There was a time that I wouldn’t have tried a Dragon Well tea unless my life somehow depended upon it.  That’s because my first experience with Dragon Well was not favorable, to say the least.

I don’t know what has happened since that time … perhaps my palate has grown more sophisticated, or it could be that I’ve become more adept at my brewing methods.  It could even be that the particular Dragon Well that I had been given was not a good quality tea like the teas featured at KTeas.  Whatever the reason, I am certainly glad that somewhere along the line since that first sampling of Dragon Well tea I was able to give it another try, because I truly adore Dragon Well.

And the very best Dragon Well I’ve tried to date is this Dragon Well First Grade from KTeas.  The complexity of this tea is remarkable.  Sweet nutty notes layered with a delicate, fruity overtone and a slight, fresh, vegetal low note.  And all this flavor — from an unflavored tea!

The leaves of this tea are gorgeous.  Long, large, flat leaves with a very profound grassy aroma that carries through to the brewed liquor.  This scent is rather misleading, because the strong grassy character does not carry through to the flavor.  Yes, there are grassy notes, but, the overall flavor speaks not of an earthy grassiness, but more of a strong nutty appeal with a sweet fruitiness that is unparalleled with other unflavored green teas.

KTeas describes this tea as

1st grade does not refer to schooling, but rather to leaf size & consistency. This Dragon Well green tea is characterized by hand-flattened, yellow-green leaves and distinct fragrance, producing a mellow yet flavorful, somewhat nutty, almost sweet finish. Grown in the mountains of Zhejiang Province in the village of Long Jing, you can see this tea being pan fired almost everywhere you go, but the tea is hard to find outside of China.

This tea might be quite good chilled, I can’t tell you because it doesn’t remain in my cup long enough to cool off so that I can judge it.  The flavor of the hot tea is just so incredible that it doesn’t remain in the cup for long.  It needs absolutely no sweetener or other additions to it — it has it’s own sweetness and I fear that adding more would only destroy the perfect balance of this tea.

This is a tea that belongs on every tea connoisseur’s shelf.  The most beautiful, perfect green tea that I’ve ever tried.  And forgive me if I sound less than humble when I say this, but, given the many teas that I’ve tried, I think that is saying something.