I am just finishing my fourth infusion of this elegant Dragon Well green tea and it is going strong. I have worked a bit at learning how to prepare green teas properly. A little bit of attention to detail–water quality, water temperature, steeping time–repays itself abundantly. The dry leaf does not give away an enormous amount of aroma but seems slightly fragrant and nutty. The leaves are firm and a bit tippy. The wet leaf, as is typical, provides a fresh and vegetal fragrance and resembles broad bright green pine needles.

The vivid tea is a pleasing pale yellow color–the relative pale color testifies to the youthfulness of the leaf. The taste is fresh, light, and buttery–almost like a sweet pea that has some delicately inserted wild rice grains. The taste develops a floral overtone that could be described as “orchid-like”. It’s not at all astringent or bitter.

I think that this tea is youthful and light yet it can sustain multiple infusions. It’s got an extremely fresh and natural taste and the hints of orchid, rice, corn, and vegetable are delightful flirtatious. This is a tea to ponder over and to enjoy. I would not use sweeteners at all with a nicely delicate and bright tea like this one.

I most certainly plan to try more teas form Grandtea.com. Visit their website athttp://www.grandtea.com/. Based in Hong Kong, they specialize in Chinese and Japanese teas of high quality and ship inexpensively to the USA and the rest of the world.

You can purchase the Xi Hu Premium Dragon Well directly from the Grand Tea website.

In general, green teas take some coddling: keeping the water temp under boiling, not over-measuring the dry leaves, keeping a watchful eye so that you don’t oversteep.

Even for the hard core tea-ophile, some days you just don’t want to have to coddle your tea. Fatigue and/or time constraints just call for a dump-and-dunk cuppa. Thanks to Celestial Seasonings, green tea fans can have just that without much of a concession on quality.

I interpreted “freshly heated water” to be in the 180-degree range and did the prescribed two minute brew. No particular flavor jumps out to get you, but there’s a mild lemony-citrus tang to each swallow. As you can see above, the ingredient listing on the package doesn’t reveal much; a note on the lid says that that white tea has been added for smoothness. Said white tea does cut the five-required-daily-servings-of-veggies taste that you get in most bagged greens.

When convenience needs to overrule preciseness, this tea is a good call.

You can purchase the Authentic Green Tea directly from the Celestial Seasonings website.

Ok, so as I embark on my first official tea review, I realize that I have been procrastinating because I felt so much pressure to write a meaningful review that will educate, enlighten and fully describe my experience as I tried this tea. I had to remind myself that even though I have had the pleasure of experiencing hundreds of different teas through my training to become a Certified Tea Sommelier, in the end, my review is still subjective and may be totally different than someone else’s experience with the same tea. I have decided to lessen some of the pressure and just write a straightforward and honest review that hopefully will be useful to others who may be interested in trying this particular tea.

When reviewing a tea, I feel it is important to comment on multiple aspects of the sensory experience, including an analysis of the dry and wet leaf as well as the steeped liquor. I have kept the “technical terms” to a minimum, but I have used some standard industry terminology in describing my experience.

I was very excited to try this tea because I love China green teas and this one is beautiful. The name alone makes it sound quite exciting – Jade Sword – it conjures up images of ancient China and fearless warriors. As it turns out, Jade Sword is Mao Jian, one of my favourite China green teas. One thing I noticed with this sample from Canton Tea Co. is that many of the leaves are quite a bit longer than is usual with this style of tea. The leaf is twisted and the colour is medium to dark green with some downy leaves in the mix. The dry leaf has a mildly floral and sweet aroma.

I used 2.5g of tea to approximately 4 oz of 175 deg water and steeped it for 1 minute intervals. The wet leaves were a beautiful medium green colour and were only partially open after the first steep. The leaves had a sweet and slightly vegetal aroma. The liquor was a pale yellow shade and also had a faint sweet aroma. The taste was beautifully smooth, mildly sweet and coated my pallet with an almost creamy aftertaste that lingered. After one sip of this tea, I was feeling relaxed, calm and at peace.

I was able to steep this tea three times and probably could have gone a little further if I had increased the steep time to 1.5 or 2 minutes. The astringency (dry mouth feel) came through a little more with subsequent steepings and there was even a very slight peppery taste detectible. I am usually a “first steep kind of gal”, and this tea was no exception as the first steep was heavenly. However, I always get as much mileage as I can out of any tea, and this one did not disappoint.

This is definitely a tea I would recommend and will continue to drink myself. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate this tea at 8.5. Mao Jian is best enjoyed clear and although it could be paired with something simple like a white cake or even certain cheeses, I prefer to take it all on its own so I can truly indulge in the tranquility that comes with that first sip. Visit the Canton Tea Co. website for more information or to order Jade Sword: http://www.cantonteaco.com/green-tea/jade-sword-green-tea-mao-jian.html.

