I reviewed some green tea from Teasenz a while back, and they liked the review so much they offered to send me some more! There will be a few other Teasenz reviews lined up, but I wanted to try these two teas before it got too cold to enjoy their light, crisp flavours.
Liu An Melon Seed
A legendary favorite tea of emperors and dignitaries including the empress Dowager Cixi and Henry Kissinger. Liu An Melon Seed is known for its unique shape and taste. Single leaves, carefully cut to equal size, are pan-fired over low heat, shaping the leaves into a beautiful melon-seed shape and creating a tea with bright green leaves and a refreshing, crisp flavor.
When I open the packet of Liu An Melon Seed tea, I’m greeted with long, spindly tubes of leaf that are a dark forest green colour and smell faintly of licorice. Because the leaf was so fluffy and hard to measure, I put a generous spoonful into a teapot with 80C water and let it sit for about 3 minutes.
The resulting brew was clear, light green, and had a delicious sweetness on the back of my tongue to complement the notes of greens and cooked vegetables. It reminded me of pine sap — a bit sticky and refreshing.
You can buy Liu An Melon Seed here.
Anji Bai Cha
Fresh and creamy soft with notes of citrus and nuts. From Anji, the town of dense bamboo forests and tea cultivation, comes Anji Bai Cha, one of the rarest of all Chinese teas. With long, delicate, vivid green leaves, Anji white tea is beautiful in every sense of the word. A tea connoisseur’s dream.
The leaves of Anji Bai Cha were similarly long and spindly, but instead of being a deep sage green, these leaves were a light pea green. They also smelled more traditionally tea-like — of buttery vegetables and snap peas rather than licorice.
The leaves were similarly fluffy, so I took a huge spoonful and put them into the pot with 80C water for 3.5 minutes. The resulting brew was pale yellow that darkened to a clear green as the brew cooled. This had a more traditional green tea taste – buttery, vegetal, and green-beany, but still remarkably light and clear.
You can buy Anji Bai Cha here.
I’m really happy to find such consistent success with the teas that Teasenz sends me. There will be more reviews on the way!