Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
In the early Spring, when the tea buds just appeared their face on the trees, the harvest of She Qian Dragon Well is ready to begin. The tea gardens in Hangzhou are busy making the first flush teas. The fresh leaves of She Qian Dragon Well are all in one bud with one leaf shape, as straight as an upstanding flag. The beautiful shape also brings enjoyment to the brewing.
Organic She Qian Dragon Well Tea can reach your requirements for both quality and health benefits. A good starting of the year is in Spring; a taste of good spring tea is from She Qian Dragon Well.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
FRESH! This Organic Nonpareil She Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre is the brand new harvest from Spring 2014 – wait a sec – this IS Spring 2014! It doesn’t get fresher than that!
The leaves are beautifully jade green, and they produce a liquid that is very pale green. The flavor is very fresh, pure, and clean. There is a sweet, nutty flavor to it that reminds me of chestnuts. The chestnuts have a slightly buttery taste to them too, and there is an invigorating “green” taste. This is nutty, vegetal, buttery and pleasantly sweet.
I like the mild flavor of this, it doesn’t have an overpowering vegetative tone. It has a well-balanced, nicely round flavor. The texture is soft and brothy.
The flavor is complex with the top notes of sweet chestnuts, steamed veggies that have been lightly drizzled with melted butter and as I continue to sip, I start to pick up on a light, apple-y mid-note. There is a hint of savory taste in there … almost salty or perhaps kelp-y might be a better way to describe it. It’s not a strong note, it tastes like someone added about half a pinch of salt to my steamed veggies!
Teavivre has been a long-standing favorite company of mine and this tea is a perfect example of WHY I love them so much. This is one of the finest Dragon Well teas I’ve yet to taste. It is so fresh and I can taste that freshness in every sip.
Organic Long Jing #03 from Steepster
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Steepster Select
Tea Description:
Our Long Jing (or Dragon Well) is produced by one of the most respected organic growers in Anhui.
Read other Steepster thoughts on this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tasted and reviewed a lot of Long Jing (also known as Dragon Well) green teas over the years. And while many of those that I’ve tried taste very similar to others, every once in a while I’ll taste one that sort of “stands out” among the others that I’ve sampled. This Organic Long Jing #03 from Steepster (from my January Steepster Select box!) is one of those Dragon Well teas that stands out.
And what makes me say that? Well, for one thing, just a few moments ago – after allowing the tea to cool slightly – I took a sip and I lightly slapped my lips and murmured “mmm!” Now … I do that from time to time when I taste teas. But, I can’t recall the last time I did that after taking a sip of a Dragon Well.
Like I said, many of my Dragon Well memories sort of melt into one another, like one big Long Jing conglomerate. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy those other Long Jing/Dragon Well teas – because I did. I enjoyed them immensely. However, as I said in the previous paragraph, every once in a while one just stands out.
What I’m trying to say, very simply, is this: this Long Jing ROCKS!
This is sweet and nutty, and there is a roasted note to it that reminds me of sweet, toasted chestnuts. One of the things I look forward to when the holidays approach is roasting some chestnuts over my roaring fireplace, and eating the shelled chestnuts while they’re still warm. Yum!
Well, that lip-smacking “mmm” moment I mentioned a while ago was from the warm, creamy chestnut taste that I get from this tea. The tasting notes from Steepster state:
Nutty and vegetal with hints of baked earth.
And yeah, I’m getting that “baked earth” sort of flavor, as well as the vegetative tones that are reminiscent of lightly buttered lima beans. But it’s the nutty flavors of this tea that really does for me. So sweet and delicious.
A really, REALLY good Long Jing!
Spice Dragon Red Chai Herbal Tea from Stash Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Tisane Description:
Rooibos, an antioxidant-rich herb also known as red tea, combines with clove, ginger root and sweet cinnamon to create a unique, caffeine-free sweet and spicy chai.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This Spice Dragon Red Chai Herbal Tea from Stash Tea is another gift that I received over the holidays. It was one that I hadn’t yet tried from Stash, so I was happy to have the opportunity to give it a try.
I steeped this the way I would usually steep a rooibos tisane: using 195°F water and steeping for 10 minutes. With rooibos, if I use boiling water and attempt to steep that long, I get a sort of sour wood like flavor that I don’t find agreeable. But I found by lowering the temperature slightly, I can steep the tisane for 10 minutes to get a whole lot of flavor out of the blend, and not get that weird sour wood taste.
And this isn’t too bad. It’s strongly spiced with cinnamon, and there is some ginger and clove to this too. I find myself missing cardamom here, because I think that it might offer a more well-rounded spice note, but, as it is, it’s tasty.
I taste mostly cinnamon, and it’s a sweet cinnamon – not that red-hot cinnamon candy type of cinnamon. This is a sweeter cinnamon taste. The clove adds a warmth to the cup, but I don’t taste a lot of ginger. Maybe a little more ginger would add a zesty, spicy edge to the cup.
