Dragonwell

No argument with other tasters who say that it is a weak vegetal brew with an astringent tendency. But! I don’t have any big problems with it. It tastes like a light, roasty green tea. Maybe this is due to an inexperience with higher quality dragonwell, but I’d drink this as a nice generic green tea.

This is just ok, it has a nice sweetness at the end like all dragonwell’s do and a light vegetal notes but its just too weak and bleh tasting. Even when I steep for four minutes the leaves just don’t seem to have it in them. Very meh.

Iced.

I’m still looking for a smooth green tea that I can sip at slowly without finding a single flaw. I can’t say that about Adagio’s Dragonwell.

I recently placed a rather sizable order from Adagio, purely made up of samples for my tea edification. While the reviews I’ve read on Steepster tell me that Adagio’s teas are not ideal, I figure that the teas will at least give me a starting point in terms of what to look for. And, hopefully, comments when I write them up will give me a better idea of which direction to look for better versions of these teas.

Today, I went for the Emperor sampler.

“Ooh, I’ve heard a lot about dragonwell tea,” I told my long-suffering boyfriend. He was busy eating his dinner at the time, so his reply involved enthusiastic nodding. He doesn’t drink tea himself, but he knows how excited I get.

Now, the description on Adagio’s page promises a toasty aroma. I could smell it, but I was a bit worried about the seaweed-y edge I picked up. I’m not too fussed about seaweed, usually, but I don’t really like it in tea. It makes me extremely picky when it comes to green tea. I was a little worried already, from the smell.

I wanted to steep the tea for two minutes, but I didn’t count on the strainer for my new teapot on being quite so finicky to get out. I was terrified of making it go bitter on top of seaweed-y, but the extra 45 seconds doesn’t seem to have had any ill effects.

It brewed up a nice light yellow-green, with the usual green tea smell. Maybe a little stronger on the vegetal scent than some. And taste-wise it isn’t horrible like I was expecting, though I’m not that keen on it. It’s got a definite hit of seaweed and vegetalness, but it does resolve into something I could like. If the first hit of taste were less intense, I would definitely enjoy it a whole lot more. The aftertaste isn’t bad, smoother than the tea itself, definitely.

Sooooo final verdict is mixed feelings. It’s not terrible, but it’s not something I’ll reach for, given a choice. I’d go for my bland Heavenly Tea Leaves Oolong before I go for this tea.

I have not been able to resteep, because I made way more than I needed. I was under the impression my sister would help me drink this, but she left long before I made it. I don’t even know what to do with 40oz of green tea at 10PM! It’s a bit amusing, really. :)

If the flavour changes when I resteep, I’ll let you know, fellow Steepsterites!

One of my favorite greens. Light and a hint of sweetness. I find I have to use a lot of leaves or it can turn out somewhat watery.

Pretty light green gold in cup. Nice nose, more “mature” than gyokuro, more in oolong vein? Some summer night florals paired with savory congee notes on nose… even a bit of orchard blossom and ripe peach. Could swear this develops in the cup. Adagio says freshly roasted white corn, I can see it.

Hmm… I’ve tried this a couple of ways and it always seems to taste like dirt. A bad batch maybe?

The tea leaves have a beautiful, light green color. They are flat and have a crispness to them before steeping. The aroma is sweet, almost like that of matcha. After brewing, the leaves are full and soft. I brewed mine using a gaiwan, then sipped my tea out of a small tea cup. The hue is a pale greenish-yellow. The taste is vegetal and bitter, yet with a hint of sweetness. It has a smooth mouthfeel. The finish is dry, letting the taste pleasantly linger, like good company.

Very vegetal and bright, almost salty. It’s alright.

Backlog. I was surprised at how much I liked this dragonwell. Out of all the long jings I’ve tried, this one is the most robust.

This tea has the aroma of cooked vegetables, and is slightly smokey. Dry leaf is fragrant though I noticed quite a bit of broken leaf. The first sip was delicious. Sweet vegetal and smooth. The body is thicker than the Teavivre dragon wells I’ve tried. As the tea continued to steep however, it developed a deep stewed vegetal flavor that reminded me of gunpowder green tea. Eventually it went bitter and left behind a smokey, broccoli like aftertaste.

I steeped this one grandpa style and though I only tried a small sample, I suspect it works better with short steeps. Longer steeps bring out more of the undesirable characteristics of the tea such as bitterness.