Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

Sipdown!

This was old but unopened, and I had a lovely few cups of this with my mom last week. Sweet with that characteristic dragonwell flavour, although definitely less fresh and vibrant than it could have been.
My cupboard is becoming a little bare on the fresh greens front, as I haven’t ordered a great deal of unflavoured tea lately, but maybe next year or 2025 I’ll feel like I can indulge…

This is my second dragon well from Teavivre. I tried this side by side with their other nonpareil dragon well, She Qian, for comparison. It wasn’t even close. The She Qian, a delicate and sublime green tea, is clearly superior in every regard. The Ming Qian’s leaves have a nutty, chestnut aroma and taste. They aren’t quite as pristine as She Qian nor as tasty. The tea has a basic dragon well flavor and it’s not particularly remarkable. I would describe the flavor as a light vegetable broth. It’s not as sweet nor as refined as the other one. A pretty lackluster tea overall.

My favorite dragonwell so far. It is quite buttery and smooth. Simultaneously sweet and roundly savory. Vegetal, like roasted, buttered… some young and tender spring veg. I love that it’s organic. Thanks to QueenofTarts for this surprise, it’s a great match for me :)

Water: 8oz

Leaves: medium green

Steep: 3m

Aroma: Sweet, Vegetable

Color: Pale almost clear

Taste: A cup of tea before bed paired after eating a ruby red grapefruit . Dragon well was one of the first teas i had in my early tea blogging start. I’m excited to be reviewing a different variation of this tea. A wonderful cup nice & light! Great if you don’t want anything heavy at night.

I was thinking about this tea earlier today, but I didn’t have time to make a cup. Now that my day is starting to wind down it’s nice to sit here with this beautiful tea. I love preparing this and admiring the bright green, tiny, flat leaves. I love the soft green color of the liquid. I love the flavors of chestnut and clean sweet grass. I love being able to sit and enjoy having something so pretty in my life.

It really is the little things.

I had this one yesterday, but Steepster wasn’t loading anything. To be brief, it is another exceptional Dragon Well from TeaVivre. I have yet to try a green tea from this vendor that isn’t flavorful and lovely. This one has the classed pressed leaves for this type of tea that unfurl into green beauties in the tea pot. It is naturally sweet, brothy, and has a faint green nuttiness to it. I also love that it is organic. My biggest issue with trying to so many green teas from that I love from the same place means it is that much harder to decide which to keep as staples here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Steepster friends!

This sample was included in a swap from Amariel.

The flavours in this Dragon Well are milder than I like them. The butter and nut (chestnut here) share a minimalistic philosophy, and don’t seem to like hopping up on stage and stealing the show. That’s unfortunate, because I like it when they do. The sweet fruity and vegetal notes here are more involved.

Another refreshing sample from Angel at Teavivre!

This one was very enjoyable, fresh, green and buttery – a nice vegetal cup.

I didn’t find it overly spinachy like some, and it did have quite a noticeable butter taste, which I certainly always appreciate.

Just a nice bright, new tea to drink in the summer!

Thank you for the sample, Angel!
I will enjoy the rest of what I have of this light refreshing tea!

So incredibly fresh with a very full mouthfeel that covers the taste buds with nuttiness accompanied by an edge of natural sweetness.

I got off to a late tea start today, but finally had a chance to brew up a nice two-glass tetsubin of this Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Long Jing from Teavivre.

I may have underleafed this pot and also understeeped (having used rather cool water, at 70C). The flavor was very subtle and light, slightly sweet and less chewy, so to speak, than some of the other Long Jings from Teavivre.

For the second infusion, I added half the water, and observed the beautiful little peapod-like leaves suspended while infused. The color is of the mini-peapods is vibrant light green, but the liquor still rather pale. However, the flavor of the (less dilute) second batch was better than the first round.

I may prefer more robust Long Jings, but this one is good without a doubt and is probably favored in China precisely for its subtlety.