Country of Origin: Vietnam
Leaf Appearance: small, dark green
Ingredients: green tea
Steep time: 15 seconds
Water Temperature: 185 degrees
Preparation Method: glass gaiwan
Liquor: pale, greenish
I received this tea as part of a variety pack offered by +Sense Asia called All of Vietnam in One Box. I was drawn to this one first in part because of the name and also because I wanted a green tea to test drive my new glass gaiwan with. I really liked that the packaging and website give such detailed information about where this tea is from. Vietnamese teas do not carry as much clout in the industry at the moment so many retailers would simply have left it at Vietnam green tea. They even give the elevation it was grown at. I thought it was interesting that the Dutch/British grading system was used. This tea is a SFTGFOP and it showed. There were hardly any broken leaves despite being vacuum packed and shipped. The taste was vegetal and sweet with a bright astringency. Brewing the tea in a gaiwan gives it bit of an edge but I don’t consider that a bad thing. I was able to get a good five consecutive infusions before the flavor started to fade out. I didn’t use a large amount of leaves so that was pretty impressive.
Shan Snow Old Tea sample provided by Sense Asia.