Admittedly, I was hoping to dodge fresh green teas as those are simply not a thing I enjoy drinking but I failed. The Essence of Tea’s club doesn’t have a preview online of what we are going to get. This month’s Essence of Tea club is “Something Old and Something New” with a fresh 2019 Dragonwell/ Long Jing green tea and old 1990s Liubao.
Traditional Variety Qun Ti Zhong Dragonwell
The dry leaf smells of zesty grass and toasted rice.
I did grandpa style here, so 3 grams for a small Wall Mug (around 280ml/9.4oz) in 79c/175f water temperature. I let the tea steep and sipped away.
The tea is strongly nutty, wafting from the cup. The first sip and wow this is nutty. Traditional Variety Qun Ti Zhong Dragonwell is smooth and strongly buttery and nutty. The nutty note comes off as chestnuts in some sips, unroasted peanut in others. The aftertaste is a refreshing gentle sweet grass note.
As it steeps, the sweetgrass note becomes stronger. I forget about my cup for a couple of minutes, did not refill, and it tastes strongly of fresh peanuts. The Traditional Variety Dragonwell gets squeaky astringent in the mouth. With an extended infusion the Dragonwell gets more astringent and just a touch bitter, tasting of sharp grass.
For Dragonwells (and coming from someone who doesn’t drink this stuff) the stuff in the Essence of Tea club is smooth, pleasantly nutty, and well rounded. It still hasn’t converted me to want to drink it again, but I enjoyed the session.
Late 1990s Loose Leaf Liubao
The Essence of Tea is quite generous with the amount of tea in the club. Late 90s Loose Leaf Liubao out of the bag is quite crushed up with a dusty wooden scent.
As usual, I used around 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu style with boiling water, with two rinses. The hot leaf smells like funky leaves have gone to mush in swamp weather.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: The colour steeps up lovely clear. The flavor is sweet dates and amber mineral with a background of swampy funky basement.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: The 90s Loose Liubao has gotten strongly like dates and soggy slightly funky wood peaking at the fourth infusion before finally mellowing and getting consistent for the rest of the infusions. With each sip, the wood flavor perks up sweeter and more dates. The texture is slightly silky to sip.
Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Infusion: The flavor shifted finally to be lightly of spun caramelized sugar. The funky wet wood note is gone and it is just sweet dates and sugar now. I likely could have resteeped more as the flavor was strongly sweet, but it was steeping for 15+ minutes at this point and drinking it lukewarm.
The Late 1990s Loose Liubao is easy to drink aged taste with lots of sweet notes. There is some funk wood, but I think it’s pleasing, though I know you types who love your aged wet storage would think this got too aired out or would roll with more leaf. Having a dedicated pot would likely get more infusions and deal with the funk. I prefer last months Essence of Tea Club’s Liubao more, I found the energy more calming whereas this 1990’s one is more consistent in taste.
