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This was one of 3 dragon well samples I picked up from Verdant with my spring green tea order. These are the new dragon well varietals they added to their lineup this year. Normally, dragon well isn’t my favorite kind of green tea but I still like to sample the first harvests each spring. I appreciate this tea more for its visual appearance and preparation than flavor.

The leaves are pale forest green blades and smell of creamed spinach and edamame. When heated, the aroma changes to buttered beans and stir fried vegetables. Since I only had a 5g sample, I decided to first brew it grandpa style and use the rest of the leaves for a gongfu session later. Steeped in a tall glass, the taste is a bit weak and not terribly impressive: savory cooked vegetables and a chalky matcha like texture with a vegetal finish that sticks to the back of your throat. I liked it much better gongfued. Loosely following the instructions on Verdant’s site, I steeped 3.5g in a 150ml gaiwan for about 30s. The first steep had an buttery, silky smooth texture. There’s a clover honey like sweetness, some fennel and a nice floral note. I enjoyed this steeping a lot as it was very different from the typical chestnutty flavor of most dragon wells. The next couple of steeps though didn’t fare so well. I was hoping for more of the flavor from the first steep but what I got instead was a somewhat dry taste of smokey, pungent green vegetables.

This was another interesting tea from Verdant. It had its moments but didn’t blow my socks off. I still prefer their Laoshan greens to dragon wells.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 30 sec 4 tsp 5 OZ / 150 ML

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My Rating Criteria:

95 to 100: Top shelf stuff. Loved this tea and highly recommend it

90 to 94: Excellent. Enjoyed this tea and would likely repurchase

80 to 89: Good but not great. I liked it though it may be lacking in some aspects. I’ll finish it but probably won’t buy again

70 to 79: Average at best. Not terrible but wouldn’t willingly drink again

60 to 69: Sub-par. Low quality tea, barely palatable

59 and below: Bleh

Fell into tea many years ago and for a long time my experience was limited to Japanese greens and flavored Teavana teas. My tea epiphany happened when I discovered jade oolongs. That was my gateway drug to the world of high quality tea and teaware.

For the most part, I drink straight tea but do appreciate a good flavored tea on occasion. I love fresh green and floral flavors and as such, green tea and Taiwanese oolongs will always have a place in my cupboard. After avoiding black tea forever, Chinese blacks have started to grow on me. I’m less enthusiastic about puerh though. I also enjoy white tea and tisanes but reach for them less frequently.

Other non-tea interests include: cooking, reading, nature, philosophy, MMA, traveling when I can, and of course putzing around on the interwebs.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/melucky

Location

around Chicago

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