Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: jade green, flat, some leaf fuzz
Ingredients: green tea
Steep time: 30 seconds
Water Temperature: 160 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: very pale
According to JING Tea’s website, this is their highest quality Dragonwell selection for 2013. The leaves were picked between the 6th and 8th April 2013 from Fengwu tea garden, near the ancient Chinese city of Hangzhou. The taste was mellow, vegetal and refreshing. Notes of chestnut and citrus led to a lingering sweet finish. The mouth-feel was fairly thick with hardly any astringency. I did three consecutive infusions with a gaiwan and it developed a pleasant grassiness as each steep progressed. The leaves were still very plump and definitely could have gone on for a few more rounds. Earlier this year I did a blind tasting, pitting this Dragonwell against an Organic Dragonwell from the same vendor. I only just got around to publishing this review now due to the size of my backlog but rest assured that the tea was drunk several months ago while it was still very fresh. This tea was the more delicate of the two which I enjoyed because it forced me to really take my time and pay attention to each sip.