Long Jing

JacquelineM actually inspired me this morning, so after finishing the morning pot of Lapsang Souchong, I switched to this.

I’ve never really managed to get the hang of Dragonwell before and I’ve never really been able to agree with myself on whether or not I like it much. So I was in a weird situation where I had a sort of semi-craving for something that I wasn’t really sure I liked.

What to do, what to do?

It’s not really practical to brew half pots at the time, because I have a tendency to forget that I’m only supposed to fill it half up with water and end up with a totally weakling cup of tea. I don’t really have the brain capacity to do it that way when I know I’ll be steeping it several times. If it’s just the one or two times, it can be done, but more than that and chances are it’ll go wrong at least once.

Cue the little yellow gaiwan that I hardly ever use, because I always spill and/or burn myself. I was feeling brave though, so I brewed in that and carefully decanted after steeping into another little cup. That gave me half a very small cup on each steep which isn’t so much that I’ll give up on the questionable flavour or get too much of it, and it allows me to do a multitude of steeps.

So I’ve been drinking Dragonwell for oh about… let’s see… hmm… about four hours or so. I haven’t got the faintest idea of which steep I’m currently having, the counting got messed up, but JacquelineM totally nailed the primary flavour note when she called it asparagus-y. It’s like with Takgoti and the walnut note in the Pai Mu Tan. I knew it was a well-known clear flavour, very easy to pick up on. I just couldn’t work out what it was.

At this point though, on Steep X, the asparagus-y-ness has diminished quite a lot. It’s not really a flavour that tries to invade and conquer, it’s just sort of there. Much more toned down. The flavour has sort of deepened, if you know what I mean. It’s not as bright and bouncy anymore. It has calmed down and turned darker. Like the difference between brand new leaves on trees at the beginning of spring, and leaves that has been on the tree for half a summer already.

I’m liking these ‘older’ steeps better than the first ones, definitely, so it seems like with this one the gaiwan is the way to go.

As I said, I lost count of what number steep this is, but to give you an idea of how far I’ve approximately come, I’ve become quite good at transferring from gaiwan to cup. I don’t spill every time anymore. And I haven’t burned myself either.

It’s still not a tea that I really see myself drinking a lot of though, so I’ll leave the rating where it is and let first impressions count for this one.

I’m having this one this morning, not because I wanted to (I’d rather have had some Tan Yang) or because I’m particularly fond of it (actually I took the rating down a little), but out of some feeble hope for relief.

I woke up with my throat feeling terribly sore and I’ve eaten a strepsils which helped some but not totally. I don’t know if it really is something or if I’ve just been snoring a lot while sleeping, but either way, it still hurts. So I picked this tea not because of the flavour but because it often feels kind of viscous to drink and I figured it might be easier to swallow than other teas. If my throat hurts, I find it easier to drink viscous things like for example milk.

I gave it a pretty short steep because that’s what the timer was set at from last night and I couldn’t be arsed to change it when it was much easier to just press start, and it hasn’t actually developed much of that viscosity at all.

I might as well have made a Tan Yang after all. Can’t win them all, I guess.

I was in the mood. On my second steep now, actually. It’s been ages since I had any of it, but I was in a green mood, coming home from work and decided to make one that I hadn’t had for a while.

Today, I like it well enough. Other days I don’t like it at all. Some days I tolerate it but no more.

But today it’s pretty good. Still, it’ll never be a favourite. Too cat breath-y.

So now I’m all out of green apart from flavoured greens and samples which don’t really count as I drink samples under different circumstances than regular stash. Pay more attention to them for one thing.

I took the rest of this and chucked in the rest of the Bi Luo Chun (also TeaSpring) and as with the Dragon Powder experiment the other day, the result wasn’t actually half bad. I’m not generally a Dragonwell fan but I’m finding that in combination with a different green it adds some good body to the mix.

Right now I don’t think Dragonwell is a type I’m going to miss having, but on the other hand if I find a good offer for it, I might actually get a small stash again for blending experiments.

Additional: Would you like a christmas card? Nothing fancy, just a card. If yes, PM me with an address and I’ll send you one. :)

This was my last of this tea. I used slightly fewer leaves, with a longer brew time. Although today’s infusions came out a little less flavorful than previous ones, this is still quite good.

The “old cut grass”-ness is less prominent today; instead, there’s a hint of honey, particularly in the first few infusions. It also has a stronger aftertaste — a pleasant, mouth-drying astringency. I’d buy this again.

Still delicious. I’m increasing my rating of this by a few points.

Today’s brewing was a bit stronger for me (but I like very light teas, so “strong” for me is likely “weak” to most people,) and it came out less grassy/composty and more nutty. Smooth and enjoyable.