I don’t taste a lot of rooibos flavor here. I do taste a nutty/earthy sort of flavor that I attribute to the rooibos. This nutty taste marries seamlessly with the cinnamon.
This is kind of a “one-note” type of tisane. I taste cinnamon, and a background of clove and hints of nutty rooibos. Every once in a while I detect the peppery note of ginger. But, it isn’t as complex as other rooibos chai blends I’ve tasted. It has less spicy kick to it than some rooibos blends out there. Tasty, but not the best rooibos chai I’ve ever tasted.
Vietnamese Oolong Tea from Spire Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Tea Description:
This pure, unique Vietnamese oolong produces a jade-green liquor with a freshly sweet floral aroma.
This tea was previously known as Jade Dragon.
Learn more about Spire Tea on their website.
Taster’s Review:
From the name of this tea (Jade Dragon) and the above description, I had expected a green liquor but what I brewed from this tea was more of an amber colored liquid.
Well, the color might not be “right” … but the flavor is superb! I brewed this the same way I’d go about brewing most Oolong teas – in my gaiwan. I started out with a quick rinse to reawaken the leaves (15 seconds in hot water, and then I strained off the liquid and discarded it). Then I brewed the first infusion for 45 seconds, and added 15 seconds to each subsequent infusion. I combine the results of two infusions to make each cup, so my first cup was infusions 1 and 2, my second cup was infusions 3 and 4 … and so on! Unfortunately, there was a mishap with my second cup – and it ended up all over the kitchen counter. I chose not to slurp it off of the counter, although I have to admit that I was tempted.
My first cup was amazing. It was buttery and sweet, with a lovely texture that was creamy and soft. The flavor was delicately floral, and I picked up subtle honey notes and hints of a fruit-like flavor.
As I said, the second cup was not consumed, but my kitchen counter seemed to enjoy it, or perhaps what it enjoyed was the sponge bath that followed. It’s not talking, so I don’t know. But the third cup was slightly more focused a flavor than the first cup. I found the first cup to be a softer sort of flavor, while the third cup had more of a distinguished flavor, especially the floral notes. There is not so much of that creamy, buttery flavor in this cup though. Still delightfully honeyed, with fruit notes in the distance.
My fourth and final cup (with a third cup so flavorful, I decided these leaves had more to offer!) was similar to the third cup, although I found that the flavors were softening at this point. There was less astringency with this cup, and the floral notes seemed to meld with the honey notes to offer a sharp yet sweet taste.
Of the three cups that I enjoyed, I think my favorite was the first. I really loved the buttery taste and texture of that cup, although I really enjoyed the flavor of the cups that followed. It’s definitely worthwhile to take the time to resteep this one.
A really lovely Oolong!
Jasmine Dragon Pearls from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
SUBTLY SWEET, AND SOFT, AIRY MOUTHFEEL: Perfumy hand-rolled jasmine tea made from the most tender tea leaves and best Fujian jasmines. When added to hot water, the pearls majestically unfurl, filling the room with sweet jasmine scent and flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Jasmine pearls! Yay! I was so happy to receive these Jasmine Dragon Pearls from Teasenz. I love jasmine teas, as I’ve professed many times, and Jasmine Pearls are among my favorite jasmine teas. They are not only “top of the line” when it comes to jasmine teas … but it’s a lot of fun to watch them “dance” in the hot water as they steep – they slowly unfurl from a tightly wound ball into a long, elegant and beautifully fragrant tea leaf – all the while, producing a very flavorful cup of tea.
This particular pearl tea from Teasenz is a real treat. It has a very delicate quality to it … something I noticed immediately when I opened the pouch of the tea. The aroma was light and almost … airy. It evoked thoughts of walking through a path lined with jasmine vines on a cool evening as the gentle breezes capture the exotic fragrance of the jasmine flowers and surround me with the essence of beautiful jasmine. So, I’ve never actually done anything like that … but I’ve imagined in on more than one occasion.
And that’s what I think of when I smell the dry leaf of these Jasmine Dragon Pearls. It’s a delicate, ethereal sort of olfactory experience. The brewed tea maintains that sort of subtle aroma, it is soft and has an almost dreamy quality to it. Really beautiful.
The flavor is also quite delicate, especially when sipped as the tea is still quite hot. Allow the tea to cool for a few moments, and the flavor begins to intensify. Not cold, the tea is still hot … but it’s cool enough to sip. For maximum flavor, slurp the sip, aerating the tea a little bit before it touches the palate. Now the flavors of the sweet jasmine can be tasted and the fresh, buttery flavor of the green tea leaves are also experienced in the sip.
This is a really delightful and beautiful jasmine pearl … soothing and relaxing to sip.