I’ve been very good with my teaware purchases this year, and by that I mean that I’ve not bought a single teacup until earlier this month. I had a friend who was looking to let go of two cups and I liked the pattern so I bought one trio! And so, I came into possession of one trio and two samples of teas that she was enjoying.

One sample was this 2019 Long Jing. I’m not going to do a formal tea review because I know nothing about this tea or how it’s been stored, but I wanted to jot down my notes here so that if when I drink longjing again (aged* or otherwise), I’ll have a point of comparison.

The dry leaves looked like typical longjing, if a little brown. There wasn’t much scent.

Taste-wise, I brewed this for five rounds and found the tea liquor to be very consistent. It’s a very light yellow-brown tea tea liquor with sweet nutty notes. There was also something that made me think of a floral note inside, but I’m not too sure if it’s the result of ageing or the storage conditions of the tea – but I can say that I have noticed that some of my sencha teas acquired a similar note after about a year.

Anyway, this was a pleasant tea and one that I think works as an everyday drink. I don’t think I’m bringing it with me overseas because it’s loose leaf and not in its original packaging, but since it’s a 2019 tea, I’m not worried about drinking this after I return.

*Speaking of aged tea – I think Long Jing is supposed to be best fresh, but practically any tea can be aged and if you think about how raw puer starts off as a form of green tea, an aged green tea like longjing starts to sound pretty interesting! The only teas I can think of where age may not improve it would be ripe puer and black tea, but I may be wrong.