Lung-Ching (Dragonwell)

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.3

Finishing off the last of this sample from Jillian and I’m fully regretting that I apparently didn’t rinse the cup out well enough because I can taste black tea swirling around in this.

Shockingly, however, the flavors in this tea are holding their own. It’s such a light, subtle tea that instinct tells me it should be wheezing out its last words while it is smothered by the remnants of the cup’s prior resident. But no, the grassy, salty, nutty qualities are still there and this tea remains just as refreshing as I remember it.

Also, I don’t know if it’s partially due to the black tea, but the nutty sweetness in this tea is fully reminding me of unsalted pistachios right now.

I’m going to need to wash this cup out properly and give it a second steep because regardless of how much gumption this little guy has, it seems I’m doing it an injustice by allowing my last experience with it [for now] to be tainted. Yes, I’m going to go wash it now.

Ah, yes. There we go. Mmm…delightful. This tea is likely in store for some kind of a ratings bump, but I am tempted to try it facing Dragonwell Spring and see how that goes.

Yes. Here we go.

Teas Downed: 27

Steeps 2 and 3. It says on the package that the third infusion is supposed to be the best, and I think I agree with them. Number two (3 min) was a touch on the astringent side and left a bit of coated feeling on my tongue. But number three (4 min 20 seconds) was exactly what I hoped this tea would be – delicately flavoured with a light, vegetal quality to it and a hint of sweet nuttiness on the tail end.

This is obviously a different batch than the little sample I had before. There’s a smokey sort of scent to the leaves and the tea – almost like a very light lapsang scent. I get some of the smokey/roasted/whatever flavour at the start of each sip – it’s not so much a taste as a combination of taste and smell working togther, if that makes any sense to you guys. I’m relieved that I can still taste the delicate, nutty flavour in the rest of the sip. :)

This was the last of this tea (it was only a small sample) and I’m sorry to see it go. I really enjoyed its light, roasted-nut flavour and the leaves themselves are a decent quality too; long and bright green and mostly unbroken.

I got two steeps out of this bit and I might try for a third one later just to stretch out the experience for as long as I can. ;)

Third steep of the leaves from last night and probably the last one. It’s lost a lot of the nutty flavour that I enjoyed and in its place is something that tastes vaguely vegetal and very distinctly metallic; it’s kind of strange actually. 0_o

I’m getting a distinctly nutty flavour this time around but it isn’t a ‘heavy’ taste and the tea still tastes quite smooth and light in the mouth. This was just a small sample and I’ve maybe got enough leaves left for one more small cup. is a sad panda

It re-steeps nicely too.