Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

This one was okay, but not the best Dragonwell I’ve had by any means. The taste is quite subtle—there’s spinach and a hint of salt, but it’s lacking the citrus notes I’ve enjoyed in other Dragonwells. I do appreciate that it’s organic, though.

This is the last of the Teavivre Spring 2014 green teas I’ve left to try. I left the two Dragonwells until last on purpose so that I could drink them together and maybe compare a little.

In terms of appearance, this one is very similar to the Premium Dragonwell. The leaves are large (about 2-4cm), folded and flat. They’re mostly a medium grass green, although with some lighter and a few darker leaves. These leaves are more mottled than the Premium leaves, I think. There are more yellow and brown patches, on more of the leaves – perhaps because they’re organic? I’m not certain on that count!

I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 175 degrees. Brewed, the leaves are mostly unchanged, and have not unfolded at all. The scent is quite pungent, but very fresh – green vegetables (maybe cabbage or asparagus). The brewed liquor is a light yellow-green.

The taste isn’t as strong as I thought it would be, based on the scent of the brewed liquor. I can taste asparagus, and a touch of something cabbage-like that just verges on bitterness. It’s a very smooth tea, although I wouldn’t quite describe it as buttery. The hint of bitterness at the end of the sip is interesting, in that it provides a bit of bite. I guess that’s why I don’t find it as smooth as the Premium, but it’s still pleasant nonetheless.

On balance, this isn’t my favourite Dragonwell of those I’ve tried so far. It’s interesting in terms of flavour, and I’m pleased all over again that I don’t dislike it, but I think the buttery sweetness of the Premium Dragonwell probably spoilt me for this one today. I have some leaves left, so I’ll return to this one another day. For now, though, I’m impressed with the quality of the green teas I’ve tried from Teavivre, and I’m looking forward to the arrival of the Spring 2015 sampler.

Guys, did I mention that I bought a variable temperature kettle on the weekend for 40% off? It is my new precious. I’ve been using it for the past few days, and oh my god, is it so nice. No more testing with thermometers or trying to gauge the temperature by the sound of the boil!

Anyways, I made some of this tea this morning after Teavivre was so kind to send me some samples. I’ve found in making this that it’s easy to underleaf because the leaf itself is somewhat large and fluffy. But this morning I put in more leaf and it turned out pretty well: nice light gold/green liquor with a nutty vegetal taste.

I detected a bit of bitterness at the end, but I was still able to finish it. I don’t know, I’ve become much more finicky about greens lately.

PS: Here’s the Amazon link for the kettle, even though I bought it at Canadian Tire: http://www.amazon.ca/Oster-Litre-Kettle-Variable-Stainless-Steel/dp/B0048BPWQE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430931604&sr=8-2&keywords=oster+kettle

Overleafed, oversteeped over everything…and I get a very bitter and astringent cup. Sadly. I can detect some sweetness in there though.

Wow, I tried and pretty much failed to brew this with the “tall glass” method, lol. I put 3g (about half the sample) in a tall glass, filled it up about 1/3 of the way with 80C water, swirled it around for a bit, filled it up the rest of the way (probably about 12-14oz total), then sat and waited for the leaves to fall to the bottom. And waited, and waaaaited… only a few leaves sank fully, and with most of them still floating at the top, it was pretty much impossible to take a sip without getting a mouthful of leaves. So I poured through a strainer into an 8oz glass (leaving the original glass about 1/3 full) and drank that. I thought maybe the water cooled down too fast (I hadn’t preheated the glass, oops) so with the second steep I used 80C water again but hoped it would go better. With that round, about 2/3 of the leaves sank, but there were still too many on the top to drink comfortably, so again with the pouring through a strainer into the 2nd glass. Any bets as to whether the 3rd try will be a charm? :)

Steeping difficulties aside, this is a really delicious tea. There’s a vegetal, spinachy base flavour, with nutty and buttery overtones (roasted chestnut maybe?). A slight astringency, but that might be due to user error. :) This is making me want to order some fresh Chinese green tea from this year’s spring harvest. Mmmm…

Very nice green tea with strong vegetal notes and some nuttiness in the finish. It’s a little too strong of a vegetal taste for my liking, but a very good green.

Warning: Depressing tea note to follow. If you just want to read about the tea skip to the last paragraph.

I’m behind on my tea notes, so I’m going to start with what I’m drinking now and work backwards from there.

Oh guys, it has been a rough past few days. My daughter’s boyfriend’s father passed away unexpectedly late last week, so this week has been filled with helping young teenagers try to understand the unexplainable. The funeral was yesterday, and it was hard and so, so sad. My daughter and I both came home and slept for hours because we were emotionally drained, and then today I woke her up, made her tea, and watched her walk to the bus stop because life goes on. I’m sure there will be more tears and many more questions, but there will also be more smiles and more joy in the coming days.

Since one of my joys (and comforts) is tea I have been taking my time and enjoying the process of making each cup. This tea has beautiful tea leaves that have a bright jade color while steeping. The flavor is also beautiful. It’s a mix of vegetal and nutty with a bit of dryness at the finish. The nut flavor is a bit like chestnut, but there is another note in there as well that I can’t quite pinpoint. The tea is smooth, slightly creamy, and hints at sweetness. The resteeps are consistent with the first cup but with an even creamier note. Delicious.

To life and the simple joys that make that life beautiful. Cheers.

I picked a green tonight because it has less caffeine. This one is not bad, very vegetal. I get the note of spinach too. It has been a long day and my trip to the vet for my cat did not go well. My cat is in the early stages of kidney failure and may have cancer of the eye. I do not have thousands of dollars to spend in attempts to slow down the progression of the disease. It would cost a couple thousand dollars and there is no guarantee of success.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 3 min.

Made this to go along with my lunch today—unfortunately the lunch was disappointing, but the tea more than makes up for it. This is probably the butteriest Dragonwell I’ve had, very vegetal at the start and then intensely sweet in the aftertaste. It’s refreshing and calming, and I’m enjoying sitting here and making my way through a pot of it.

This morning I am sipping on this Long Jing sample from Teavivre.

I haven’t been drinking much green tea lately but I should really do something about that! For one thing my allergies are running amok and green tea seems to help. I think it may have something to do with the lack of rain around here but I seem to be waking up a lot with sniffles and congestion in the morning.

This is a really mellow and relaxing tea. It steeps up such a light color but has the classic nutty and mild vegetal flavors of a good long jing. I get an essence of sweet peas in this & It’s definitely a delicious cuppa. See previous notes for more details.