I'm reviewing an ITea World Longjing sample set this time. I guess I'll be reviewing different parts of their sets for another month, since I'm far from finishing an aged tea set and Dan Cong set. Two friends have passed on some other aged teas to try, so that will be a running sub-theme for awhile.
Longjing was one of the first teas I got into when first exploring better tea. A visit to China was a pivotal step in getting further into tea, and hanging out in a shop in a Shenzhen market was a key step there, as was a Gongfu brewing demonstration at the company we visited, Huawei.
I didn't try Longjing there though. In talking to a local Huawei sales guy I asked what else to check out in Bangkok, and where, and he said Longjing in Chinatown shops sounded about right. If he would've mentioned Wuyi Yancha that would have covered a lot of the next two years of exploration. I went and bought some, and kept buying it, every other spring for awhile, even though I've always liked oolong and black tea more than green.
There's just something about Longjing. Of course there's also something about buying it and drinking it in the Spring, which I get around to covering in this.
So here we are, finally learning and exploring Longjing plant types, which is still a brand new subject to me. ITea World describes it this way:
Longjing Green Tea Varietal Collection 45G ($25 for 45 grams)
This collection offers a unique opportunity to explore the subtle differences in flavor, aroma, and texture created by three distinct tea tree varietals, all using the same harvesting grade: one bud and two leaves. You’ll experience Longjing (Dragon Well) green tea made from three renowned tea tree varietals: Wu Niu Zao, Longjing #43, and the heritage Longjing Qunti.
Though harvested and processed in the same way, each tea reflects its unique tree’s characteristics. This collection allows tea lovers to discover their preferred varietal of this classic green tea.
Review:
Wunio Zao Longjing: it's so nice to be trying good Longjing again. At first I'll just be caught up in that, but the minor differences will also stand out soon enough. There's a typical standard flavor range this definitely expresses, often described as nutty, perhaps better captured as tasting like toasted rice. Then there's a hard to describe vegetal aspect, and some mineral to the experience; it's complex.
Longjing 43: very similar, but different at the same time. I'll do a little more tasting back and forth between these is normal for me for these, more direct comparison. This includes a little more intensity than the first, more of a green edge, with the first softer and a little more towards floral. That might sound like the first would be more pleasant then, but the opposite kind of works, at this stage. That typical Longjing flavor set hitting a little harder is what it's all about.
I don't mind that it's a touch more vegetal; that works with the rest. It works to say that vegetal range is centered on a sort of fresh green bean flavor. It also seems nutty, and the flavor isn't so simple that you can say those two descriptions capture it all. There's a lot to it.
Qunti Tea tree: much more floral; much richer. Really the 43 version stands out as most familiar, but both of these others work quite well. Intensity is really something for this version, equal to the second, but across a perfume-like floral range. Feel is extra rich as well. Sweetness might even bump a little in comparison with the 43 version, and aftertaste expression.
In one sense this is clearly the best of the three. It includes a touch of vegetal range, again like green bean, maybe a little towards sugar snap pea instead, but the floral range seems to stand out a lot more. A distinctive nutty or toasted rice note isn't standing out in all of these as much as it sometimes does.
The second, the 43 version, is really catchy to me too though, for being more what I expected. You get attached to a certain profile and then others could still be more interesting, and better in different senses, but it would be hard for them to match that association input.
The first seems a little diminished in terms of intensity compared to the other two.
To be clear I think these all probably had a little more to offer back closer to production time last spring. They're quite pleasant, and of good quality, but intensity and freshness would drop off a little over this long. I won't be mentioning heavy vegetal tones creeping in, I don't think, or anything like that, so they definitely didn't "go off," but that extra bit of bright intensity is a part of it.
Wuniu Zao #2: I brewed these a little faster, to see how they would work out on the light side, maybe for 30 seconds, but this is using a lower proportion than I ever tend to brewing Gongfu style.
Green bean comes out a lot more in this round; floral range backs off. It doesn't work as well as all three had last round, since when I was talking about vegetal notes it was within the context of very bright, floral, or along the lines of nutty or toasted rice contexts. This is still pleasant, but it has shifted back more into the range of a normal green tea experience.
