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DMDQ’s Dragon Well

Dragon Well by DMDQ
Green Tea / Straight
$7.27 for 200g

First Impressions

Another week, another impulse grocery store tea aisle purchase!

DMDQ’s Dragon Well came in a cardstock carton that’s taped closed. Inside, is a vacuum sealed foil package of 200g of tea. The foil packet itself is tightly bunched up, because of the sealing method. Dragon Well comes from China, but there’s little other information on the packaging in regards to where specifically.

That said, Dragon Well is a classic Chinese green tea. I’ve reviewed multiple dragonwell teas before (it’s also known as Long Jing), and I really bought this because it was a great deal in terms of dollar per gram (3.6¢ per gram) and wanted to know if it would be a potential tea cupboard staple because I really enjoy drinking dragonwell, but also like saving money if I can. The leaves themselves are flat, long-ish. I found that a lot of leaves aren’t full pieces, I found a lot of broken leaf pieces in the spoonful that I got out of the packet. The colour is green, a mix of mid to dark greens with a dusty texture to the leaves. It does have a grassy smell that I’ve come to anticipate when it comes to Chinese green teas, so it does have the right aroma.

Preparation

I couldn’t find steeping instructions on the packaging, at least not in English or anything that the Google Translate identified as being steeping instructions.

That said, I opted to use the green tea setting on my kettle (175°F/80°C) and did an initial steep of Dragon Well for 2 minutes. If you’re ever in a similar situation, you can check out my chart of tea steeping times and temperatures for a general steeping guide.

First Taste

Dragon Well steeps to a green-yellow colour, and I found that there was a lot of dust that settled at the bottom of my tea cup. I wasn’t surprised, given at how dusty the tea leaves were before I had began to steep the Dragon Well. The aroma of the leaves is grassy, and just slightly sweet. I found the flavour of the Dragon Well to be sweet, grassy, and there’s a mild amount of umami in the background. There was no bitterness or astringency with the initial steep of 2 minutes.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Dragon Well twice, adding an additional 30 seconds to each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour stayed consistent and was just a bit weaker. The leaves themselves are, unsurprisingly, pieces of leaves rather than full leaves as I’m used to seeing in other long jing teas.

My Overall Impression

I liked DMDQ’s Dragon Well. I was mildly impressed at the flavour that these leaves were able to produce in my cup of tea. I had hoped that the tea would be a higher quality, but given the price I’m not terribly disappointed. That said, if you prefer a tea with less dust, then this isn’t the one for you. But as a lower priced Dragon Well, it certainly fits the bill for a green tea that I won’t mind sharing a lot or steeping large pitchers to have iced this summer.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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DMDQ’s Tie Guan Yin

Tie Guan Yin by DMDQ
Oolong Tea / Straight
$7.27 for 250g

First Impressions

This Tie Guan Yin was one of those grocery store impulse buys from my favourite Asian grocery chain. The packaging caught my eye because of the decorative knot on the side. And for the low price of under $8 for 250g of oolong tea, it turned out to be an easy impulse buy. Plus, the packaging was nice. Sadly, there was no website or any other information.

The tea itself comes a vacuum-sealed foil pouch that’s sealed (but not resealable), and came inside of the cardstock carton with the decorative knot on the side. There’s minimal English on the packaging, aside from what’s required. The ingredients are: tie guan yin oolong tea from China.

The aroma of the dry leaf is lightly floral, the leaves tightly bunched up. There’s a blend of spring green to dark green – it’s a pretty dry leaf to look at.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions that I could find on the packaging, which was fine. I used my regular steeping temperature and time for an oolong for this Tie Guan Yin. I used 195°F (91°C) water and did a steep for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Tie Guan Yin steeps to a pleasant yellow, with some fine tea dust that escaped the stainless steel infuser that I was using. The aroma is lightly floral, and grassy. The tea itself has a smooth taste to it, with a light floral sweetness. I found it to have a crispness to it, with a pleasant mouthfeel. I found that there’s a slight creamy undertone to the tea, despite having a lightness to it.

A Second Cup?

I did five resteeps of the same leaves, six steeps total. The subsequent steeps had an additional 30 seconds on top of the prior steep time. The flavour deepened and got a bit more creamy, with a fuller mouthfeel.

My Overall Impression

I loved DMDQ’s Tie Guan Yin. I found that the tea was tasty, and resteeped well. It has a very familiar flavour and is very similar to other tie guan yin teas that I’ve had previously. This Tie Guan Yin is pleasant to drink and have a nice afternoon resteeping session with, and the tea also has the benefit of being inexpensive for the volume of tea.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Garden’s Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers

Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers by Garden
Green Tea (Matcha)
$2.79 for 200g

First Impressions

I’m constantly on the look out for tea-flavoured or tea-themed treats, so when I spotted these Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers on the shelf at my local favourite Asian grocery store – they just jumped into my shopping cart.

For those unfamiliar with Garden Cream Wafers, the packaging is a shiny metallic plastic, and instead of the usual plastic tray – the Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers comes into 4 packets inside – also in the foil packets with each containing cookies instead. Each packet comes with 6 cream wafers inside. The one nice thing about the (excessive) packaging is that it keeps the cookies from going stale.

Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers consists of: wheat flour, vegetable shortening, sugar, whole milk powder, corn starch, matcha powder, artificial flavouring, leavening/raising agent, salt, and emulsifier. There’s a very light matcha aroma to the wafer cookies, I mostly smell the cookie base, which has a vanilla-esque cream aroma to it.

First Taste

Based on the packaging, I had expected the matcha cream layers to be darker in colour and, perhaps, more aromatic. The flavour of the Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers was pleasantly more vibrant that I had expected from when I had opened the smaller pack of cookies. The wafer layers have a nice crunch to them, and the cream layer has a decent matcha flavour to it that is both sweet and grassy at the same time. I feel like the matcha was recently fairly well. It is quite light in colour, but artificial colouring wasn’t listed as an ingredient (which is always a plus!).

My Overall Impression

I liked Garden’s Uji Matcha Flavoured Cream Wafers. I thought the overall cookie itself had a good crunch, and the matcha cream was both sweet and had those matcha qualities that I was looking for. While I appreciated the separate packaging inside for that freshness factor, it was also a bit disheartening to see because not everyone lives in an area where you can recycle soft plastics, especially soft plastics with metallic coatings. The cookie itself is great, and I appreciate the smaller servings for portion control and a snack, but the packaging leaves something to be desired from an environmental standpoint.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.