Mrs. Li's Shi Feng Dragonwell Green Tea

Hmmm, I’ll post my tealog under this – or maybe I should create a 2013 tea?
I dunno. I just drink the tea, take weird photos and write the review.

Lovely spinach, cucumber, melon, creamy, sweet, fruity, refreshing and lychee notes!

I tried this tea both gaiwan and glass brewing – the gaiwan went better for me as in the glass. However, I can see this dragonwell being really great to enjoy in one’s tumbler all day!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/mrs-lis-shi-feng-dragonwell-green-from-verdant-tea-tea-review/

I love Dragonwell.

I dumped the dry leaves in my warmed flowering teapot and it smelled like a peanut butter, except more vegetal! Maybe I shouldn’t have done that but the smell was worth it. Wow!

Drinking the “rinse” and it is equally full of buttery nuttiness. I’ve never had a Dragonwell that is this full of flavour and smell. It’s almost overwhelming.

I get the green granny smith apples on the first steep; it’s sweet, juicy, crisp, and kind of tart, in a way. I can’t believe I taste that. The buttery nut notes linger in the back roof of my mouth, like mushed cashews or soybeans. My second steep is even smoother with that prevailing buttery, nutty sweetness. The unfolding flavours evolve into various items.

I think I’m going to end the note there and just focus on drinking as much of this as possible- this may be my new favourite Dragonwell! I purchased two “Dragonwells”, among other teas, from Verdant but this is the only one I bought in a larger quantity right off the bat. I’m glad I did!

On a side-note: I never felt the full effect that the water taste had on tea until I started short brewing and went from Vancouver to Victoria. Victoria water tastes of algae! It is not my favourite.

Since I saw this was going so fast I placed an order for a sample size of this and a few of the others teas that Verdant was getting low on that I had heard a lot about. The leaves of this look beautiful and they smell like a nice summer garden. Wet they smell very similar to a strawberry poptart, which amazes me. I am brewing in my gaiwan today so I will just list my notes for each steep.

1st: No rise as suggested and steeped for 3 sec. I can really taste the Cashew notes that are mentioned on the site.
2nd: 3 sec steep. Once again their is Cashew notes but its a little subdued since there is something else coming through, I’m not sure what.
3rd: 3 secs. Alright so what I was getting is a creamyness that compliments the cashew flavor.
4th: 6 sec. Along with the creamyness there is a bit of a sugary sweetness to this one. The cashew flavor is more blended with all the other flavors now so its like cashew butter.
5th: 9 sec. See above and image its blended even more.
6th: 12 sec. nothing different.

There will be other steepings but I don’t feel the need to post them since they seem to be staying the same from here on out.

Alright, first time in almost two weeks that I actually had enough time to do a proper review. First of all, I actually tried this tea when I got it, but I had a paper to write and team mates to “motivate” so that the group wouldn’t fail a project (I refuse to do all the work, and actually had to bring the professor into the discussion to actually get them to work…).

As with all my green teas, I brewed this tea in my ceramic tumbler. I actually like to let my tea cool for a while before drinking, so the leaves had a few minutes to steep peacefully before I started to blow them out of my way. The first cup was delighfully clear and lightly grassy. It’s very sweet for a green tea, and it has an amazing smooth/creamy finish that is just perfect. It’s also amazing in that the smooth/creamy texture lingers for over two minutes on the hard palate, gently transitioning into a tingling creaminess (somehow, the smoothness dissapates). This is by far the best green tea I’ve ever had.

As the steepings ocntinued, the hashser edges of the grassiness quickly faded into a delightful sweet grass flavor. It’s like my beloved fukamushi sencha, but the texture of the tea is smoother. After about three cups, the creamy texture has faded, and it was relanced by a mineralish smoothness which lingers on the back of the tongue very delightfully. By number 5, vanilla was starting to peak out of the rest of the flavors, but it remained fairly weak for a quite some time.

The later steepings where characterized by a light vanilla flavor, a bit of sweet grass, and a general smooth, sweet taste. The amazing thing is that it never gets bitter, nor does the flavor ever really have anything unpleasant about it. It’s truly a finely-crafter tea, and I offer my humble thanks to both David and Mrs. Li for making this tea available to us.

