Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Growing area:Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang, ChinaSeason:Spring TeaHarvest date:March 23, 2016Dry leaf:Uniform flattened tea leaves, mostly bud with unopened tiny leafAroma:Sweet floral, chestnutLiquor:Pale yellowish greenTaste:Smooth, sweet and brisk; no hint of bitterness; aftertaste of this tea is pleasant lingeringTea Tree species:Jiukeng tea tree speciesTea garden:Cangshan Organic Tea GardenCaffeine:Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)Storage:Store in airtight, opaque packaging; keep refrigeratedShelf Life:18 Months
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Organic Nonpareil She Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre is today’s tea of choice for me and it’s a good one! This is a mighty fine Dragon Well that is for sure! Organic Nonpareil She Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre is sweet, clean, crisp, and has a pleasant, satisfying linger and aftertaste.
Organic Nonpareil She Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre is delightful as a hot cuppa or a cold one. I bet this would also be a good green tea base for those who like to mix and mingle teas and flavors.
The best part? This Organic Nonpareil She Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre has NO bitterness what-so-ever! It’s a very forgiving green tea, too, so if you over infuse you won’t have to worry about a bitter cup! This is a great tea for those new to green teas as well as those who have loved green teas for YEARS.
Dragon Well High Grade Long Jing Green Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
A reason to fall in love with green tea all over again.
At Yezi, we are proud to bring to you the finest grade of Longjing loose leaf green tea. Long Jing translated from Chinese means “Dragon Well”. Yezi’s Longjing consists entirely of unopened leaf buds called dragon sprouts or water lily hearts. These fine tea leaves are harvested in the first few weeks of spring by tea farmers who have maintained a fierce pride in growing the finest Long Jing for generations upon generations.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a very fine tasting Dragon Well from Yezi Tea! I can taste why it’s considered a High Grade Long Jing Green Tea! The tea sprouts are beautiful and green, and smell fresh and “leafy.”
The flavor is sweet and lightly grassy. I taste a savory note about mid-sip that provides a nice contrast to the sweetness. The vegetative taste here reminds me of springtime with its fresh, clean and pure taste … it is reminiscent of the new leaf and grass buds start to emerge from the earth after a cold winter.
There are sweet, nutty tones that compliment the vegetative sweetness and the slight grassy bitterness. The grassy tones accentuate a floral tone that emerges toward mid-cup. The floral tone adds dimension to the sweetness and distinctness to the savory elements of the flavor. All of these characteristics play very well together on the palate.
The overall taste is light, but even though it is what I’d call “light” there is so much flavor to it … so much complexity. The texture is like a delicate broth. It is a joy to sip this soothing tea.
There is a hint of fruit to this tea also … almost like the faintest note of lemon. The first time I noticed it … I thought maybe my taste buds were playing tricks on me, but after a second and even a third sip … yes, I notice this citrus-y taste. It’s very faint … but it’s there.
I really enjoyed this Dragon Well from Yezi Tea. The more I become familiar with this company’s teas … the more I like this company!
Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Produced in Tianmu Mountain(天目山), Lin’an County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, China
Harvest time: March 8 – March 10, 2013
One bud with one or two leaves
Dry tea is shaped straight and pretty
Soup presents tender a yellowish green color, tastes sweet and brisk; aroma lasts long in the middle and back part of the tongue.
Fresh aroma with chestnut flavor
Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I received my samples of the new spring teas my first tasting selection to sample was Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green from Teavivre. The aroma is strong, awakening, and as fresh as a tea can smell. The dry leaf is so pretty and bright green. The flavors range through various steepings from nutty, buttery, vegetal, and salty, but every single steep brings forth the freshest flavors you could imagine.
When steeped properly there is absolutely no astringency and of course no bitterness. There is also a lovely light sweetness to the flavor that can be detected at different levels through the various steeps. The color is very light so do not be tempted to over steep this lovely tea. Take your time with it and let the flavors be gently caressed out of the leaf with shorter steep times which will provide you a longer and more relaxing brewing session. Green teas like this one from Teavivre are deserving of your time and focus. I do not recommend a tea like this for an out the door on the go tea. You can do that if you wish, but I feel it is cheating the tea from providing all that it has to offer and really just cheating yourself.