You can purchase the Jade Sword Green Tea | Mao Jian directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

These leaves are beautiful. I was surprised at how large the coconut shavings were. These were no ordinary shavings used in baking coconut, no not in this tea! This tea brewed up a beautiful lemon lime green. The aroma is very coconutty with a bit of citrus sneaking in as well. It reminds me of Harney and Sons Bangkok Green tea (minus the ginger). There is almost a buttery note to the scent as well.

As far as the taste goes, it is a lightly flavored, buttery green tea. I taste the bright, citrusy lime in the forefront, then the buttery green base with a hint of coconut at the end. The coconut is very strong in scent and as I sip it I get more from the scent of the coconut than the taste of the coconut. Does coconut make the tea taste buttery and smooth, or is that the actual tea itself? This texture I’m tasting was similar in the Harney and Sons tea mentioned above, which also had coconut in it. I do like how smooth this blend is. Nothing stands out too sharply. I really enjoy the lime flavor in this tea. It doesn’t overpower the green tea, but blends with it rather nicely. I’m glad to have enjoyed a mug full of this.

You can purchase the Lime in the Coconut directly from the California Tea House website.

I was really excited to try this tea because it was my first of this type and my first tea from this company. I’ve never come across a Japanese green that I didn’t enjoy, so I was really hoping to love this also.

The leaves of this tea are quite thin and long with various shades of green from jade to emerald. The smell from the package was much like fresh cut grass, very clean and fresh.

The first time I brewed this tea, I let it steep for around 2 minutes with not-quite-boiling water. At first, it was pretty decent. It was nicely sweet with a taste of the honeydew melon promised on the package. There was a definite grassy aftertaste which wasn’t off-putting, but slightly grassier than other green teas I’ve had. Uh oh. As the tea began to cool, the sweet taste of honeydew disappeared and was replaced by a very strong, unpleasant grass stew.

Okay, I was a bit disappointed after this first tasting so I researched Gyokuro and realized that it is a quite sensitive tea when it comes to temperature. I tried the tea again, but this time I poured the water over the leaves when it just started to steam. Well before even the smallest bubbles formed. I also reduced the steeping time to slightly over one minute. Success!! I was surprised with a nicely sweet brew of a beautiful bright yellow hue. The honeydew melon had taken the lead and the slight grassiness served to balance out the flavors nicely. The flavor stays on the sweet side if you drink this while hot. I wouldn’t suggest letting this cool too much, unless of course you want to drink a cup of warm cut grass. This tea was quite good through two infusions when paying attention to the temperature of the water.

I cold-brewed the last of my sample and it really mellowed out the grassy aftertaste. The honeydew melon flavor was juicy and lovely. Truly delicious. If I ever come across this type of tea again, I will be cold-brewing it for sure.

I can see the allure of this tea as it was the most unique green tea I have had so far. However, since it is so temperamental, I can’t see myself drinking this on a regular basis. Overall, if you enjoy Japanese greens, you have to try this at least once. Just make sure to pay attention to the water temperature! (Or just cold-brew it!)

You can purchase the Japan Gyokuro directly from the TeaGschwendner website.

I love genmaicha so when I saw this blend from TeaFrog I knew that I had to try it. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of flavor but I was imagining some type of genmaicha/chai/tropical hybrid.

In the scent of the dry tea, the fruity sweetness is the most noticeable. The typical toasted genmaicha scent is hard to identify, but there is a lot going on in this tea. As it is brewing, the genmaicha scent begins to become more noticeable.

I’ve tried this tea for several different steeping lengths and I love it at 3 minutes. The finished tea has the typical yellow/green aroma that is typical of green teas and has a strong toasted scent with a slightly sweet undertone. This tea is amazing. Slightly sweet, toasted, buttery. This is the Kettle Corn of teas.

Bamboo Shoots is extremely smooth, tasty, and doesn’t need any additions. I think this one is a very original play on the traditional genmaicha and is something all genmaicha lovers should try at least once.

You can purchase the Bamboo Shoots directly from the TeaFrog website.

Leaf Spa’s Organic loose leaf “Bi Luo Chun” green tea is a delight. The dry aroma evokes a strongly wooded vegetation–almost like a green vegetable garden with fragrant grasses that abuts right against a forest of trees.  In the distance one can detect a tertiary floral aroma–perhaps some light jasmine.  It’s most certainly an inviting, even alluring fragrance. The dry leaves are a medium  curly length;  they are not the coiled or tightly rolled balls that I’ve seen with some Bi Luo Chun teas.  

Steeped, the leaves unfurl into the typical bright green color.  The tea liquor is very brisk and bright. It does not have a lot of the buttery taste of some greens, but I’m not missing the butter here because this is more of a woodsy journey.  This astringent green tea is less delicate than many greens but the compensation is in the deep, robust flavor.  It would be a great morning tea for those who drink only green teas. It is delicious and drinking it evokes a walk in the fragrant  woods instead of a more genteel visit to a solarium or a small greenhouse. I’ve just enjoyed my third steeping and I think that this tea is good for at least one more, so it’s also an economical tea.

You can purchase the Organic Bi Luo Chun Tea directly from the Leaf Spa Tea website.

