Xihu Long Jing

I could have sworn i’ve logged this before but apparently not. Had a small cup of this one tonight to clear my taste buds out while doing some dishes tonight. I like this one a fair bit, though greens aren’t preferred tea but if nothing else i’ve got a fun box once i’ve finished it! lol

Thanks again to Sil for a sample of this one.

Mmmm, dragonwell. My favourite type of tea. This one is no exception, although I admit that I got the teensiest bit of cat pee aroma/flavour while drinking it. There must just be some compound common to cat pee and some green teas. Really not sure what. Anyways, drank it and enjoyed it. However, I really seem to have a soft spot for Verdant’s Dragonwell-Style Laoshan Green. I know it’s not “real” dragonwell, but even though the samples I have are at least a year old, it still has a sweet, rock sugariness/beaniness that I love, that isn’t present in typical dragonwells. Ah well – this tea still made a delicious cup. At least two, in fact, unless cup #2 couldn’t handle the extra minute and 45 seconds it got while I was distracted putting my tomato plants back outside.

ETA: Cup #2 was just fine, but I didn’t give this a third infusion. I find I really prefer the first couple infusions of greens only.

Thanks to Sil for this sample! So over the course of the last couple hours I have gone from a bit sneezy/runny nose (common in fall/winter mornings for me) to very sneezy/runny nose, to inflamed mucosa and painful eyes. Yay. I better not be getting sick, because my doctoral dissertation defense is in one week.

Anyway, thankfully I am not stuffed up and can still taste and smell tea fine. This smells like a lovely, buttery green dragonwell, which is not surprising because that is what it is. I don’t LOVE dragonwell, but I do enjoy it and it’s one of my preferred types of green tea. This is a quite nice one. It doesn’t really stand out as exceptional, but it is buttery and fresh and green. A pleasant cup this morning.

TTB #15

What is this I’m drinking??? I want to know because it’s filling me with light and joy! Oh, it’s another Traveling Box tasting! Wow, this one is all over me.

I am so glad that my SuperHub got me a variable temp kettle because before that I was reluctant about having green tea (as I had to wait for the water to cool down after boiling and then it was always oversteeped anyway). Now I have more and more greens and I see a moment in the future where they might substitute most of black teas for me (except for the Chinese ones – we have certainly established that!) because they make me positively hyper! At the same time, black teas have an effect on me that is slightly similar to what coffee does to me – a moment of alertness followed by a crash.

Anyway, the tea! This tea is awesome! The leaves are beautiful green, the kind of green you only see a very good quality green tea to have (obv. it depends on the kind). They steep into a straw yellow infusion that over time turns into more definite brownish yellow. The fragrance matches its flavor well – it’s vegetal with a hint of citrus. The prominent note is asparagus… Yes, definitely, asparagus. So refreshing and yummy! I might be tempted to re-steep it…. IMMEDIATELY :D

EDIT: It appears that this tea is from one of these “French places”, or, in other words, completely unavailable to me, or, if physically available, then at least financially unavailable. Well, dammit :(

T&C Box 16/18

What a beautiful tea! It has long, flat leaves and uncurls slowly in water in the most lovely way. It also has a surprisingly complex smell, which isn’t something I’ve encountered much with greens. It almost smells like an oolong, with deep green notes and some fruitiness.

Apparently this is a dragonwell, which makes it the second one of that type I’ve tried. It brews up light, but the flavor is intense. Sweet, sweet green flavors, some white flower notes, almost juicy finish. Buttery is a good description but it doesn’t quite explain the rest of what’s great about this tea. I love this but have no idea where to get it, so I think I’ll look out for another company’s dragonwell instead.

Another sent by Sil. I did some sipdowns today. :)

It makes me happy that I suspected it was a dragonwell from the look of the leaves and I read in other reviews that it is. I feel like I’ve actually retained something. :)

When steeping, this had a really strong “cooked green stuff” smell. Not unpleasant but nothing I seek out. The leaves turn bright, bright green after steeping. It is somewhat brothy, grassy, vegetal and clean. It isn’t really my thing but it is quenching.

1.25 tbsp for 375 ml

Very spinach-y tasting. Almost mineral-type sweetness.

Thanks to Sil for sharing!

Tea & Cards TTB #11
Today was a crazy day with a stressful meeting with my advisor, so I took special care to choose the next tea from the box. A nice, mellow dragonwell seemed to fit the bill, so I steeped this one up in my teapot. It has a nice buttery texture and vegetal taste. I actually looked at some other tasting notes and read “asparagus,” so now that is stuck in my brain about this tea. I actually do think it tastes of asparagus, but it might be partially from my easily influenced mind tricking my taste buds. Anyway, there is awkwardly less than a teaspoon left of this, so I think I will pull it from the box and steep it up in a small cup at a later time. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer, calmer tea at this time!