Final experiment – How do the tea leaves taste? I remember somebody (I think it was Bonnie…) experimented and ate this tea after she was done, so I decided to give it a go. It was interesting, to say the least. The leaves didn’t have that much flavor, and they were very chewy, yet they wern’t unpleasant. It was fine, but I woun’t go out of my way to eat the leaves in the future.

Music of the Day – Dinastia Borja, directed by Jordi Savall.

This is a wonderful historically-informed performance, covereing music from the 11th century up to tail end of the renaissance, and from various cultures. THe common theme is the Borgia Family, and each peice can be related to them somehow. Also, the 3 cds come with a book in multiple languages, which explains both how the pieces relate to the Borgia family, tell their story, and provides the lyrics fo the music.

Here’s a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgU6-cz0RM0

SIPDOWN! (mwahahaha getting tired of seeing those from me yet?) My review won’t do this justice since I am not a fan of green teas in the greater scheme of things. You’re better off checking out the reviews from other folks like Bonnie; Matt; Kittenna…etc.

Long story short? I would drink this again. it’s vegetal but in a sweet sort of way. However i only need maybe one green tea in my cupboard since it takes me forever to drink them, so i’m better off with something else :)

I cannot use Verdant’s steeping method. I tried but I just can’t drink tea when it is that hot. So I had maybe a 30 second steep before realizing I had to pour into a drinking vessel. Even with botched methodology and a pretty short steep, this turned out very nice. This is an excellent version of the type. Clean, crisp, fresh and green. The aftertaste is sweet. I am on my first cup but expect to enjoy several more.

Ack. I won’t rate this one as I’m not sure how much of the way this tea is is due to the fact that it’s a bit too old and I had opened it and then saved it for months unrefrigerated. Others have mentioned how beautiful this tea is, but my sample is full of lots of small leaf pieces. I honestly don’t think I could have accidentally pulverized it that much. I am very careful with my Verdant samples. However, my cat Xavier did sit in this box briefly.

I have always been disappointed with Dragonwell teas. I don’t think I have had a single good one! I see in videos these beautiful green leaves swirling and unfurling in a pale broth, and then slowly and delicately resting at the bottom of the glass.

The Dragonwells I have made always looked over-oxidized and full broken leaves that turn the water a mostly yellow color. This one did just that and brewed a bitter cup. Oh well.

Backlogging from yesterday when I had a toddler with a fever attached to me all day. I also brewed this in the recommended Dragonwell style. Took a bit of getting used to but got easier when I was half through my first glass (I actually had a place to blow the leaves to) and the subsequent refills only got easier as the leaves sank and tastier! In fact toward then end I found myself getting lost in the glass. Love love love the cherry aftertaste in this one, it’s amazing! The green was a bit intense for me at times, especially as the leaves kept trying to get into my mouth. Thankfully I have over an ounce of this left (pre-ordered a sample size and then added an ounce). Will be picking up some good spring water for my next session with this, at which point I hope to provide more detailed notes. Still feel very blessed to be able to drink this wonderful tea. Thank you Verdant and Mrs. Li!

Enjoyed several steepings of this wonderful Dragonwell today. I’ve been on such a black tea binge, that I almost forgot how satisfying a really good green tea can be. One of my favorite greens!

First time drinking this as iced tea. It’s pretty good that way, actually. Same brewing method as usual for work. Make it up in the morning with 4 cup’s worth of leaves in my 1 QT pitcher, let cold steep for 8 hours and then sweeten and drink. I work 10 hour days these days so it’s totally doable.

I’ve drunk through 1/3 of the pitcher already with another third in my glass. It’s pretty good. Really refreshing during the sip and as soon as I stop drinking, the dragonwell green-tea-ness comes through pretty strongly for a few moments. If it were strongly green through the whole drink, I might have difficulty with it. It’s one of the difficulties I have with green tea in general. Also I didn’t have any of the usual ‘green tea nausea’ I have on an empty stomach.

In cat news: remaining kitties stayed nearby during all of yesterday, even the standoffish girl kitty. The initial grief has died down a bit though I still can’t talk about it or even type up this note without tearing up a bit (or a lot). I miss him but he was not having a good life anymore. The regret for the decision to have him put to sleep is that his life was so miserable now and not that I let him leave me. Hardest decision of pet parentship.