Yunnan Green from SanTion

I had another Tea Stuff Roundup planned for today, but unfortunately haven't had time to put it together properly. So instead, here are some notes on Yunnan Green from Santion. Roundup next week!

This is definitely a go-to green tea of mine now: I enjoy its fruity, vegetal flavour a lot. Here are a few tasting notes from the other morning, when I had time to sit quietly before Pippin woke up:

Four infusions in gaiwan, filled about 1/3 with dry leaf. Started out with a 40 second steep and lengthened each infusion so the fourth was probably about 1.5 minutes. Fruity notes to the fore while drinking, specifically apricot and peach, a hint of grapefruit (?) in the third or fourth infusions. Savoury vegetable flavours in the aftertaste, which is reasonably long; silverbeet or chard maybe. This is quite a chewy tea. (This is the first time I've used this term and that's because I think I now know what it means: a tea that is substantial enough to make you want to chew it!) It leaves a cool dry feeling in the mouth.

I think I actually like gaiwan brewing for this tea more than teapot brewing, although I don't always have the leisure to use my gaiwan (which is tiny, only 150ml). It's still pleasant enough in a teapot, brewed for say 2-2.5 minutes at a time (I would normally do two or three infusions) but I think that more leaf and shorter steeps suits my palate better. I will keep trying and see.