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What-Cha Vietnam West Lake Golden Flower Lotus Green Tea
Origin: West
Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam
I’ve been
looking forward to this tea since What-Cha started selling Vietnamese teas. I
absolutely love Lotus scented teas, although I do not often have the chance to
drink them, since more often than not I find tea of dubious origin with a foul
smelling perfume or dried lotus petals or stems. So I was very excited when I
heard Alistair was sourcing a Lotus scented green tea and even more so when I
discovered it wasn’t littered with garden waste (of course I had no reason to
expect What-Cha to source a tea with filler. Regardless What-Cha describes this
as:
An incredible rare tea produced on
Hanoi's West Lake possessing a brilliant lotus aroma and taste!
It takes in excess of one thousand lotus
flowers to produce a single kilogram lotus green tea! It is this extremely
laborious process which accounts for the tea's high price.
The green tea base is specially sourced
direct by Hatvala from a farmer in Tan Cuong, Thai Nguyen province.
Dry Leaves: Immediately after opening the bag I am immediately hit with
the strong lotus scent. Definitely smells like this is actually scented with
real lotus rather than a perfume, it lacks that chemical character you find in
many perfumes. It might be a little overwhelming, I have quite a sensitive nose
and I felt a little light headed when smelling this. As for the leaves they are
mostly dark blue and tightly coiled in vaguely oval shape.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
160oF
Brewing
Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Lotus
Flavor: Lotus,
Floral and Sugarcane
Tasting
Notes: I brewed this slightly below What-Cha’s recommended parameters, I
intended to start with a full minute steeping, but I was feeling really light
headed from the aroma of the liquor. This is incredibly creamy, probably the creamiest
tea I have ever tasted. Other than that
it feels more like an oolong than a green tea because of the floral notes.
I got tea
drunk off the first steeping. So far I love this, although I can already tell
this tea is not for everyone, the floral notes while lovely are a very
overwhelming. The leaves and the actual tea itself has a very pungent aroma, as
a person with a very sensitive nose and often get headaches around people
wearing perfumes and colognes I did start to get a headache while drinking
this, although this did not defer me from drinking more.
Second
Steeping
Temperature:
165oF
Brewing
Time: Forty-Five Seconds
Aroma: Lotus and Orchid
Flavor: Lotus,
Floral, Fruity and Sugarcane
Tasting
Notes: The aroma of the used leaves and tea has gotten even stronger! And it is
even creamier than last time, while the mouthfeel is starting to feel very
syrupy. There was a new aroma this time, it smelled a little like orchid, but a
more accurate description would be cymbidium. Other than that the individual
tastes are pretty much the same as last time, but there are some new fruity
notes, definitely on the lighter side of the fruit spectrum.
Still tea drunk and my headache is getting
worse. This is quite an interesting tea, while I have had a few lotus scented
teas in the past I have not had one like this; the other lotus scented teas in
the past I felt I could taste more of the base tea than this. I am not sure if
this is good or not, since this feels like a pseudo-oolong and the more I drink
the more I realize I am missing the vegetal notes often found in green teas.
Third
Steeping
Temperature:
170oF
Brewing
Time: One Minute
Aroma: Lotus
and Orchid
Flavor: Lotus,
Floral, Fruity and Sugarcane
Tasting
Notes: Pretty much the same as last time except everything is stronger and it
is once again creamier than before. I rather enjoyed this tea even though it is
a tad too aromatic for me to comfortably drink as often as I like. I already mentioned
my sensitive nose and my disposition to get headaches around strong smells and
while I did not particularly enjoyed getting tea drunk off this and a headache
at the same time I did drink the entirety of my 25 gram sample and would buy
more when What-Cha gets more in. But I’d feel irresponsible if I did not
mention how uncomfortable this tea made me while drinking it, even though I did
continue on despite that discomfort because I love this tea that much.
While I do love this tea I do wish I
could taste more of the tea itself, this is incredibly scented I do not even
want to hazard a guess at how many times this tea was scented with lotus, but I
do feel the serious flaw of this tea is that the lotus scent masks the
underlying flavors and scent of the tea itself. Currently What-cha is selling a
five gram sample of this Vietnam West Lake Golden Flower Lotus green tea for
$4.95 and I wish I could afford to drink this tea more often! This is definitely
not a daily drinker, at a little under a $1 a gram although I do think it is
worth checking out if just once.
This tea got me sooooo tea drunk! I love it! I have a tin of super cheap lotus green that I found in a Vietnamese market, it is ok, probably made while the person thought heavily of lotus ;) but it is practically garbage compared to this.
ReplyDeleteNow I regret not getting more than a sample with my last order!
Yeah I don't think I have ever had a Lotus scented tea like this one. Anyways it looks like Alistair has ordered 400g of the 2015 harvest. Source http://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/3feu2b/whatchas_vietnam_west_lake_golden_flower_lotus/cto1i72?context=3
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