China Zhejiang Wild-Growing Dragon Well 'Long Jing' Green Tea

Bright grass, vegetals, and nuttiness. Many others have described this tea so thoroughly and beautifully — I just let myself enjoy it. The leaves are so flat and slickery that I think I spilled and poofed more of them onto the counter than I ever have during preparation. Like trying to contain glitter. Large glitter.

The only echo I wanted to make was of derk’s note that the wet leaves smelled like leeks and beef… I was all ready to assume that was a niche-nose note, but I opened up my pot and I’ll be damned… that curiously empty smell of unseasoned, boiled cow muscle with a little not-quite-onion-yep-that’s-definitely-leeks ghosting in. I didn’t get this scent or flavor anywhere else but from the wet leaf. Nice pin, derk!

The dry aroma of this tea is so strong, fresh and moslty of cashnew and chesnuts. I would not expect it is tea from April 2015; but it is and it’s Best Before date is April 2018. Though old… thank you White Antlers!

I was preparing it grandpa, but well… 5 grams were too much and while pouring (I thought it is for liquids only) it a big chunk just released and my cup of thermos I used instead of bowl, was full with tea. It was hard to spill it back to the pouch. So I think that about another 5 grams were dumped.

Anyway, back to the tea… 5 grams and 82°C water (I measured this time!), volume was 300 ml and well it was too strong, especially brewing grandpa. It turned out quite bitter with vegetal notes. Certainly past its prime time, moreover my preparation method wasn’t the most clever one. I have still lots of to try so won’t rate this time. I noticed as well the minerality, but hey so strong as those previous notes.

Need to re-try and with less leaf

April 2015 harvest, sealed pouch.

Flattened, unbroken olive green leaves are still quite fragrant with roasted chestnut and what reminds me of the sunflower butter swirl brownies a friend made recently. Very light yellow liquor has a taste kind of citrus-bright and nutty with typical dragon well roasted nuts-chestnut as well as dry grass and clean, mouthwatering minerality. Wet leaf has a leek-beef umami aroma. The second cup isn’t as flavorful but it does have a much stronger aroma. This old leaf would probably take some playing with parameters to get the most of what it has to offer.

It’s been interesting trying a handful of green teas with 4-6+ years of age. While not optimum, they could serve in a pinch.

Bit of a gateway for me. The first tea I tried after reading the faq on reddit/r/tea, linked articles and finding a supplier. At first it just tasted like astringency and chlorophyll. It took a little time for my head to adjust to the tastes of teas. Then suddenly I got tastes of hay and meadow scents and huge refreshment. Hooked me.

I’ve had this Western style and am now trying it grandpa style while I frantically try to finish a crazy writing project. It’s got a nice strong veggie flavor this way, and isn’t getting too bitter. I’m still not in love with green tea in general, and I’m not sure I’ll reorder this, but it is a good tea to keep me company on my late nights.

Sipping down this sample received from a tea friend this morning. I was planning to drink it grandpa style but couldn’t get the leaves to sink and didn’t feel like filtering them with my teeth, so it ended up being western style instead, which was still quite enjoyable.

Nutty with underlying vegetal notes and a nice viscosity. This was from last year’s harvest, so I’m really interested in knowing what it tastes like fresher, as it’s still quite good now.

Totally changed my mind about Dragonwell. It is unlike anything I have ever had. Really great.

I normally don’t get too excited about dragon well, but this one really made me sit up and pay attention.

I steeped 1g of leaves grandpa style in a tall glass teapot. The dry leaf greets you with a wonderful aroma of roasted vegetables. The taste is a medley of green veggies. I picked out notes of snap pea, edamame, and green beans. It’s nutty, but not overly so and has a juicy, thick mouthfeel. There’s a depth of flavor here you don’t usually see in dragon wells, which tend to be subtler than other green teas.

The longevity of this tea is remarkable. I started brewing with 175 F water and due to laziness didn’t bother reheating the water when refilling yet it maintained a robust flavor and the cooler temperature brought out more sweetness.

I was a bit apprehensive about ordering this tea because dragon wells are usually best when fresh and this was already several months old. However the flavor was still spectacular. I can only imagine how amazing it must have tasted when the tea was freshly harvested in the spring.

I just had to get in another sample sipdown today. This was another mini sample I received with a recent What-Cha order. Prior to this, I had never tried one of their green teas. This one convinced me that I should perhaps focus on more of Alistair’s green offerings in the future.

I did not do anything fancy with this tea. Though I have gotten strong results from gongfuing teas like this in the past, I opted for my trusty old Western two step for this one. I started by steeping 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 176 F water for 2 minutes. This infusion was followed by a 3 minute infusion in the same amount of water at the same temperature.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted pleasant aromas of grass, hay, chestnut, and soybean. After infusion, the light yellow tea liquor produced stronger aromas of grass, hay, chestnut, and soybean underscored by malt, squash blossom, and asparagus. In the mouth, it was easy for me to pick up on a lovely mix of grass, hay, soybean, chestnut, squash blossom, oat, malt, cream, butter, and asparagus notes. The second infusion continued to emphasize chestnut, grass, and vegetables on the nose, though here there was less of an impression of hay and squash blossom and more butter, oats, and malt with a hint of minerals. In the mouth, the liquor displayed smooth notes of butter, cream, malt, oats, grass, chestnut, asparagus, and soybean with a hint of minerals toward the finish.

Dragon Well is perhaps my favorite type of green tea. Though I have gotten away from it recently, it was so nice to come back to a tea like this. It was a very pleasant, straight-forward drinking experience. What I got on the nose, I also got in the mouth. Though it may not have packed any surprises or detours, it would have been foolish to expect a tea like this to provide such experiences. As Dragon Well teas go, this one is quite nice. I think fans of such teas would get a kick out of it.

There is an immediate burst of rich nuttiness as the thick, brothy liquor coats the mouth, followed by a sweet vegetal flavor that takes over and gradually reveals an unexpected floral note. This is the first Dragon Well that has truly impressed me. It is bold, smooth, and an absolute delight.