Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

This is consistently a very nice tea from Teavivre. The value for the price is always amazing. I did prefer last year’s harvest (2015) to this year (2016), but this is a minor distinction. It really is consistently good. Last year the tea had a bit more spiciness to it, and a bit more complexity. But this year it is quite fresh and pure – a very good buy for quality LongJing. I rate the 2015 harvest 95, and this year 90.

Spring 2015 harvest. Despite this tea being almost a year old, the dry leaf smells incredibly sweet and fragrant. Maybe not a pure, subtle, “fresh” aroma but still delightfully intense.

Apr 11: Brewed this Western-style, in a 16oz teapot for 3:00, 179˚F and it turned out pretty luscious, with full nutty sweet toasty flavour, maybe very slightly on the edge of burnt. They recommended 185˚F but I might lower it to 177˚or so next time. Unfortunately I was stupid and needed to insulate the pot base with more than a tea towel, so my solid wood dining table now has a round white burn print on it ໒( •́ ∧ •̀ )७
Any suggestions on removing this burn stain would be appreciated. I might try wiping it down with olive oil…

To be continued…

good

The best dragonwell I’ve had thus far. It came double sealed in two bags and the leaves weren’t broken. It smelled more strongly than the other longjing I’ve had, but not in a bad way. It was toasty, buttery, and dry-hay like, slightly vegetal, and not bitter at all. As far as I can tell (with my limited experience) its perfect. Can’t wait to steep it some more, and play around with the steeping time.

When it comes to green tea, I’ve always been partial to Japanese tea. For a long time, all I ever drank was sencha and gyokuro. But this particular dragonwell has completely upended my perception of Chinese green teas.

This tea tastes like spring in a cup. It has a bright, crisp flavor reminiscent of freshly cut grass and a sweet vegetal note as it goes down. Just a wonderfully delicate and very clean tasting tea that refreshes the palette. It reminds me a lot of some of the top Japanese green teas I’ve had more so than your typical roasted Chinese green tea. I much prefer this dragon well to Yunnan Sourcing’s which has a tendency to become astringent.

Like most green teas, this one is a little fussy. You have to pay attention to steep time and temperature. Followed Teavivre’s instructions, I brewed it for 2 minutes in 185 F water and found it bitter. Dropping the time and temperature to 1 minute and 175 F gave the best results. I increase the steep time for each subsequent infusion. The first two infusions are excellent and then the flavor starts fading by the 3rd.

I think this may be my favorite green tea. The tea leaves smell so good, you want to eat one (I do anyways lol ), and once brewed the tea smells just as good. It tastes smooth and buttery. Nutty. A little toasted. A slightly sweet nectar taste. Will definitely be getting more of this.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: medium flat leaves

Steep: 1m,2m,3m

Aroma: fresh, vegetable, grassy

Color: light green

Taste: Dragon Well tea will probably always be a favorite of mine, it’s one I discovered when I first started my entry to the world of loose tea. It’s truly a great tea drinking any time day or night. This was apart of the Spring 2015 Collection and now i understand when it comes to tea picking time is important. These new tea have had a wonderful fresh aroma & refreshing taste. I have actually finished the 1st sample packed upon writing this review. Dragon well seems to be a fool proof tea even if you add a bit too much/ too little tea it’s still nice to drink. I haven’t had any problems in terms of bitterness. The one mistake I’ve made is not closing the packet good enough which in terms brings down the color of the leaves & the water tone. Overall I can say Dragon Well is a must have in any green tea lovers collection! I’ve thought about starting a YouTube channel with photo/slideshow tea reviews.

I recently ordered a sampler of Spring 2015 green teas from Teavivre, so I’m currently working my way through the remainder of my Spring 2014 pack, in the expectation that I’ll have finished them before the new stuff arrives. That’s the plan, anyway.

The leaf here is fascinating. They’re larger than I would have expected, flat and folded in appearance, and a fairly uniform grass green with some lighter speckles and some dark (brown-ish) patches. The wet leaf isn’t much different in appearance, except that some of the leaves have unfolded a little. The scent is vegetal, rather like spinach, and also a little chestnutty. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it a.5 minutes in water cooled to around 175. The brewed liquor is a pale yellow-green.

To taste, this is another green I’ve found myself unexpectedly enjoying recently. I never would have thought I’d enjoy green teas as much as I do now. In fact, it’s probably time I stopped saying that in general I don’t like them. I’m not sure that that’s true anymore, which means that continuing to try different types has been more than worthwhile.

