Curled Dragon Silver Tips

These leaves are gorgeous! And they brew up the most beautiful, pale green colored liquid. So very pale … like a color blending of alabaster and the softest, palest green. So beautiful!

The flavor is unbelievably good. So sweet and it seems to sparkle on the tongue… it’s almost effervescent. The flavor starts out with a very, very subtle vegetative tone – almost barely existent – tasting of the mildest, youngest steamed artichoke heart. Buttery and rich, but with only a hint of vegetative taste. As I continue to sip, the vegetative tones develop somewhat, but they never become a really STRONG taste. Everything about this tea is very soft, delicate, and almost white tea-like. I mean that to mean that it tastes of such an exceptional quality, something that is in the furthest reaches of green tea (I like green tea, but, this is like a step beyond green tea, even).

I really love this. A truly remarkable tea.

Used the last of the sample. I wasn’t sure there was enough for a mug. I forgot how tightly this is hand rolled. It expanded nicely and formed a carpet on the bottom of my press and a hanging canopy at the top of the water. Kind of cool. On the second cup the leaf hung throughout the press like a little jungle. Visual things like this amuse me.

First cup started bitter. My bad. I got the water too hot. As the cup cooled, it took it in stride and became buttered veggies. The second cup started more planty tasting. It turned more green leaf and veggies as it cooled. Nice aftertaste throughout.

There’s something whimsical about this tea. The dry leaves look so pretty and unusual, I’ve never seen this rolling method, very different from oolong.

Before they go for a swim, I take some in the palm of my hand to observe them… they look like little silver grasshoppers about to jump!

I’m always in awe of the craftsmanship that goes into hand rolled tea. I can’t help thinking about ancient times and how luckily for us, some traditions are still anchored and necessary, too extraordinary to die…

They smell very sweet, promising a real treat when infused.

I’m using about 3 gr in a small clear glass gaiwan.

I won’t be describing infusion time cause as I’m getting more experienced with gongfu brewings, I have developed a sense of knowing what’s best for me, so I increase time as a «feel and smell» technique rather than a fixed time parameter. The purists might say I have this all wrong, but it works great for my own tastebuds! However, this method would have been such a disaster on my first gongfu session a couple of months ago :-)

The first steep renders a delicate sweet and floral taste, paired with a «not in your face» grassiness. What a nice morning buzz that is! Unlike oolong, the leaf almost opens up immediately, eager to reveal its splendor to the world!

Second infusion is a little more grassy and crisp, but still sweet . It’s delicate it every possible way, but yet, it gives such burst of flavour. The leaves are now fully opened, I think they are the most perfect leaves I have ever seen. No trace of discoloration on ANY of them… Full, beautifully twisted and unbroken, tender uniform green color, that’s got to tell you something about the way this tea is cared for when harvested…

The later steeps added more bite to the taste, tickled my tongue just a little :-)

I come to the conclusion that this embodies everything I love about green tea in one package. Like a fusion of my 2 favorite greens…
… Pssst…trying not to alert the Paparazzi Tea Press, but I think Mr Dragonwell got married to Mrs Sencha and harvested this Curled Dragon…mmmm, really wonder who it got its curls from!

I had received a sample of this many years and I am pleased to get it once again with a recent order.

This was my lunch tea to go with some ramen noodles that I had doctored up. I like to ditch the flavoring pack that comes with it – way too salty – and add my own seasoning. Younger people may not remember that the first ramen noodles we could buy here in the US said that it tastes best with a bit of oil added! I usually make my own seasoning with a little bouillon paste like Penzey’s or Better Than Bouillion, then a smidgeon of low sodium tamari or soy sauce, a smidgeon of fermented mushroom sauce, maybe a little Korean Sweet Chili sauce – whatever we have on hand and I am in the mood for. I usually add frozen peas and this time I added some leftover diced sautéed onion, too.

I made three steeps and I had added extra leaf to my Kamjove to make up for the fact that I was planning to do so. And this was really good! Delicate and soft, it would win over a green tea hater. It is lightly buttery, lightly vegetal in a creamy way, and after you have a cup or two the flavor lingers more as well as developing a slight drying.

Really good with a meal or by itself.

Thanks to Zen Tea for this sample.

This is yummy green tea that looks very interesting, too. It has a nice green tea taste that’s not too vegetal, although there are some notes there. It’s more buttery than anything else. It is not overly floral, which is nice since I find a lot of these hand-rolled teas can sometimes tend to be.

A very smooth tea with no bitterness or astringency. Definitely a pleasant tea for green tea lovers like me.

This was a free sample I received from Zen Tea. The dry leaves are beautiful, green and white curled leaves. The aroma is that of a light vegetal scent with floral notes, a mineral note, and a hint of a smokey note. The taste is just as good. It doesn’t taste overly vegetal like a lot of green teas can. This is vegetal, but more like sweet roasted vegetables with butter on them. The green vegetal notes you would expect are there, but hiding, the roasted vegetable notes definitely take precedence here. It’s good, really good. There is a soft floral note. And in the second steep I can get a hint of the mineral and smokey notes, just hints of them. There is no bitterness or astringency. This tea reminds me of Laoshan green tea from Verdant but not as creamy.

Thank you Zen Tea for this lovely sample!

SUCH a pretty tea!!!
Tastes wonderful!
Here are snippets from my review to be posted on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 10th

What a beautiful looking tea! When looking at Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea Life, the leaves are all curled and have variegated colors of light to dark green. The appearance is almost fluffy. Its a fairy tale dreamy sort of tea that makes me feel like a Princess.

Regardless, this tea has an equally lovely aroma of sweetly steamed veggies perhaps caramelized in a honey butter, white flowers, and summer grass. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy sniffing it.

I really appreciate the masterful art work of this hand rolled tea.

Wow! This is good. Real good.

Dry leaves: Smells of fresh cut hay and slightly floral. The leaves are small, dark green, and curled tightly. They have a bit of the white “peach fuzz” of young bud teas.

Brewing: Brews to a mellow grey-gold color typical of whites and young-leaf greens. The leaves expand quite a bit, almost tripling in volume, but maintain a slight curl.

Taste: Very mellow flavor with no bitterness at all. This is a very multifaceted tea, and in addition to the “green” flavors it has the dried fruit and mineral qualities of Ti Guan Yin, and the lightness and natural sweetness of a white monkey. There is also just a slight bit of smokiness reminiscent of gunpowder.

Reminds me of: K-Pop! Wait, no… Maybe that’s just my roommate blasting “Gangnam Style” on repeat…

Reminds me of: Well, all I can seem to think of for this one is that it reminds me of really good green tea! I guess that will have to do. :)

Cons: Gets pretty weak by the third steeping

Thank you, Zen Teas, for the wonderful samples :)

This is one of my favorites so far from Zen Tea! Thank you for this sample!!
The aroma of this tea while steeping is super sweet and inviting. The tea is smoooooth, flavorful and creamy. It actually reminds me a bit of Laoshan Green. The vegetable flavor isn’t sour or bitter. Just really mellow and tasty.
Drinking green tea like this makes me confident I’m in immediate need of sushi. Which is a good thing!

The previous writers have already described the appearance. I want to emphasize the aroma- it really hits you when brewing with an awesome “green”, vegetal aroma much like my very favorite greens. I was surprised that the flavor was much more muted than the aroma suggested. As the tea cooled, however, I was able to detect more and more flavor. This was a very enjoyable experience of a lighter green tea.