Long Jing, Xi Hu, Early Spring 2018

Spring 2018
Shi feng xi hu Long jing
Tea drunk

Though I normally prefer gongfu brewing for new teas, I cannot seem to gongfu brew a green tea properly, with most brews turning out too bitter or too weak, so I went grandpa for this. It’s also probably that I just don’t enjoy green teas that much and finished drinking it alongside dinner.

Water at 183-185f, Poland spring bottled water, 4g grandpa style in a ~500 mL glass. Poured water in and waited until the leaves sank to drink.

Dry leaves smell a bit nutty

Apparently it’s a thing that you should never drink “old” long jing, arbitrarily beyond one year. I get that it, like any other green tea, loses freshness particularly quick compared to other teas. But whatever, I drank this. I’ve never had any long jing before and this is probably the most expensive tea I’ve ever had (granted tea drunk’s pricing is ridiculous to say the least, $69 for 4g of 2019 longjing vs $17 for 4g 2018 LJ lol) and likely will have unless I decide on a far more lucrative career than what I plan for currently.

Brew smells like a toasty matcha. Very nutty.

Brews a light yellow, which from what I understand is a characteristic of any true long jing

Taste is lightly bitter upfront and then ends with a nice sweet aftertaste, and subsequent infusions were pretty bland. Overall not too impressed given the price. At this price, I would instead recommend a nice sheng, which if you’re judging just on aftertaste, shengs have some incredible ones.

I will give this a 70. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, even at 3 years old for a green (though that is likely why I didn’t feel a ton of depth). My issue is with inflated pricing (which is just basic economics and the nature of an incredibly sought after product), and what I feel are better options for what you’re paying.