I'm trying a Viet Sun Vietnamese Lai Chau Deep Forest Green tea. That's almost enough description already.
It's from 2022; I must have received this with an earlier order and not got around to trying it. Even though almost no one drinks year and a half old green tea it should be fine. It will be interesting to guess how it might have changed.
This is the web page description for the 2023 version, now out of stock:
The tea trees in this area are growing to heights of 10+ meters in the deep forest at 2200m+ in elevation. The rich biodiversity and natural growing conditions really make their way into the cup.
This tea brews up slowly into a rich, clear golden soup. The flavor is unique and complex. Reminds me of forest flower honey, herbs and wild grasses. Just a touch of astringency, no bitterness, thick mouthfeel, rich huigan and relaxing qi. A great option for warmer days and when you are looking for a unique green tea experience.
Another interesting aspect of this tea is the aging potential. I have tried teas from past years and they get sweeter and richer over time. The honey notes become more prominent as well.
Interesting that last part was included. This did seem to age positively, at a guess. That or it was really fantastic to begin with and it just didn't lose as much as one would expect.
Review:
#1: a little subtle, but coming along nicely. At this stage it reminds me of Thai Nguyen character: vegetal and mineral intensive, with significant umami, and just a hint of fresher floral range. This is brewed a bit hotter than I would imagine would be optimum, but I'm too lazy to sort out a way to cool the kettle heated water. It seems appropriate for Vietnamese green tea, given the local custom of using boiling point water to brew that there. A bit of extra challenging feel or flavors is fine.
The vegetal character is interesting, between green bean and kale. It's fresher and lighter than that sounds, and more pleasant; other range balances it, including a toasted rice / nutty input comparable to Longjing. And there is a lot of difference between fresh, well-prepared green bean and a frozen and overcooked version.
#2: freshness and brightness picks up, partly from it gaining intensity while still being brewed very light. Depth of mouthfeel and aftertaste increase; it's interesting for those to be noteworthy in a green tea. Umami is pleasant in this for integrating with the rest. In Japanese teas where that aspect stands out most it can really overpower the rest, and here it balances with it. The flavors are shifting but I'll add a new list next round.
I might feel this in my head already; that's also interesting. I don't get effects from tea as clearly as many others report, and I've already eaten breakfast, which would slow that onset.
#3: other flavor range is picking up but it's hard to identify. Maybe general floral tone? Vegetal input has moderated quite a bit, but the underlying mineral tone and umami is still pronounced. Umami might be giving way slightly, but not diminishing like the vegetal range. Deeper warm tones like toasted rice or macadamia nut balance the rest. The general effect is a clean, complex taste. Sweetness level is fine, in the right range.
For a green tea drinker this could be a really unique and pleasant experience. Since I just drink those for a change of pace, or to write about them, it's still pleasant for me, but it's not my main preference.
I might tap out early for this being enough tea after another round; that's strange. This is pretty strong tea, since I don't usually get that much effect from the same amount of sheng pu'er. That one wild origin Thai tea favorite hits really hard, but I usually only have it when I feel like having that experience. In a recent tasting experience with neighbors one tried that and said that she was expecting a slap in the face but that it came across like a kick in the face. In a good way, maybe?
#4: more of the same, I guess. This tea is intense enough that I would really need to drink some water or eat something between rounds to reset to get a clearer impression. The intensity is building up as I go, not the infusion strength each round, but the effect compounds somehow. I had some goji berries soaking to eat as part of breakfast; I'll eat those after trying this round.
I think Vietnamese people must adapt to this and seek it out, maybe even in a stronger form than this, related to them drinking even stronger brewed green tea, mixing it in a pot and letting infusion times run for many minutes, or half an hour. I could've brewed half as much of this tea and it would've worked better. Green tea isn't usually this intense.
#5: this will have to do it; I'm not in the mood to get blasted on caffeine and theanine. It is transitioning; those general, vague floral tones are picking up. It might be more like a lavender input now. The rest is so complex that it could be interpreted in different ways. Seeing this as tasting like melon could work, or the richness one could interpret as being buttery.
My wife tried it and thought something came across as a roasted effect, a rich and warm tone. Flavor is comparable, but it surely didn't get there by way of a roasting process. Part of what resembles a receded vegetal edge might come across as spice, along the line of lemongrass or holy basil. It's nice that it has so much complexity.
Conclusion:
A pleasant, complex green tea. It works for me. I'm trying extra rounds later in the day while editing the notes and they're just as positive.
It raises the question what this would've been like nearly two years ago when first made. Surely some degree of freshness dropped out, and bright intensity, and it picked up some depth along the way. That's not what one is usually seeking out in green tea but it works in this. It's not faded, musty, off, like cardboard, or tied to any other broad range one might expect from not-new green tea.
It's tempting to try to guess why this tea might age better than some other green versions. Who knows? Maybe because it wasn't relying on that one fresh and floral theme as a main aspect range early on; maybe it had good depth back then. Maybe it wasn't kill-greened at a really hot temperature and some enzymes or compounds stayed more active and less transitioned. Or maybe this was unusually bright, floral, sweet, and intense back then and it has lost most of that, but it had so much going on that it hasn't lost it all.
It has been interesting, and just what I was looking for, a break from the tea types I've been experiencing a lot of recently.
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