Yunnanese Green Tea

[MEversbergII]

I haven't had greens in stock at my place or work lately, so I set out to get some last week. Originally I was going to get more sencha, but I'd come to YunnanSourcing to look into getting more hongchas and discovered they had a few Chinese greens I'd be interested in.

So I got this one:
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=217

Discount green tea, almost two years old. Turns out it wasn't so bad, just needing more grams to the ml I think, or more time. I did just over 5g in a 250ml pot for 90 seconds. Just a bit weak.

200g for $7 makes this worthwhile, and it will be my standard at-work green, with the other bag making good as a tea for meals and guests.

I'd also ordered another tea from spring this year, but I can't remember what it was. Evidently YS's site wasn't logged in or something, since it doesn't have my order history. It tastes similar but at the same perameters was more flavorful. Makes sense, as it's fresher.

Both of these teas remind me of non-Yunnanese forms. It's been a while since I've done Chinese greens, but I think the word I'm searching for is maofeng. Sweet, a bit dry in mouthfeel. Some nutty taste, but not so strong like some other I've had (bai mao hou). I've also had some willd bush yunwu that's had similar features.

Yunnanese greens are a new area to me, so I'm glad I managed to find some appealing ones. I've heard that their teas tend to be more bitter due to the assamaca strain typically used to make pu'er. I am guessing these are either not made from the same kind of variety that pu'er is, or that I'm just not picking up on this bitterness.

Off to try a second brew now...

M.

[Poohblah]

In my experience, Yunnan greens are cheap but not particularly great. Ok for everyday/casual drinking, but not really worth going out of your way for them. I usually buy a green tea every time I order from YS, but none of them have been particularly memorable.

[debunix]

I've had a couple that were memorable, with fruity & floral qualities that are usually more the province of white teas, but they were trickier to brew than most greens.

[MEversbergII]

Yeah, these fit the bill as casual drinking, which is how I consume almost all of my stock. Debunix, what kind of preperations have you found to be suitable?

M.

[debunix]

Low temp & light on the leaf, and not too many infusions.

[MEversbergII]

Bit vague, I'm afraid. Something like 1g/100ml levels of "light", and 80C levels of "low temp"?

M.

[debunix]

Some links to past discussions (long time since I had these):

YS "Jade Pole" posts here and review of same on Steepster.