This is a delicious cup. It’s smooth and buttery, with a sweet, fresh vegetal flavour and an underlying nuttiness. It tastes to me like steamed green vegetables – spinach, perhaps, and green beans. There’s some sweetness that I associate typically wish freshly shelled peas. The nuttiness works really well with those flavours, and pine nuts specifically are what this one brings to mind.

This is another variety that I’ll be adding to my list of “likes”, and another one I’ll look to explore some more. I’m pretty sure Teavivre’s green teas are among the best there are; I’ve never found a run of pure green teas that I like as much, or that have such clear, fresh flavours. This would be a potential repurchase for me, and I don’t say that often about a green tea! Perhaps that’s about to change.

I love Longjing on a warm sunny day. There is something about the delicate refreshing flavors that just put me in good spirits! I opened the package and revealed long elegant leaves of vibrant green and yellow. These flat slates carried the aroma of fresh silky vegetables and a slight robust floral hint. I brewed these beauties up in my glassware to watch them dance. My tea pot gave off a spinach and chestnut aroma as the hot spring water touched the leaves. I filled my pot in three short bursts to agitate the delicate leaves. I always brew Long Jing with cool water (175F) to get the sweet flavors out. The taste was so refreshing. This brew has a delicate vegetal flavor with a honey nectar sweetness. I can feel my body relaxing with each sip. I was able to pull three steepings out of this brewe, and I deeply enjoyed each one.

https://instagram.com/p/3HAmXrTGf9/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I just finished an epic baking frenzy! I made a Matcha and Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake which is delicious, a chocolate cake mixed with orange blossom water and masala chai spice drizzled with a glaze of saffron, raw honey, and orange blossom water. That one is my invention, turned out really yummy, this is my first time going entirely experimental with baking using gluten free flour, so I am glad it was not a disaster. My potato flour and garlic biscuits, however, they are kinda gross…more proof that I should stick to baking sweets, since my savories almost never turn out! So I am worn out and of course have more cleaning, but I am so waiting to just toss everything that is left into the dishwasher, I am a lazy baker.

And so the journey through China’s spring greens continue, with Teavivre’s Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea! They sell several grades of Long Jing, from their super fancy She Qian at the highest and most expensive (also earliest harvested if I am correct) to this one, the second least expensive of the Dragon Wells. Harvested on April 15, 2015, this tea is delightfully fresh, putting it between Qing Ming and Gu Yu (which was on April 20th this year, according to my handy calender, seriously it is the best app ever because it has all the Taoist holidays, Solar Terms, and things of that nature) two of the big spring harvest periods. The aroma of the little green swords (oh hey, a lucky ball of fuzz! You get those during the processing, I call them good luck because who doesn’t like balls of trichomes?) is sweet, green, and nutty, just the way a good Dragon Well is supposed to smell! There are notes of sharp artichoke, fresh vegetation, sweet peony, toasted sesame seeds, a bit of green beans, and a hint of orchids. This one is surprisingly floral, but it is more like the nectar of the flower rather than a heady scent, it balances well with the green notes.

Into my green tea Yixing teapot it goes! I started having this teapot for all robust, vegetal Chinese greens, but really I use it most for my much loved Long Jing. Brewing the leaves results in a soggy tea that is not longer floral, but is all vegetal. There are notes of artichoke, bell pepper, chestnut, a bit of bamboo leaves, and a tiny bit of chestnut at the finish. The liquid is sweet with notes of artichoke, wildflower honey, spicebush, and a hint of peony. It smells mellow but not delicate.

The first steeping lets me know it is a good, clean, Dragon Well, it does now bowl me over, but it certainly is tasty! It has a rich, full body with a smooth mouthfeel, the taste starts off with bell pepper and green bean, this moves to a tiny bit of artichoke and bamboo leaves, the finish is sweet chestnuts and peony nectar.

The second steeping’s aroma is crispy, yes that is how to describe a smell! There are notes of nutty chestnut and crisp broken bamboo leaves and bell pepper. The taste is rich, delightfully rich and green, with notes of bell pepper, green beans, with a nice slightly bitter cooked kale and a nice smooth chestnut midtaste. The finish, like the previous one, is a nice peony nectar which lingers.

Third steep, woo! The aroma is less vegetal this time around, it is sweet and nutty with a delicate peony flower and bamboo leaf finish. The taste is quite sweet this time around, like chestnuts and those delightful honey and sesame candies (not Halva, like I frequently rave about, but candies that are just honey and sesame…rather addictive) there is a light bamboo leaf and bamboo shoot taste with a gentle finish of green beans and peony nectar. This tea is one of those Dragon Wells that make for an excellent everyday tea without breaking the bank, which is always pleasant because Dragon Well can get really expensive!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/04/teavivre-premium-dragon-well-long-jing.html