Sleeping Dragon

So first a story of how I received this tea. Today I had my last final for class where I got certified in unarmed stage combat and broadsword, as well as getting certified with recommendation for rapier and dagger. Since I did so well and because I rocked all my other finals, I decided to get myself a little gift. The Adagio I frequent just got in several Kyusu and I figured if I’m gonna reward myself it might as well be tea related. So I went in, saw some of my friends who work there and picked out a nice Kyusu for myself. To my surprise it ended up being expensive, $136 to be exact. To make me feel better about paying so much, since I didn’t have any points or anything, my friends decided to throw in a lot of samples. This happened to be one of them and it has been one I wanted for a long time.

Now to the tea….

Smell Dry: sort of sweet and veggitabally.

Wet Smell: like wet leaves after fresh rain. There is still some sweetness to the smell as well as a little smoke.

Taste: Rather lovely. There is a mix of taste similar to gunpowder and dragonwell.

I ordered this tea two times from adagio… Two completely different teas. First time was amazing, smoky, vegetal, savory tea with just a slight hint of sweetness. It reminded me of vegetable stock with roasted vegetables. The second time, around 2-3 months later. The tea was faded as if it had been exposed to sun and air for a long time. The only thing remaining was a slightly smoky taste and the oxidized taste of badly stored green tea.

This new offering by Adagio Teas is very similar to their Jade Snail Tea and both appear to be varieties of Bi Luo Chun (Pi Luo Chun). This is a very delicate tea and is better if left to steep at a lower temperature, and for less duration that recommended by Adagio. Complex, crisp and a great pleasure to drink.

1st infusion: 1 tsp. for 6 ounces water, 170 F, 1.5 minutes.
Slightly sweet and fruity aroma and flavor. Nice gold/green color. Lingering toasty taste, probably from pan firing the leaves.
2nd infusion: 180 F, 1.5 minutes.
Sweetness continues with flavors ranging toward a spring oolong. Very slight grassiness in the background.
3rd infusion: 185 F, 2 minutes.
Color has become more gold than green. Definite taste of spring continues. very nice!

I liked this tea. Still testing my tea taste buds but am definitely enjoying this green tea. Relaxing and fresh!

A very light and enjoyable cup. It’s fun to watch it steep as well because it starts as little rolled balls of tea and they unfurl into lovely leaves. Steeped this in my winter themed perfect mug (I need one for spring/summer) and I love covering it while it steeps and then when it’s time you open it and BOOM leaves ahoy. Anyway, this tea is very light and tasty, a bit vegetal, a little smokey, and a little bit of a raisin type note. Not bad, I’ve actually started drinking more green/white/oolong tea than black tea. Never thought I’d say that!

I really like this iced and have been using it to make some of my other greens go farther. It isn’t my favorite on its own but it does the trick.

Very light and crisp green tea. First infusion: very light vegetal taste with a sharper almost oolong bite after. I don’t taste the smoky gunpowder reference but its a nice simple green.

I gaiwan brewed this tea like I normally do with greens. To me this is a somewhat light and sweet green tea with some depth that is not grassy but unlike the description I would not call it smoky, maybe slightly smoky but light enough that one can miss it. While it was compared to Gunpowder in the description quite honestly I think it is more like a Pi Lo Chun type green tea.

It’s like a gunpowder green, but with the smoky flavor swapped for petrichor.

First steeping: Mild, slightly vegetal, but sweeter than most greens I’ve had. Definitely requires cooler water (hotter and it gets VERY bitter). Reminds me of a greener version of Ali Shan, but not quite. Not sure if it was me or not but I had this last night and stayed up WAY past my bedtime. I am not usually so affected by tea before bed. Anyone else notice this with this tea? The leaves unfurled are beautiful. Subsequent steeps yielded a much smoother mouthfeel, sweet, and the leaves become prettier each time, I think. I never noticed the purported “smokey” flavour at all. I got about four steeps before the flavour faded. The third was best, in my opinion, for taste at least. Prefer Ali Shan over this. Rating is lower due to the easy-to-obtain bitterness of the tea. Taste-wise, I liked it just fine once brewed perfectly.