jing tea shop

WOW
My first Lion Mt dragonwell and I am stunned. Literally zero bitterness, all sweetness and the most complex flavor profile of any green tea, it changed in my mouth like a good oolong. The taste started out like sweet peas then slightly creamy then crisp almost lemon/lime like. Later steepings revealed a asparagus after taste that was superb. Just when I thought green tea was boring and 1 dimensional the tea that was described to me as the “chinese gyokuro” came along. This is truly my new favorite tea and i am already anxious that it is only obtainable late april early may yearly.

Thanks Tea Explorer, if you’re still out there!
This is a sip down, and the interesting thing about this tea, this time around, is an aftertaste of lightly burnt popcorn. Strange, but true!

This is not a sipdown. I realized I wanted something smokey with my dinner. It just seemed like it would add a nice dimension to the meal. Plus, I have this amazing box of teas from my swap with TeaExplorer, & I was dying to try one of them! So I’m trying this one! And before I say anything else, I want to say, “Thank you!”.

It’s quite tasty! Right now, I feel like the level of smoke is perfect on this cup. With some lapsangs, you have the BBQ thing going on, and the only thing you really get is lots of smoke. When I was a kid, we BBQed a lot, & no matter where I stood, the smoke was always in my face. My dad used to say, “Smoke follows Beauty.” :\
This is not one of THOSE teas. Sure, there’s smoke, & it’s at a realistic level, but there’s also a rich sweetness beneath that smoke, & I am truly loving this cup right now.

Űber rich for a brew that came from the same place as some of the pinnacle jasmine teas of china. I expected to pay
$’s for this but it was absolutely well worth the small batch to price rate. ༂

Backlogging and based partially on memory but mostly on my notes

Experience buying from Jing Tea Shop http://steepster.com/places/2780-jing-tea-shop-on-line—

I bought a sample of this with an order from them during the late spring of 2011. I brewed it up a couple of times since then.

It looked like any quality Tie Guan Yin I had ever seen pictures of in that it had dark green leaves rolled in tight balls; it smelled fresh and vegetal.

I did six steepings starting out at 187F and 30" and used slightly hotter water and added 15" for each successive one.

Flavor: my notes say it was good through the fifth steeping, but no notes on the sixth (except that I did one).

I believe this was my first TGY (so no rating), thus watching the leaves slowly unfurl through each steeping was quite an experience for me.

The only notes about the wet leaf: “Almost no pieces; nice, full, large, army-green colored leaves with serrated edges”. That’s all I have for now. I still have some, so I hope to update this at some later time.One a final note, I am very slowly starting to appreciate the wonder that is Oolong Tea!

MY NEW YIXING!!

http://silversun.teatra.de/2011/03/22/my-new-yixing/

Flavor notes: Classic BMD. Clover and a little cedarwood when hot; sweeter and milder iced.
Mouthfeel: A substantial lingering astringency which I find pleasant; a thin body; negligible lees
Appearance: Spindly but unbroken beautiful furry leaves; a clear liquor that ranges from pale yellow to a deeper mahogany color depending on the steep time and strength.

A staple tea. The best value BMD I’ve had; inexpensive but delicious. It’s great to make iced after dinner, or take to work/school in the morning. I brew it with a gaiwan sometimes just for kicks but it’s perhaps best brewed western-style by the parameters below or something similar. It can take a pretty long brew without getting bitter, like most white teas, so feel free to play around. (But remember to use a high volume of leaf because these leaves are both broad and spindly!)