Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

I received a wonderful box of samples of the 2013 harvest today from Teavivre. Thank you!

Hubby and I have not had our bedtime green tea lately. We’ve been a little out of sync schedule-wise, so tonight we set that straight.

He really has been enjoying green tea though he is still rather new to it and says he really can’t describe flavors yet, but tonight he said “vegetal, I definitely get that this is vegetal.” He agreed that there is also a hint of butter and a nice toasted flavor. And this was just bursting with flavor! We had five steeps of it, and I have saved the leaves because I think I can get a few more tomorrow.

This is an excellent Dragon Well. I liked the first one I ever had. It was purchased from a tea shop not far away. For some reason I never finished that bag of tea, but when I tried Teavivre’s Dragon Well last year I had to order. This one is every bit as good as last year.

Hubby drank right along with me and kept refilling. He said he found this green tea particularly smooth and drinkable. I, too, found it smooth and easy to drink, and on one steep that went a little long there was a hint of root vegetable flavor (not strong enough to be unpleasantly astringent) that blossomed into sweetness after the swallow. Nice!

Thank you, Teavivre, for the samples! I look forward to trying all of them!

Sipdown (573)!

Made this one up as a cold brew in the communal pitcher of tea that I’ve made in our fridge for myself and the roommates. They didn’t seem into the last flavour that I made (the Buchu Superfruit) so I thought something straight, green, and Chinese might be a little more familiar since, from what I’ve observed, they mostly just drink hot cups of Chinese green tea or Chinese herbal infusions?

I don’t know if they’re into this one either, though…

I thought it was fine; on the nuttier side for a Dragonwell so I’ve been enjoying that quality when I drink it in the morning with my breakfast. I think I’ll probably end up finishing this pitcher all on my own though – which definitely defeats the purpose of having a communal pitcher of iced tea. I don’t know what to try next, though…

This sample was generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thank you Angel and the whole Teavivre Team.
Dry Leaf:Has a sweet,fresh and vegetal aroma.
Wet Leaf:Has a slight vegetal aroma with a nutty aroma.
Liquor: Has a pale yellow color.
Taste:This tea has a nutty flavor with a slight sweetness along with a touch of a vegetal flavor. This tea is smooth and refreshing and has a clean feel in the mouth.
Overall Opinion: I give this a 90. This tea is a little more smoother and refined compared to the premium quality Long Jing. I can appreciate this tea specially since Long Jing is my favorite green tea.
Vessel: SAMA DOYO Gongfu/Kungfu teapot. 7grams of leaf to 220ml or 7oz.of water in the inner cup of pot.

Even though I really need about six cups of strong black tea (taken intravenously) to get my motor running this morning, I couldn’t resist opening the sample of another tea from Teavivre. This time it is the Organic Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea.

I steeped this tea for two minutes at 175 degrees as instructed on the sample packet. The brew that appeared was an extremely light golden green color.

I was worried that the light color, low temperature, and short steeping time would all add up to a wimpy tasting tea. But, as always, Teavivre surprised me again!

This tea does not have a strong flavor but the flavor that it does have is full and complete. The taste is sweet and nutty. There is no grassy attribute to the flavor as I’ve found with a lot of green teas. Instead, it is quite smooth, light, and easy to sip. You also won’t find any bitterness.

Although this would not be my normal morning tea of choice, I will definitely be offering it to guests in the afternoon and evening.

The best word to describe this tea is 亡命徒;喝彩;喝彩声;暴徒 (which I HOPE is Chinese for BRAVO)! This tea deserves that exclamation and much more.

In summary, this is just another wonderful tea from Teavivre. If Teavivre were a baseball team, to me they would still be batting 1,000!

After a weekend of overindulgence in Easter goodies, a straight green just seemed like the right thing to do. I like green tea, but still haven’t found my “go-to.” I’ve tried a few different Dragonwells and although everyone seems to love it, it hasn’t grown on me. So I really wanted to give it another chance and brewed this top-of-the-line sample.

And it tastes…salty? I’m getting a chicken broth-like flavor that makes me feel like I’m drinking soup. As it cools the vegetal flavor comes through, but it’s still quite savory. I can tell this is a quality tea, but sadly I have to face the fact that I must be the exception and Dragonwell is just not for me. Ah well…no use mourning when there are so many teas out there waiting to be discovered. The search continues!

Thank to Teavivre for this very generous sample!
I feel crummy today and I still have almost 2hrs. before I have to start my homework so I thought I’d relax with some nice, pure tea. I’ve been in quite the flavored tea stint so all this plain tea tasting has brought me back to what I really love to enjoy.
Dry, this tea smells almost similar to a Bai Mu Dan; especially the light hay notes. There is also an almost nutty smell coming through. I’m not sure how much to add to my tiny cup, so I’m just eyeballing it as covering the bottom. I’ve only had one other Dragon Well and to be honest, I hated it. It smelled and tasted swampy.
Wow! Even though I only steeped this for 2min. the smell is very strong. There are lots of pea notes in the front of this brew. It is very crisp and I’m really loving the nutty notes. This particular steep is reminding me a lot of sencha. There is almost a milky-ness to this tea, as I saw other reviews state. Compared to my last run in with Dragon Well this is amazing! This is easily one of my favorite greens and I would really recommend it for anyone new to green teas.

Very tasty Dragon Well! Fresh, crisp and sweet. Savory and vegetal. This is the ideal Chinese green. Well, to me anyway. :) And I’m getting in some greens again. I’ve missed my green teas. Blacks were starting to take over my life! Next, I must rekindle my love for white teas.

Tea provided by Teavivre for review

First steep, very smooth, velvety, light liquor, with the familiar Dragon Well flavour.

Second and third steeps, bolder in taste, there is also this almost fuzzy texture on my tongue.

Fourth and fifth steeps, the flavour has weakened a bit but is still enjoyable, and a bit of astringency if present (but not overdone).

Overall I really liked this Dragon Well tea. Teavivre always provides really nice green tea samples, and it’s given me a new appreciation for that type of tea.
Next time I brew this sample, I will use my competition cups to compare the Premium Dragon Well (which I purchased) with this one. After that, I’ll try it western style in a teapot.

100ml gaiwan, 4g-ish (sometimes my digital scale fudges it), 5 steeps (rinse, 20s, 40s, 1m10s, 2m, 2m30s)

Testing out a new way of reviewing!

Water: I boiled 8oz water on the stove,then let cool for 4-5 minutes.

Leaves: A beautiful shade of light shade green.

Steep: 2 minutes the first steep. Even when steeping for 3 the flavor is great!

Aroma: I smiled when the scent hit my nose very pleasant,reminded me of Sencha.

Color: Pale yellow

Taste: I decided to make this tea because it was one I haven’t tried from my Teavivre samples. I was preparing to watch one of the Ted Talks. I took a sip this tea is light & very refreshing! It made watching the video that much more relaxing experience.

This one has been sitting in my desk un-opened why? Well sometime I forget where I put things and I have random stashes of tea at work. Again contributing to my coworkers asking what are you smoking today. If you have read any of my previous tasting notes. I was pretty much a green hater until I realized that I was brewing them wrong and I had Teavivre’s offerings. This one is so incredibly light, but it still has some body to it. I had to get over the lack of body in green and white teas to enjoy them. I like the full body of black and Pu-erh tea. I’m really starting to like Long Jing as well. The first dragon well that I ever had was a really cheap one and was not good at all. Teavivre’s and the last one that I sampled from Infusion have been great. Slightly grassy, a little like hay, I can see some comparisons to chestnut as well. Over all a great post lunch pick me up. The quality of Teavivre is just outstanding.