Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

A little insight into how truly strange I am – this morning on my way to work my inner Sheldon came out and I started wondering, if Spock drank tea what would he drink? Sad I know. Then I thought, wouldn’t that make a great bit on Big Bang Theory? I can hear them point/counterpointing until agreement was reached. I’ve only seen a few episodes, they may have already had the debate.

My thoughts are he would not drink Earl Grey, or any flavored tea, with the possible exception of Jasmine Dragon Pearls. I would rule out black tea all together. I think he would go green or white. His logical side would be fascinated by complexity. My two choices would be Silver Needle white, or Dragon Well green. He is vegetarian, and while the white tea is subtle and meditative, I lean towards Dragon Well for its heartier layers of vegetal goodness. So in honor of Spock I lift up multiple cups today.

I mentioned this to a co-worker who just turned and walked away. Halfway up the hall he stopped, turned, and said, “I think his mother’s human side would come out and he would just drink Lipton black tea.” Say it isn’t so! Oh, wait do I detect sarcasm? I suspect he wasn’t taking this seriously. I do give him credit for trying to assimilate all aspects of the equation into his reasoning but that is specifically why I made room for the possible inclusion of Jasmine Dragon Pearls. Wasn’t that obvious?

To my fellow geeks that are still with me – this is true for northern hemisphere dwellers, not sure it all applies below the equator. This is for April 2012. Go outside tonight just after the sun goes down. The bright ‘star’ high in the western sky is Venus. Below it near the horizon and much dimmer but still bright is Jupiter. Easily seen even in twilight. As it gets darker turn East and high in the sky, the moderately bright red ‘star’ is Mars. Now turn southwest. The three stars in a row are Orion’s belt. The bright red star above it is Betelgeuse (beetle juice) and below the belt is Rigel. It’s actually a double star. Close to the belt and on the Rigel side is a fuzzy patch that you might interpret as a star. This is the Great Orion Nebula. Later this summer you can see the Andromeda galaxy with your naked eyes. It is bigger than the moon and you have never noticed it because it is fairly dim and doesn’t look like the pictures.

See, I am not just another pretty face. I know stuff.

Needed something gentle. Talk about severe storms headed this way has gone on for several days and has rubbed my nerves raw. I may have to break down and pay a visit to the storm shelter builders about digging a hole in our backyard…

This is wonderfully gentle, a nice sweet cereal flavor, but not so light it leaves you searching for something to taste. Trying a second steep as I write this…very pale, taste buds have to work a little harder, but still OK. Its mildness is very soothing.

C’mon storms, get your work done here and move on. I could use some sleep tonight.

I positively ache tonight. I took a nap this afternoon but still feel so tired. It is hot hot HOT here and I have been walking with my neighbor several mornings a week, but the past two times my legs felt heavy. Hubby is sick, came down with fever and chills yesterday, and I am hoping that isn’t what is happening to me!

I should have gone to bed but I needed a little space for my head to clear. I decided to use a gaiwan tonight to really force myself to focus on the tea. I am also hoping it will blast all the pathogens to smithereens.

The dry leaves had that strong chocolate scent that blows my mind. How does green tea smell so much like chocolate? The first steep – no rinse – is chocolatey, floral, and grassy.

Steep two – I fumbled and burned my fingers. In the hoopla, this got a little oversteeped,but I didn’t want to pour it out. It literally tastes like grass and burned toast, but the most amazing super sweet aftertaste followed every swallow. I am so glad I didn’t miss out on this aspect.

Steep three – shorter, grassy and floral with a mineral taste. A little earthy. A little roasty.

Steep four – keeping this steep short and feeling like an athlete in training as I watch my hand while pouring the tea. I thought I was pouring to the middle, between the spots where I grasp the gaiwan, but I see that somehow my wrist angles the flow toward my fingers. I must concentrate on aiming more for my thumb, which will put the flow right where it needs to be. I am beginning to feel the position that I see when I watch a video of a tea master pouring. There is a lingering burnt wood taste in my mouth. I’m lovin’ it. Or… toasted walnuts! Yes! After I swallow the last sip, I feel like I am tasting confectioner’s sugar in my throat, like I have just eaten a Sweet Sixteen doughnut. (Or “donut”, as Susie Dent claims we Americans spell it.)

Steep five – Shortest steep and sweetest flavor yet. Don’t know if I am exhausted or getting a little bit tea drunk. Though sweet, the woody and grassy notes are still there with the roasted toasty flavor. Aftertaste is a little grassier.

