Another early harvest tea. I recently tried the April 2020 harvest of the Adagio Masters Shi Feng Long Jing (Dragonwell). Grown at a lung jing farm in Zhejiang, China, this delicate but tasty green tea is picked when the buds are still tender and only 3cm long then fired twice.
Our 2020 Shi Feng Long Jing, which translates to Lion’s Peak Dragonwell, is one of the most famous green teas in China. It hails from the equally famous and historic West Lake area in Hangshou, Zhejiang province. This Shi Feng Long Jing is a pre-Qing Ming Festival, and so its early spring harvest results in a tender, young plucking. The liquor is a pale yellow, with a soft, sweet chestnut aroma. The crisp body is delicately nutty, quite complex, with a flickering hint of sweet grass and apricot blossoms.
The loose leaf is flat and green, it looks almost wet with a strong grassy scent. It is $9US for a sample or $29 for 1.5oz if you want the recent harvest. Adagio Masters also sells last year’s harvest for a little less if you want to try at a more affordable price point. But there are differences in taste from year to year. It is not one I tried last year to compare but let me know if you do. Adagio also sells 3oz of Dragonwell through their main site for $24 if you aren’t sure if this is for you and want to try the tea before moving up to the Masters variety.
Shi Feng Long Jing from Masters Teas by Adagio
The Masters Shi Feng Long Jing from Adagio is buttery and nutty with a good balance of grassy notes – without being a full Sencha style grassy green tea. It has a lot more flavour than the pale colour would make you think. This harvest was hand picked in April 2020. Some of the colour in my photos come from the pink cup, it is lighter in colour like a lightly steeped green tea.
The second steep was less vegetal with some floral notes that were completely absent in the first steep. Perhaps from the promised apricot blossoms. It also was less astringent. The third steep was pretty weak so I didn’t go for the full seven but it was well balanced with no astringency and a delicate nutty taste with just a hint of grass.
Although it does have more bite than you would think from the light colour, it is still a delicate tea and if paired with food, best to go with less hearty flavours or desserts.