Grand Tea’s Organic Dragon Well

Organic Dragon Well by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Straight
$45.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Organic Dragon Well for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

This is Organic Dragon Well from Grand Tea, a tea company from Hong Kong. I was really excited to receive this sample because I like green teas. This is a lightly roasted green tea, which smells amazing. There’s a light seaweed smell because there’s a salty smell to it, and there’s a vegetal aroma to the tea that reminds me a lot of tomatoes.

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From Grand Tea’s website, I learned that the tea is European certified organic and is free from chemicals and contamination. There were not ingredients listed, so I am writing on the assumption that this, like most other Dragon Well teas, is a straight green tea. Dragon Well (or Longjing Tea) is a pan-roasted tea that is quite well known, so I was excited to see this one in my package from Grand Tea.

Preparation

Grand Tea’s product page for Organic Dragon Well suggests steeping this tea gong-fu method or in a tall glass. I’m not quite as sophisciated, so I steeped mine in a tea pot with a stainless steel infuser. I steeped Organic Dragon Well in 80°C (175°F) water for an initial steep of 1 minute.

First Taste

Organic Dragon Well steeps to a very pale yellow-green colour when steeped for a minute. There’s a light vegetal taste that has a mild salty flavour that reminds me a lot of seaweed snacks. I noted a nutty flavour at the end of each sip, which goes well with the salty flavour because it reminds me of having roasted nuts as a snack. The tea has a nice warming feel to it, kind of like how ginger does (but without the ginger taste), as well as a good smoothness to the tea with zero noted bitterness – a trait I always appreciate in a tea.

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A Second Cup?

Organic Dragon Well resteeps fairly well. For the first resteep, it becomes darker in colour and has a slightly saltier notes that really adds to the total umami flavour of the tea. I steeped Organic Dragon Well for a total of five resteeps (so a total of six steeps with the same batch of tea leaves). The flavours were fairly good to the fourth resteep, but the fifth resteep was fairly lacking in flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Organic Dragon Well. I always do appreciate a cup of tea with a complex flavour profile, and Organic Dragon Well does not disappoint in that department. For those that do not like a little bit of salty flavour in their tea, they may be a bit turned off by Dragon Well, but I think it is enjoyable – then again, I grew eating seaweed snacks. If you’re a fan of seaweed snacks, I think you’ll like this Organic Dragon Well green tea. The saltiness works well with the roasted nutty flavours that come together in this pan-roasted green tea.

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