43: cleaner, brighter, with more sweetness, a bit of integrated floral range, somewhat nutty effect, and more mineral undertone. Fresh green bean or sugar snap pea stands out more, but it's brighter in this.
This is more the Longjing experience that I remember. To be clear I may have typically not been drinking really good Longjing. Peter of Trident Cafe shared some teas once and I think that was completely centered on ideal range, roughly as good as the type ever gets. That's kind of their theme, extensively curating and filtering sources and versions, so what you get in the end is kind of ideal. These also work as a benchmark for a pretty good quality range, but I'm talking about trying a version that's relatively ideal.
Qunti: this shifted to more vegetal range too. As with the first version that impacted the experience, more so than the #43 version. Maybe all three will be better brewed stronger, back to a more typical infusion strength.
Third infusion: this matches results in the first round better than the second. The first was quite pleasant, the Wuniu Zao version, just lacking some intensity and positive complexity in relation to the other two. The #43 version was most familiar from past experience, with much more intensity, and more mineral base, with more of that green bean / snap pea sort of vegetal range. It included some nuttiness / toasted rice effect, and was clean and pleasant. The Qunti version was a bit more floral, with good depth, maybe a little sweeter and creamier in feel.
Conclusion:
All of these were nice. All of them matched well with very positive past Longjing experience, just giving up a bit in terms of a very fresh edge that comes along with drinking Longjing in the Spring. I think that's a main point related to this experience: does it even make sense to be trying Longjing versions in January or February? Not really, according to traditional Chinese tea appreciation perspective. I think these hold up quite well, and retain most of the same character and aspects, but that one input is very prized, a type of freshness effect that's hard to describe. It matches closest to intensity, related to the concept bundles I typically describe teas in relation to, but it's not really just that.
I know a way to explain it, or at least try to in a different way. When Peter of Trident Cafe sent a Longjing version to try, some years ago, prior to Covid, opening the bag was enough to assure that the flavor profile exactly matched my expectations for an optimal experience, or even exceeded them. You could tell exactly what you were going to taste, from the intense aroma of the dried leaf. These had a pleasant dry tea aroma, but it wasn't anything like that. It covered some similar range, for all three, but it was much more subdued, and in a warmer and different form. It wasn't incredibly bright and fresh.
These teas would be great for someone to get a feel for Longjing range, but they'd need to have that exact experience to really capture the essence of it. Most vendors wouldn't sell anything like that tea, to be clear, although most would claim to. A few random trials of sourcing might miss the mark by a lot. But you would need to be doing this kind of search in the Spring, per traditional understanding, and my own take.
Then in a sense this leads me back to a consideration of value. If these are moderately priced, relatively speaking, this would be a great way to do an intro prior to taking up that quest. If they cost anywhere near $1 a gram--kind of a higher quality, higher demand norm--it would be giving up too much to have such well-rested versions provide the experience. If someone wasn't emphasizing value in relation to their tea experience, if an extra $50 here or there made no difference, then it wouldn't matter again. There would still be another step to be taken, but these make for a positive and informative tea experience, for a moderate expense range.
If I really am brewing 3 grams each, per their recommended range--and maybe it's 4; it's hard to say--then these would brew 15 infusion sequences in total, or maybe only a dozen. Even at a considerable $1 a gram pricing that's $3 per individual tea based session, or put another way I would be trying $9 worth of tea just now. To me that's a lot, but it's not for everyone.
In looking at the pricing when doing the editing these cost $25, just over half that hypothetical consideration rate. Around 50 cents a gram is pretty good for teas this good. It's customary for Chinese people, and Chinese tea enthusiasts in Bangkok, to drink green tea in the Spring, so there's also that. I think these are fine for exploring this type range now, but if someone loved them it would be essential to get back to another trial in the Spring, tracking when versions come out, and trying one very fresh.
It's not just about the positive freshness aspect; that experience matches with the feel of Spring. It's like waiting for the fall or winter to get back into masala chai, if that makes sense, or drinking spiced wine or hot buttered rum on a cold winter day.
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