Long Jing

I used Oolong Owl’s tea spreadsheet today and cataloged all my tea. I found the result to be interesting. I now know what I have. Over 230 teas. Which means only 50% have been entered into the cupboard.
Most bought category: Oolongs then blacks.
Least bought: Green and what I do have is old. Like these teas were once green, but now look grey old. These will be my next sipdown targets.

Dry leaf smells fruity and pretty fresh – coming out of the vacuum package from the tea club.
2 min 185F – way nuttier, more vegetal.
I’ve been drinking a daily drinker quality long jing at work – this has more oomph to it, even 2 years (2 years!?? according to the other reviews) out. There’s a sweet end note. I may have overleafed this tea a little, but I still have a cold and taste is off a bit.

This one came out of the White2Tea club box a few months ago, so for one thing, it certainly isn’t fresh green tea. That said, I can confidently call it the best Dragonwell I’ve tasted, though that isn’t out of a large sample size. The leaves are vibrantly green. Dry, they have a very light nutty aroma, but after the first steep, they pick up much stronger nutty, brothy, and slightly green notes.

The flavor is a decently green and vegetal one, along with nutty notes characteristic of this style. At times during the session, I also got a bit of a floral aftertaste. I was really surprised by how nice this one was, especially given that it wasn’t fresh. I plan to try my other packet grandpa style at some point. The price this is up for on white2tea’s website is more than a little bit steep for me considering how little I reach for green tea, but I would be interested to try a sample of this tea fresh. I imagine it would be succulent and delicious, even more so than it was this time.

This will be my second time having a long jing, though I definitely assume this one to be of better quality than the grocery store one I’ve had in the past.

Not much of a scent comes off the dry leaves, but once I start steeping I get a nice, nutty aroma. The liquor is very light in color—more yellow than green—but smooth and viscous, and it has a light, beany chestnut flavor to start, with a nice hui gan.

Liquor remains light in steep two, but the flavor strengthens, though it never becomes overpowering. No hints of bitterness or astringency, such a stark contrast to the Japanese green I had right before, and rhinkle actually enjoys it as well, which is rare when it comes to green tea!