Dragonwell

So the whole toss in a cup and pour some water over it thing worked out really well for the Dragon Balls yesterday, I thought I’d give it a shot with this one. It was quite yummy, bringing to mind steamed green veggies, maybe asparagus or Swiss chard (♥), but man, a lot of these leaves float! I ate a few (slightly bitter (like turnips) but not bad) and eventually most of them decided to go hang out at the bottom, but ultimately I think I prefer my tea with fewer obstacles.

My tea experience tonight has been brought to you by takgoti and sophistre. Takgoti because she said this smelled like turkey and I’m morbidly curious about that and sophistre because her Ryokucha log made me think of my trip to the Daibutsu in Kamakura where I picked up my first yunomi, so that’s what I’m drinking this out of. A Chinese tea out of Japanese tea cup. I don’t get kicked out of the tea lovers club for this, right?

So, trying to find the turkey smell is first. I’m sniffing but I don’t really find it. Part of me is sad, part of me is thankful. Part of me goes – I can smell briney and buttery when I’m smelling from my nose not in the cup and I can see how that could translate to turkey… or roasted chicken. But this whole sniffing for turkey thing has lead to a lot more sniffing than I’d usually do so my mouth is watering a bit. Paying attention to this tea, it smells really nice. I’ve already mentioned a little salt and butter smell going on, but when I get closer there’s a pretty vegetal smell, too. Not like boiled vegetables but not raw either. Just sweet and green.

Okay, this is really enjoyable tea. There’s a little salt-like tingle on the tip of my tongue that I seem to get from most Chinese greens. Actually, I take that back – most Chinese greens give me a big salt taste. The fact that this is slight makes it enjoyable, not unpleasant. The taste is sweet and green and a little salty and maybe nutty. The tea is not delicate tasting but it’s not overpowering either. Hearty but soft maybe? Anyway, I like it.

I have a feeling if I had last night’s Dragonwell after this one instead of before, it wouldn’t have fared as well as it did. This one is yummy.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat from yelling at last night’s San Fran Giants game, so I was looking for something soothing that wouldn’t be too strong or potent. Thankfully, this Dragonwell hit the spot, as it has a nice mix of mellow ‘vegetal’ flavor and minerality.

The leaves always surprise me a bit, since they’re so flat and dry, but they do their fair share of expanding when you steep them, and fill up the teapot nicely. The color of the tea is a really light yellow, which looks less flavorful than the tea actually tastes.

All in all, a good choice for a sore throat morning.

What goes well with a sleepy Wednesday morning? Dragonwell! This time around, I’m picking up more of the sweet flavors that Dragonwell is known for, and it results in a nice tea to start the day with. I also love how the leaves start flat and lifeless without a lot of aroma, and then open up through the steeping to reveal their true character. It’s a great metaphor for what I feel like after drinking a cup of the dragon. Love it!

This afternoon, “Oolong, green, white, oolong, green, white,” I thought. Should I go stare at what’s in my cupboard? Maybe something will call out to me. I think about some teas. Dragonwell sounds just right. I think about teas a few minutes more. But I keep going back to Dragonwell. Dragonwell, it is.

I went with the 6oz cup method again, instead of an 8oz+ mug. I have a feeling this size will be becoming my default when drinking teas that get more than 2 steeps. I know it’s not that much less tea than a mug, but somehow I drink it faster and it feels like less tea. This time I used a 2 minutes 30 seconds multiplier like A&D recommends. I kept the 160° F water temperature like last time.

The Dragonwell was much the same as before, which is tasty and enjoyable. I sped through my first two cups, then drank the next two cups after dinner. The 4th steep was at least half tea, half watery, if not mostly watery. I do not think I will be steeping this a 4th time again.

1st steep: 2 min 30 sec.
2nd steep: 5 min.
3rd steep: 7 min 30 sec.
4th steep: 10 min.

Next time I drink this, I plan to try 3 steeps using the same times as a today but with 170° F water. Yes, I feel like each new tea is an experiment in how preparing it differently could change the taste. Yes, I am a scientist. Yes, I’m geeky. =)

- Using a 2 min 30 sec multiplier work well for this tea.
- Steep 3 times. This tea doesn’t take a 4th steep well.

I’m drinking Dragonwell today, per last night’s tea randomizer recommendation – I didn’t end up having any tea last night. With my new ownership of a thermometer, I steeped this cup at the recommend 160 and surprise, all the yummy tea essence of before with absolutely none of the bitterness. I think I can safely come to the conclusion that I’ve been steeping my green teas in too hot water. The Dragonwell is now smoother, but the flavor seems stronger. Most enjoyable.

An Ode to A&D’s Dragonwell

Dragonwell, oh Dragonwell,
Your warmth, your taste, your smell,
Are all so wonderfully swell
When outside a heavy rain fell
Pelting the very place where I dwell.
Hopefully, tomorrow’s as clear as a bell
But, for now, drinking you, I am well.

My dear Steepsterites, long time no posts. At least, it hasn’t been long time no tea. I’ve just been busy, there is no particular reason. But I hadn’t thought it had been that long until I got on here to tealog this lovely Dragonwell. I’ve missed ya’ll.

I’m on my second steep, the first one being 2 min 30 sec. After this I shall reheat some leftover veggie pizza in the oven. I plan on resuming steeping this later in the evening.