I’ve been dipping my toe into the waters of the world of green teas and discovering the results can be sensational.  I’ve only tested and tasted Japanese green teas, so I’ve been eager to try more Chinese green tea.  Knowing that Dragon Well (Lung Ching) has a reputation for being the champagne of Chinese green teas and that it’s known as being a fairly light tea, I thought that this was the ideal time for me to try this tea from Tea Frog.

The dry leaf is long, pretty and fairly flat. It’s green but not the neon green of some Japanese greens. It smells a bit nutty with hints at complexity that will arise with steeping. Brewed at approximately 175 degrees, the results are very pleasing. The brew is mid-yellow in color and the aroma is both vegetal and nutty. It is not ostentatiously sweet but it is fresh, mellow, and not the least bit bitter although one cduld argue that there’s a natural bitter-sweetness to this Dragon Well.   I use the “bitter-sweet” as a word of tribute, not a word of warning.   Tea Frog has done a beautiful job of presenting a Dragon Well that balances toasty roasty goodness with some natural sweetness.

Drinking this tea is a great adventure in unfolding layers of nuttiness and some vegetation—not so much that you can call it a “spinach” or an “artichoke” tea but enough so that the vegetal taste plays a strong third fiddle to the primary taste of roasted or toasted nuts.  I detect roasted walnuts more than other kinds of nuts although I taste a strong complementary chestnut overtone.   This tea is  very satisfying and would make a great accompaniment to a meal or as an after-dinner tea. It would also be a great afternoon tea.  I can see it as a great accompaniment to solitary study as well as a great social tea.   It’s versatility is impressive.  So many teas pigeon-hole themselves as “reading teas” or “wake-up teas”.  Tea Frog’s Dragon Well (Lung Ching) has variable facets like a beautiful gemstone and is a great tea option for many occasions.

SECOND infusion: Tea Frog’s Dragon Well has not lost any potency but has gained perhaps more of a nutty focus. I added a few sugar crystals and the added sweetness was nice, but did not open up any new vistas.   The tea stands well on its own. I will serve this to myself without the sugar but would offer some sugar to guests who might like it.

The rich toasty nuttiness and the deep flavor make this tea well-worth trying. I think it will become a staple at my house.  I would also say that any green tea aficionado should start to learn the primary green teas of China,  which has a longer green tea producing history than does Japan.    Dragon Well justly deserves its reputation as one of the star teas of China and Tree Frog’s Dragon Well is a spectacular introduction to a tea that I immediately came to admire and then love.   I am off to a third infusion, confident that the tea will stand up and not lose any potency.

You can purchase the Dragon Well – Lung Ching directly from the TeaFrog website.

Dragon Well is one of the first green teas I tasted and one of the flavors that won me over from my coffee addiction. It’s been difficult for me to find a Dragon Well that I truly enjoy because I find the flavor of green tea to be a bit overwhelming for me but this is a fine grade.

The green flavor comes through at just the right level, not grassy or bitter, just really balanced, nutty and fresh. It is forgiving (over steeped it once and it was still sweet) and the quality stayed true through all three brews on my next attempt with it. This is a very aromatic green that is truly easy to enjoy.

You can purchase the Dragon Well Lung Ching directly from the TeaFrog website.

Roasted teas are interesting.  As a step during the finishing,  they are roasted in a manner similar to roasting coffee beans for a short period. This imparts a “nutty’ or “toasted” flavor and scent.  (Green teas are usually withered by steam, stir frying (think of a huge wok), or occasionally roasting. Green Needles (Lu Zhen) is a spring harvest (Qing Ming) tea, that is noted as a very brisk and strong tea, unusually so for a green.  Roasted teas are sometimes recommended for people trying to move away from coffee.

This tea from the great folks at Rishi, shows a long pine needle shape with a slight curl and whites tips on dark green.  There is a fresh, sweet smell to the dry tea.

2.5 tsp (about 6g) tea in 6 oz water @180F in my green Xing for 3 minutes. Tan with hints of red in the cup, with a brothy, nutty nose with a hint of toasted nuts. Nutty, complex, big flavor with a big astringency and a lingering dryness.

This is a very big green tea!  My first pass at this tea caught me off guard – much larger personality than the usual greens I drink.

Wet leaves unfold to a leaf and a bud shape expected from this type of tea.  Leaf is consistent in size and shape, with almost no broken leaf.  A mark of quality I expect from Rishi.

2nd Infusion 185F for 4 min. Nose more typical green, with more roasted nuances, taste nutty and dry.  I got 2 more infusions out of this @5 minutes before it washed out.

Wow, this is a big, strong, green tea. This is not the soft, introspective kind of green. This is a strong, energizing tea – reminds me of the energizing effect of Yerba Mate – with a good bold, robust flavor. This is a  green for first thing in the morning to get you up and running, or any time you need a pick me up.

You can purchase Rishi Teas Organic Green Needles (Lu Zhen) Roasted directly from their website.