I did a comparison between this tea and one I’ve been drinking from Wing Hop Fung today, my first time opening the package of the Xi Hu. The Xi Hu is a 2011 tea, and the one from WHF was not so fresh—probably a 2010 harvest—but the tea tasted as I remembered it immediately after purchase.
The leaves are a pleasant bright green, smelling sweet and a bit floral. I started with water I did a comparison between this tea and one I’ve been drinking from Wing Hop Fung today, my first time opening the package of the Xi Hu. The Xi Hu is a 2011 tea, and the one from WHF was not so fresh—probably a 2010 harvest—but the tea tasted as I remembered it immediately after purchase.
The leaves are a pleasant bright green, smelling sweet and a bit floral. I started with 2 grams of each in gaiwans with 75 mL of 160°/71°C water to start, 30" first infusion, and the XiHu was sweet peas, very light on the nuttiness compared to the WFH tea, but nuttier than the average green tea. 20" second infusion again sweet and vegetal, lightly nutty. The 40 second 4th infusion was nuttier and less sweet. I increased the temp to 177°F/81°C for the fourth infusion, 1 minute, and the tea was notably lighter, mildly sweet. I did another similar infusion before upping the temp again, 193°F/89°C for the sixth infusion, 2 minutes, and the first sip was sweet, delicious, and it kept on as somewhat nutty sweet water, pleasant. Again upped the temp to 205°F/96°C for the 7th infusion, 4 minutes, just to see if there is anything else left in the leaves, and again, it was sweet water, a little bit vegetal and a little bit floral, very mellow.
This is a very nice tea.
Fuller review with photos
http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/DragonWells.7.11.html