This is one of those teas that I really like and really hate when I only drink one steep then end up throwing the leaves out and feeling like I’d wasted good tea. So when my ‘try a 6oz cup when steeping a tea that has more than 1-2 steep in it’ wuyi oolong experiment worked really well, I decided to try it with Dragonwell yesterday afternoon. Again, success. This method seems to “trick” me into drinking more steeps. Which means I may now be free to drink multiple steep teas without thinking “oh I don’t know if I’ll drink more than a cup, maybe two, so I shouldn’t steep this tea now” and then not drinking the tea I wanted then and/or not drinking teas I really like for a long time due to talking myself out of it.

1st steep: 2 min 15 sec. Oh good, yum, tasty. Just as I remember it being.

2nd steep: 4 min 30 sec. Lighter yet with more to taste. Just as good as the 1st.

3rd steep: 6 min 45 sec. Noticeably weaker but still good to drink.

4th steep: 9 min. Watery Dragonwell. Drank it, but may not resteep a 4th time in the future.

I’d like to try doing multiple steeps using a 2 min 30 sec multiplier as recommended by A&D and comparing. I also noticed tealogs for steeping at 170° F and 180° F and may want to try a higher temperature water and compare as well.

Last night, I had a second and third brewing from my Dragonwell leaves. They were both as tasty and enjoyable as the first, if not better. I think I could have gotten more brewings but it was quite late and I needed to get to bed.

2nd brewing: 5 min
3rd brewing: 7 min 30 sec

Backlogging.

Last night, I enjoy 2 steeps of Dragonwell with a late night snack while watching the end of PBS’s Masterpiece Classic most recent rendition of Emma. I did not like this production of Emma very much. I did like the Dragonwell very much though. 2nd steep: 4 min, 165°.

Backlogging
My sweetie and I enjoyed two pots of this yesterday afternoon while waiting for it to start snowing and reading on the couch with the cats. 2nd steep: 4 min.

Backlogging. Tuesday afternoon.

So I wanted a green and I didn’t really know what one I wanted exactly but I like this Dragonwell so that was it. As opposed to feeling like it’s been awhile since I last drank it, it actually has been awhile since I last drank this. I made a smaller size cup and the leaves are big so I thought I’d used an appropriate amount but I wasn’t totally sure. When the tea was lighter than usually, despite trying a higher water temperature for the first time, I knew I hadn’t used enough leaf. It was still tasty but after two steeps I stopped instead of making my usually three.

2nd steep: 5 min.

Procrastinating tasks with my first steep of Dragonwell went very well. I am now making a new To Do list with my second steep. This is also a light steep with the vegetal coming through a bit more.

Backlogging
Steep #4 occurred while taking my turns on Conquer Club last night. The husband had steep #3 (3 min 45 sec) while he took his turns on CC and drank it rapidly. I must have been more thoughtful cause most of my cup remain when I finished. So it transitioned with me into bed where I finished it while reading The Shipping News. Steep #4 was quite light in color and in taste but still relaxing, warming, and enjoyable right before bed.

The Dragonwell served me well yesterday on a grey and bleary day. It’s much the same out today so I will go with the same tea for my afternoon consumption. And again, it is enjoyable. It seems lighter today, in a good way.

You know, maybe I should revise the score I gave this tea way back. I tend to compare all dragonwell teas to that wonderful one I regularly get from Specifically Tea and I’ve had the opportunity to try them side by side and I found that this tea was a bit lacking. Not a lot lacking mind you – it’s a good-quality tea in its own right. But I noticed that it didn’t have the same fullness of flavour and doesn’t resteep all that well. It’s also lacking that hint of smokiness I get from the Specifically Tea Dragonwell, but that’s more of personal preference, I think.

There are small light green-stained fuzz balls in the tin… I just noticed it today. Strange but I still drank my steep anyway.

Delightful cold! It is freezing outside and the snow on the ground is horrendous, but this tea is delicious cold. I’ll have to make some more when the weather warms up.

So I tried this again today. The steep is a light yellow color. It tastes very delicious, light, and mild floral green. Yummy! Not bitter at all, not that I’ve steeped it as instructed! The scent is very faint. I’ve always liked dragonwell teas. A nice daily green tea. I had more steeps with lunch!

Emptied this beautiful tin today! Dragonwell with lunch! How perfect :)

I renewed my ACLS today, and it was a 9-5 business. … … So long! This tea kept me sort of alive through it all. I filled up my libre tea and took it with me. During lunch break, I filled it up with some mixed hot/cold water. This steep wasn’t as good as the first, but still kept me going. I should pack some emergency tea with me.

Working on some Steepster updates! Noticed that this stuff gets better as it cools. I’m almost out though :(

Could drink this all day long. In fact, AM drinking this all day long!

It’s been a while since I cracked open this tin. I wanted to get my darjeeling sample from adagio out of the way, and then I fell in love all over again with the DFT’s Nepal, and I overlooked this stuff for a while. It’s great as always though, as if I never left it.

Sad to think that this is my second-to-last helping of this stuff. On the other hand, the outstanding re-steeps I’ve had with this tea has really extended its presence in my collection. I’ll probably start looking up possible replacements soon.

Good day for some green tea.

Fan-tas-tic. Such a great tasting tea!

Seems to me that the second cup is stronger, perhaps due to the longer steeping time as recommended on the site. Tasty as to be expected though.

Incredible. Third infusion, still getting quite a big of flavor. Nearly every other tea I’ve had to date is too weak by the third, but this still really good.

Second Infusion. Surprisingly, I found it to be just as flavorful as the first round. Quite enjoyable, if I do say so m’self.