Dragonwell

Dragonwell is my favorite tea and what I got here (twice) was largely unfamiliar to me. First, I've never heard dragonwell described as having any plum notes. That is usually descriptive of darker/heavily oxidized teas. The biggest issue for me is that the aroma of the tea (both dry and wet leaf) smells as if it was stored in a cabinet with all the botanical teas. Green tea is pretty delicate and it should smell roasty, buttery, nutty, vegetal, but this smells strongly of raspberry and spices. I can taste some of the notes of green tea when drinking it, but its mostly overpowered by what seems to be the fruity character I suspect it might have absorbed in storage. I love LMTC but I would recommend that dragonwell appreciators find a different vendor for this tea, unless something changes.

Low quality. The origin of the tea isn’t specified, which is concerning authentic Dragon Well (Longjing) should come from the West Lake region, or at minimum, from Zhejiang province. There’s also no mention of the harvest season or year, which are essential details for green tea. Without that information, it’s hard to judge freshness. Green tea generally loses its flavor and aroma after about a year, so transparency is key. Added one star for even having long jing in Missoula, Mt though.