Some teas are great for an on the go pick me up and get me going for my day ahead tea. This Long Jing however is a relaxing, meditative, sip and consider type of tea that will rock your world in a totally different way if you give it time and allow it to. I find that while this tea is refreshing, and so lightly fresh, it has a brothy mouthfeel, verging on creamy in some steeps. I love it when a tea can bring out both feelings, light and fresh, yet thicker in the mouthfeel, as it is an unusual combination.
Teavivre brings us so excellent offerings in their new spring line, and I am really amped up to try them all but today I shall sit with this tea, looking forward to many steeps to come. It is absolutely lovely. See all of Teavivre’s Spring Teas here and learn how you can get samples of all of them for free!
Organic Dragon Well from Rishi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Tea Description:
Dragon Well (Long Jing) is the most famous Chinese green tea, named after the Dragon’s Well landmark in the West lake area of the Zhejiang, where the tea originated. Dragon Well is a pan-fired green tea flat fried by hand in large woks one small batch at a time. This artisan processing technique yields a tea with leaves shaped like the blade of a sword. Each spring, during the prime Dragon Well harvest, we select a unique quality that has a balance of fresh green and smooth toasted flavors. Rishi’s Dragon Well is mellow and smooth with a fresh bittersweet finish and roasted chestnut aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This month’s Steepster Select Box was a celebration of the Chinese New Year which marked the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. To celebrate this occasion, the Steepster Select Box included three Chinese teas: Two Dragons and a Pearl; a flowering tea from Teavivre; Dragon Well (Long Jing) from Rishi Tea; and Pheonix Yunnan Gold from Tea Valley. The flowering tea and the Yunnan tea are two teas that were new to me, and I’ve already reviewed them this month, but this Organic Dragon Well from Rishi Tea is one that I’m familiar with as I reviewed it several years ago.
This Dragon Well holds a somewhat special place in my heart as it represents the first Dragon Well tea that I tasted that I enjoyed, having had somewhat of a bad experience with a Dragon Well quite some time ago, I was hesitant to try it again. Since that time, I’ve realized that I’m actually fond of most Dragon Well teas, and I therefore must assume that it was how I brewed the tea, and not the tea itself that I found distasteful those many years ago.
The tea has a light to medium body and a crispness to it that is quite refreshing. It is sweet and smooth, with a very pleasing nutty flavor in the background. While the description on the Rishi website (provided above) describes this nutty flavor as a chestnut taste, I find it also tasting vaguely of roasted almonds, a flavor that is especially pronounced toward the finish. It tastes very much the way I think a roasted nut butter made of both almonds and chestnuts might taste.
While this Dragon Well has a somewhat grassy taste to it, I find that the grassy flavor can be toned down significantly by lowering the water temperature to just 175°F and steeping for about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. With this cup, I taste almost no grassy tones, only a hint of it in the distance.
A delicious Dragon Well, one that I’m very happy to be enjoying again!
Valley Peak (Ding Gu Da Fang) from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
Like many of China’s famous greens, this tea also has a rich history. Known in China as Ding Gu Da Fang (Valley Peak Da Fang), it was named after the Buddhist monk who originally grew the plants on Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) centuries ago.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is my first tea that I’ve tried from this new tea company (or perhaps I should say, a company that is new to me!) and based upon this very positive experience, I am glad it won’t be the last tea I taste from them. I am absolutely LOVING this tea.
In the website description of this tea, Mandala Tea compares it to a LongJing (aka Dragon Well). And while I do enjoy a good Dragon Well Tea and can see where Mandala Tea is coming from with such a comparison, I have to say that I prefer this Ding Gu Da Fang to most Dragon Well teas that I’ve tried. It is lighter, sweeter and smoother than a typical LongJing.
There is such a charming nutty tone to this tea. It is light and crisp and reminds me of the snap (or crunch) you’d experience when biting into a cashew. It has a creamy smooth flavor that reminds me of the mild, creamy taste of a delicious roasted nut. The texture is light and clean, with a very mild astringency at the tail of the sip.
The sweetness and smoothness of this tea reminds me a bit of a yellow tea, so I have categorized this as both a green tea and a yellow tea, because even though it is a green tea, it has so many characteristics that remind me of a yellow tea. This is an extraordinary tea; I highly recommend it.