff up the nose. I don’t want to smell it again.
I used 1 gram to 22ml of vessel size. The ratio sounds strange, but I am still messing with parameters of green tea. I steeped this tea in 80c/175F water as it was warned that this Ganlu is a delicate tea.
The hot leaf smells like I pan fried some spinach. There is no colour at all as if I just poured out straight tea fluff.
First Infusion: The Ganlu sips in sweet and fresh. It has notes of jicama juiciness and a bit of crisp underripe Bartlet pear. The flavor lingers after each sip, which is nice. The texture is literal fuzz, you can see the fuzz floating in the cup and can almost chew on the fluff leftover in the mouth. I should have switched to a finer mesh strainer.
Second Infusion: This is tasting more green with a marine umami vibe, bok choi greens, but with a fresh sweet underripe pear finish. The vegetal note leans bitter already. The aftertaste here is very nice, as it lingers that sweet fresh fruit.
Third Infusion: Uggg, this is bad bitter. Sips in vegetal and sweet, but finishes sharp stewed bitter bok choi greens. But the aftertaste is fresh and sweet, almost of tulips. It lingers for a long time, just like a good oolong.
Grandpa: I used 4 grams in my large The Wall mug, steeped in 175F. Right away, this tea is just too fuzzy so I am spitting up fuzz and bits. You can see the fuzz suspended in the glass!
First off, it sips in sweet and pear like, but each sips gets more bitter and astringent as the tea steeps on. The Ganlu gets stewed spinach like and very astringent, despite a top-up of more water. I feel this one is best gongfu for 2 infusions as the grandpa style turned into overcooked stew in minutes.
Comments
White2Tea’s Ganlu is very fresh but as warned, is sensitive. I think if I steeped faster (I did 10, 30, 45 seconds) I could have gotten another infusion or less crap later infusions. This is a pretty complex green with the main quality having a killer lingering aftertaste.
Both teas, after sessions back to back, definitely had energy. I felt wide awake and skin crawling, but also that I needed a nap as the tea is too chill and refreshing. I think I need some sheng or matcha to reset me to normal, but that caffeine would probably have me repainting my house at 2 am. Hoot, green teas and I don’t mix, but I am happy I tried the Sparrows Tongue.
