Which is your favourite green tea, and why?

[gabriele]

I would like to collect a list of favourite green teas to widden my knowledge and decide what to buy next...

Which is your favourite green tea?
Why?
Taste profile?
Steeping method? (temperature, infusion time, number of infusions...)

[gabriele]

I will start.
At the moment my favourite is: Lu'an gua pian.

Why? Full and rich in taste, but so velvety and aromatic at the same time. Not too sweet, not too flowery (I don't like very much extremely flowery greens).

Tasta profile: Full, brisk, velvety

Steeping: 3-4 infusions (gongfu cha). 80°C. Starting from 1' and increasing at each infusion.

[Noonie]

Sencha, Gyokuro, Hojicha, Kamairi-cha (in that order).

Sencha is my morning tea. Gyokuro a later morning tea on weekends. The others I buy less of and have them later in the day. Hojicha being low in caffeine is a great tea in the evening. Though I usually have oolongs in the afternoon/evening.

[gabriele]

So, noonie, do you drink only Japanese greens?

[Noonie]

So, noonie, do you drink only Japanese greens?

Lately, yes. I've had 3-4 Chinese greens in the past, including Dragonwell. I probably wasn't brewing any of them correctly as I was new to loose leaf tea, and I should try them again to compare, but I'm really hooked on Japanese greens.

I also like lightly oxidized oolongs such as TGY and Alishan. And when I drink a darker tea it's usually Wuyi in a yixing.

[chrl42]

One of my favorite teas is An Ji Bai Cha, quite classic in looking and delicate in brewing...with a sweet mouth end. Is reported to be very high in amino acid,

they say this tea is what Huizong emperor of Song dynasty referred to as 'white tea' (back then it came from a cliff of Mt.Wuyi though)..

[ole]

Gyokuro for me as well. Right now I'm drinking one I picked up in Kyoto, with one of the most powerful and overwhelming umami flavours I've ever tasted. And of course matcha. I really like the intensity, in lack of a better word, I find in the Japanese teas. I generally prefer Japanese greens, but every now and then I do enjoy a good quality Longjing.

[gabriele]

One of my favorite teas is An Ji Bai Cha, quite classic in looking and delicate in brewing...with a sweet mouth end. Is reported to be very high in amino acid,

they say this tea is what Huizong emperor of Song dynasty referred to as 'white tea' (back then it came from a cliff of Mt.Wuyi though)..

I also like Anji Bai Cha. I had it also today morning as first tea of the day.
Interesting that already in the Song Dinasty tea was produced out of this variety of tea plant.
I thought that Bai Ye Yi Hao is endemic from Anji, in Zhejiang Province. Which is not very close to Wuyishan. But I heard that green tea was produced for long time in Wuyishan; there was also an imperial tea factory there. So maybe the Bai Ye Yi Hao Cultivar comes really from the Wuyi mountains!

[chrl42]

One of my favorite teas is An Ji Bai Cha, quite classic in looking and delicate in brewing...with a sweet mouth end. Is reported to be very high in amino acid,

they say this tea is what Huizong emperor of Song dynasty referred to as 'white tea' (back then it came from a cliff of Mt.Wuyi though)..

I also like Anji Bai Cha. I had it also today morning as first tea of the day.
Interesting that already in the Song Dinasty tea was produced out of this variety of tea plant.
I thought that Bai Ye Yi Hao is endemic from Anji, in Zhejiang Province. Which is not very close to Wuyishan. But I heard that green tea was produced for long time in Wuyishan; there was also an imperial tea factory there. So maybe the Bai Ye Yi Hao Cultivar comes really from the Wuyi mountains!

Huizong emperor was definitely a tea master, I think he and Qianlong are 2 of China's most tea-centered emperors who has shined later generations.

In his Cha Guan Da Lun (he wrote a tea book and was a genius in arts), he wrote there is a special white tea cultivar grown in the cliff of Mt.Wuyi, and draw it as his favorite.

Some people also say Fujian's white teas (like Baihao Yinzhen) are Huizong's white, but currently the white tea refers to the procedure of making, not tea species. Anji Baicha has white-ish leaf as a birth..so it looks like Anji tea producers concluded that they are true species of what Huizong referred to. But mind you, neither of them comes from Mt.Wuyi

[gabriele]

So, noonie, do you drink only Japanese greens?

Lately, yes. I've had 3-4 Chinese greens in the past, including Dragonwell. I probably wasn't brewing any of them correctly as I was new to loose leaf tea, and I should try them again to compare, but I'm really hooked on Japanese greens.

I also like lightly oxidized oolongs such as TGY and Alishan. And when I drink a darker tea it's usually Wuyi in a yixing.

I see. I assume that you brew Japanese greens at low temperature (70-80°C). If you do the same for the Chinese greens, you should get good results. As a general rule, I usually start with 2-3g leaves, 150ml, 80°C, 3x 1 minutes. And then adapt according to the first brew.
TGY and Alishan are less sensitive. I usually brew them at almost 100°C.
Wuyi in a yixing is perfect, I do the same? How long and at which temperature do you brew those?

[mcrdotcom]

I see. I assume that you brew Japanese greens at low temperature (70-80°C). If you do the same for the Chinese greens, you should get good results. As a general rule, I usually start with 2-3g leaves, 150ml, 80°C, 3x 1 minutes. And then adapt according to the first brew.
TGY and Alishan are less sensitive. I usually brew them at almost 100°C.
Wuyi in a yixing is perfect, I do the same? How long and at which temperature do you brew those?

Well yeah, I think most people brew their Chinese green tea between 70 - 80 degrees, whereas Sencha is around that mark, Gyokuro is more about 60 degrees... And realistically they are not similar at all because of the processing. Chinese greens are grainy and buttery and vegetal, whereas Japanese are savoury, bitter, sweet, vegetal ... And of course extremely sensitive!

I was always skeptical about Japanese greens before I tried them because I really enjoyed Chinese green tea... But I've done a total 360 and rarely have Dragonwell anymore

As for wuyi, I brew about 3/4 of a vessel (usually yixing, but also gaiwan) full, and steep times depend on the tea... Rinse once, flash brew or 10seconds, then adjust to taste (usually 10-20seconds at the beginning).

[Noonie]

I was always skeptical about Japanese greens before I tried them because I really enjoyed Chinese green tea... But I've done a total 360 and rarely have Dragonwell anymore

As for wuyi, I brew about 3/4 of a vessel (usually yixing, but also gaiwan) full, and steep times depend on the tea... Rinse once, flash brew or 10seconds, then adjust to taste (usually 10-20seconds at the beginning).

Pretty much the same for me.

[Poseidon]

I was always skeptical about Japanese greens before I tried them because I really enjoyed Chinese green tea... But I've done a total 360 and rarely have Dragonwell anymore

As for wuyi, I brew about 3/4 of a vessel (usually yixing, but also gaiwan) full, and steep times depend on the tea... Rinse once, flash brew or 10seconds, then adjust to taste (usually 10-20seconds at the beginning).

Pretty much the same for me.

Ill third this. If I have a green tea, its usually when Im craving it(summertime) and its almost always japanese greens. They are so much more complex than chinese greens IMO. Maybe I need to sample some more chinese greens...

[stockman]

my favourite is Long Jing by far.

[entropyembrace]

In general I think matcha and my current favourite is the Matsu no Midori from Maiko Tea, that's their top usucha