Green Tea Forum

Jibbly · Guest

Anyone know about the properties of Dragon Well? I know its an extremely vague question, but you never know if you never ask right?

I knew a "gree tea" sub-culture existed (kinda like coffee-house sub-cultures), and I'm interested in learning some of the ins & outs. What better place than a green-tea forum?

I gotta say, I'm not a huge fan of the taste of Dragon Well, its not bad, but its not particularly good. Occasionally I'll add pan-fried, non-cooked rice, and that gives it a good taste in my opinion (of course my apologies if adding the rice offends some of the hard-core GT drinkers here).

I guess what I'm asking is...if anyone knows whether the "sweet" GTs, like Matcha...have the same health benefits. (I've read here that harvest affects qualities.) But I really have no point of reference so I'm asking for some opinions.

thanks,
Jibbly

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 928 Location: Japan

Dragon well can be quite good, but it's very hard to find one that's quality. I 've heard from sources that would know that the best dragon well never leaves China. I've tried it many times and only had a good one once.

GruenerTee · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

Dragon Well (Longjing Cha) is produced in Hangzhou the capital of the province Zhejiang. It is known as on of the best green teas in China.

I don´t know whether this one is available in the states but Iam able to buy it in Germany Razz

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 181

Ryan · Sensei Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 475

I find that to get really good tasting dragon well you usually have to spend a lot of money and buy from a very reputable vendor.

Though I had one long jing from teaspring which was inexpensive and tasted pretty darn good.

While I don't doubt that the very best stuff may never leave mainland China, I have to wonder what "best stuff" is referring to. Is this the stuff that is so good that it is reserved for the Chinese government?

For example, Imperial Tea Court sells lotus heart long jing which is the highest grade of long jing and you have to make a reservation to get some. Lotus heart is so rare that probably the vast majority of people living in China have never tasted it.

I was at their tea house once and had their "imperial long jing". It was astounding to me, but it's also 90 bucks a quarter pound.

Maybe I am not able to discern, but I have had what has seemed to me as very good long jing.

That being said, great long jing will be more expensive than great sencha. Unless you're in China, then maybe you could find a much better deal.

Chip · Posted: Nov 05, 2007 5:47 am Post subject:

I would say that if you know the right person or vendor, one can actually get pretty good Long Jing here in the USA.

I have talked to a few Chinese tea drinkers who have more or less told me that we can get better Long Jing than the vast majority of people living in China. We simply have many more choices than they do. I found that to be very interesting.

Photiou · Posted: Nov 05, 2007 6:35 am Post subject:

Of course we can get better teas than most of the people in China - just check average annual income rates there:

cheeseng · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

hi all,i'm new to this forum
recommend a site which has fine chinese tea
spam

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 928 Location: Japan

Do not spam our forum....

spacesamurai · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 204

mmm, spam, lol that's awesome.

joelbct · Posted: Jan 11, 2008 11:17 am Post subject:

Ito En had a rather good Dragon Well off-menu in their NYC shop once... But on the whole, I seem to have better luck with other Chinese Green varieties...

nutty teadrinker · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 3

Well, what I say is only what I know:
1) The best-best Dragon Well never goes to the open market. All are hand-picked, filtered, roasted, packaged and directly shipped to…you know, the Chinese way… (Sorry, I don’t mean to spam the forum). Those are priceless. Although Hangzhou (the city and the surrounding area) is large, Longjing (the village) is tiny. How much first flush in early March you can find, especially when there is a sudden frosty?
2) The best Dragon Well is generally from the greater Hangzhou area and labeled as the first grade. It can be indeed found in the top-notch tea-shops in China. It is very expensive in terms of dollars, and it vanishes very fast. Well, to me, it is true that one can only find it in China. I don’t see the point of importing expensive Dragon Well and only find later that not may people appreciate it (besides all quality control jargons…it’s too risky from business viewpoints).

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 928 Location: Japan

Had a recent stroke of luck. I decided to start carrying Chinese whisks, mainly because I'm practically the only one who solely carries Japanese whisks, it makes me look expensive. They arrived today, they look fine and supposedly no chemical treatment. It will be clearly marked on our site which is which and I will let the consumer decide which to buy. I still recommend the Japanese made whisks.

Anyway.... the whisk maker in China is near Long Jing so I asked him if he could get me some dragonwell. He just sent me a pack which came directly from the village. It looks real good, and the dry leaf is really green. I'd try it now except that I've been drinking bucket loads of Yutaka Midori trying to beat back this cold I've got.

joelbct · Posted: Jan 27, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject:

That is funny, I have been drinking lots of matcha to beat my own cold, on the other side of the world. I think it is helping, indeed, matcha and aka miso (not at the same time) seems to clear things right up.

btw, I received your cherry wood Chasaji. It is utterly beautiful, one of the most elegant and graceful tea implements I have ever beheld. Thank you!