What-Cha’s Zhejiang Wild-Growing Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

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(I decided to change up the format of this blog a little, instead of brewing both western style and having a gongfu session, I’ll do one and then revisit the tea at a later date and do the other. This way I’ll be able to revisit the tea with a fresh palate later on. I am also looking into buying less reflective teaware, a careful reader of this blog could notice in my previous posts I have been posting underexposed pictures because of how shiny most of my teaware is.)



The dry leaves are a remarkably bright shade of green for a Long Jing, the leaves are a little broken up, but I most note that the box that my What-Cha order was shipped in was really banged up; even my postman apologized for the shape of it. I haven’t encountered any of What-Cha’s teas being that broken up, so I am confident saying this happened when it was in transit. There is a little yellow on some of the leaves as well; the most notable part of this tea is the scent. It has a really intense Chocolate-Mint aroma, not chocolate and mint, or chocolate mints, but the chocolate-mint plant; this was quite interesting, I don’t think I have ever encountered a Dragon Well with dry leaves that smell like mint. Already I knew this was going to be a really interesting tea, although I should have known it was going to be interesting when it said “What-Cha” on the label.



For my first steeping I brewed at 176°F for two minutes.  I was greeted with a nutty aroma, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t have the chocolate-mint aroma from the dry leaves, but I won’t hold that against this tea.  This tea had a very dominant nutty taste, think lightly roasted nuts, but there also was a green bean undertone to it that was quite lovely. The liquor was very light, although if I used a white cup rather than a clear glass cup it might have been easier to see.



 For my next infusion I brewed at 185°F for three minutes. While it still had a nutty aroma, this time I could also distinguish some vegetal notes to it, a little bamboo and peas. The taste was similar to the last, but less roasted nuts and a new wet wood taste that lingered. The liquor was still light, but I think I enjoyed this infusion more than the last; it’s not often that I taste a wood element in a Long Jing.


For my third and final infusion I brewed at 190°F for four minutes. The aroma was very weak at this point; I could only get the nutty scent this time. The strongest flavor this time was peas, and then a very generic nutty taste.


 This was quite an interesting Long Jing, if What-Cha stocks the 2015 spring harvest, I’d buy again, I am interested if the grower and roaster can duplicate the chocolate-mint aroma the dry leaves had.  I don’t think What-Cha mentioned what Tea Estate this tea came from, but I wonder what side of the West Lake it is situated, although in the title it says it is wild growing which leads me to believe it may have been in one of the mountains as it doesn’t taste like Dragon Wells grown in some of the more polluted areas of Zhejiang and that it is wild growing makes me think it comes from a more affluent tea growing region (of Zhejiang). Overall it was a very good tea that I am looking forward to having again.


Rah

Just a guy who likes tea.

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