Steep six – dogs barking. Checked outside. Oversteeped again. Toasted walnuts!

Steep seven – short again, and floral up front with grassy following. Toasted walnuts present but subtle. Aftertaste still lingering very nicely, more floral now with mineral notes.

I read the note by K S before drinking this, and miss him being on here terribly. Rest in peace, friend. Enjoy the celestial star gazing.

Then I read GMathis long ago note about the storms coming through, and here we are in the midst of terrible storms in the mid-west tonight, and I knew that not long after that note GMathis would lose her home to an F5 tornado. She and her family were safe, thank God. ETA: I had my timeline wrong. It was not long before she wrote her note on this tea that the Joplin tornado occured.

We’ve been through a lot together here on steepster. I hope we can keep meeting here.

And now we can look forward to tales of the new babies (Hi, Sil and Kittena!) and students
taking exams (thinking of you, Martin, and saying a prayer for those finals!) and all of life revolving and churning, while we sip our tea all over the world…together.

Probably tea drunk. Crying in my cup. Love you guys.

I was excited to get this one in my sample box because I recently tried a different dragon well and really enjoyed it. I am happy to say that this one has lived up to my expectations.

Thanks again to Teavivre for the extremely generous sample of this tea. There’s so much in the pouch! The leaf is bright and smooth, and it smells a bit grassy and a bit nutty and a touch buttery. Steeped, that lovely chestnutty aroma comes out, which reminds me so much of chestnut sweets from a chinese bakery. The liquor is a very pale yellow, only slightly darker than the white of the mug, yet it’s still a flavorful cup. Smooth, lightly grassy, but also nutty and sweet, this tea has a lot of dimensions to it. A really really tasty cup.

Tried an experiment today.

Apologies before you read further, because in some places what I did might cause a pretty good uproar.

I made this iced. I thought it would be fabulous. Not so much. All of the things I love about this tea are enhanced with the warmth.

Note to self: Reserve the pricey Premium Dragon Well for hot tea in the future. It tastes so much better that way.
Thank you for remembering!

Also, this makes me think that I will only like herbals or black teas iced. I might try a flavored green at some point.

Delicious, delicious tea-for-breakfast yesterday morning. I think this and other dragonwells may become my go-to first thing in the morning teas, because they sit so much better in my stomach than flavoured blacks which sometimes edge towards astringency (Laoshan Black and Premium Taiwanese Assam are good too, but more limited in their supply in my cupboard at the current time). Anyhow, it was great in the travel mug yet again, all rock sugar and chewy vegetal. I deliberately overleafed to give it a stronger flavour, which was quite successful.

After a wonderful dinner I was in need of tea. Today already I drank 3 different black teas (I only reviewed 1) and decided to have something green. And this was my choice. A wise choice I might add. The aroma of the dried leaf is heavenly. It gave me an indication of what was to come. I brewed this in the Gaiwan. The flavor was as good as Long Jing gets and I’ve had many. I was imagining high foggy mountains with lush old growth evergreens. The flavors lingered in my mouth for what seemed like an eternity. This is a top flight Dragon Well.

I have been craving Dragonwell so much lately. I’m going to blame a work test (100% aw yissss) so I came home last night and made myself a pot. And of course when I wanted to write the note, Steepster was misbehaving with the kettle so I completely forgot until now (blame a nap followed by the creation of these https://www.etsy.com/listing/112616805/candy-corn-white-chocolate-bark-set-of-2)

I only steeped it for a minute and I really wish I had for longer :( but that is okay, it was still tasty. I hadn’t had this in so long that when I’m describing it as chestnut in writing I realized I really didn’t remember what that actually tasted like. Still came through even with the lighter steep. There are definitely mineral notes too.

I need to get through this one and then also try the Dragonwell I bought for cheap at the international supermarket. I have a feeling this one will win out though, just in color alone it’s superior. And given I’ve had this for months now, that’s saying something I think.

I am enjoying this tea today courtesy of Teavire – thank you

I used slightly more leaf today than I had before (more along the lines of 2 tsp/1 cup and the results were more to my liking. I also steeped it for three minutes. Now I am picking up more of the gentle, nutty notes. Raised the score a few points also. Sorry for the short note, must be leaving home soon!

This has to be one of my favorites from Teavivre. It is so very vegetal, light and clean.

When I scrape together the money for an order, this one will definitely be included!