Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Jas eTea
Tea Description:
“Snow Dragon” is made entirely from small bud shoots picked in a 3 day window of time when they are just the right size. They are meticulously hand-processed into these tight little curls. When brewed they will open slowly as they dance in the water. The brewed tea is almost totally transparent with a light fruity flavor akin to White tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a cool looking tea: the leaves are curled into spirals, and they “dance” while they’re brewing. If you have a glass gaiwan or teacup, I recommend using it to steep this tea so that you can watch them dance!
The dry leaf has a very faint aroma that is vaguely vegetative – reminding me of the smell of the air in the morning after it’s rained all night: clean and fresh and somewhat grassy. The brewed tea smells a little stronger, like freshly steamed green beans. The color of the infused tea is a very pale color – looking much more like a white tea than a green tea.
The flavor is much less vegetal than the fragrance would suggest. Yes, there are some slightly grassy notes in there, but primarily what I’m tasting is a lovely sweetness. It’s a very pure kind of sweetness, it doesn’t really taste like honey or caramel or any of those other comparative terms that I use to describe a sweet flavor. This tastes so natural and clean – like fresh dew or mountain air. This reminds me – again – of a white tea, and not so much of a green tea.
There are the faintest nutty tones in the background that also contribute to this sweetness, or perhaps they are highlighted by it. Either way they work in a synergistic fashion to bring out the best of each.
After the first couple of sips, the sweetness shifts focus to a more fruit-like flavor – apricot? There is a mild astringency to this tea, and the finish is sweet, with a sweet grass aftertaste. It is in this aftertaste that I begin to recognize the green of this tea.
I love how this tea reveals itself in stages, showing first its dewy qualities, and then slowly giving me a little more flavor with the nutty tones. Sometime afterward, the fruit tones arrive. This tea keeps me guessing while giving me new flavors to explore.
What a memorable tea this is!
