Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! It’s time again for another Let’s Talk Tea post, this time around I’m going to be reviewing Tea Repertoire’s Bi Lo Chun Sanxia (Green Tea).

Dry Leaves

Floral – Sweet – Vegetal – Nutty

Tea Tasting Notes

Silky – Smooth – Floral – Nutty – Buttery – Umami

Normally I do a general overview of my steeps when it comes to this part of this post but this time around I wanted to try something different. Since I only did 6 initial steeps with this tea I thought why not tell you about them all. For this tasting session used 3g of tea, my Tea Repertoire Glass Gawain and as this is a green tea I used 85 Degree (C) water.

Steep 1: 10 secs | Vegetal – Slightly Floral – Moderately Sweet – Umami Underpinnings – Smooth – Silky – Light

Steep 2: 20 secs | Vegetal – Nutty – Moderately Floral (getting stronger) – Seaweed – Butter – Mostly Savoury – Florals Noticeable in aftertaste | Roasted Genmaicha Like Notes

Steep 3: 30 secs | Slight Astringent – Vegetal – Stronger Floral Notes – Slightly Sweeter Than Steep 2 – Nutty – Stronger roasted notes in aftertaste – Steep 3 is where it started to get a little bit drying in the mouth.

Steep 4: 40 secs | Much Lighter – Strong Florals – Lighter Vegetal Notes – No More Roasted Notes – A Slight Grape Note in The Aftertaste – Nutty | I was so gutted that both the roasted and buttery notes were lost in this steep they were my favourite aspects of the pervious steeps.

Steep 5: 50 secs | Much Lighter Vegetal Note – Stronger Florals – Smooth – No Astringency – Very Light Nutty Note – The grape note I spoke about did linger in the aftertaste of this steep, but it was much lighter than the pervious steep | Not drying in the mouth at all | This was by far the sweetest steep.

Steep 6: 60 secs | I was slightly surprised to see a slight vegetal note still present in this steep a lot of the other notes from the last few steeps died down here so I decided to stop this session at 6 steeps. | It probably could have gone a few more steeps but it lost a lot of my favourite notes and I thought the best option was to stop here rather than pushing it.
I did how ever feel like I was missing something by not pushing it a little further, so I went back to it and did a further 4 steeps and I’m so glad that I did.

This green tea is one of the best I have ever had and I am so thankful that out of all of their teas Tea Repertoire chose to send me this one and I’m also thankful I still have some of this left (though it probably won’t last long) I have no doubt that this could easily become an everyday tea for me. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve sat down and down a tasting session with a straight/unblended green tea and I think doing so with this tea has truly reminded me of just how much I love green tea, it’s so incredibly versatile and whenever I try a new one I’m always surprised by what they being to the table.

Tea Repertoire very kindly sent me this green tea, my new glass gaiwan and a black tea and if they quality of this tea is anything to go by I really am in for a treat with the next one. (The review of that black tea will be going up next month)
A huge thank you to Tea Repertoire for picking such a beautiful green tea to send to me, you’ve only made my love for green teas stronger and for that I am going to blame you entirely for any green tea purchases I make anytime soon.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

You can find out more about Tea Repertoire and purchase their Bi Lo Chun Sanxia for yourself here. As always Teacups if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them as soon as I can

Speak to you all on Monday. Happy Steeping! – Kimberley