Customer Reviews

Numi Tea Dragonwell, Long Jing Green Tea, Loose Leaf, 16 oz bag

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My paternal ancestors were from Hangzhou, and I savor it's native Dragonwell tea with special fondness. Numi is no watered down import, it is as authentic as the local brands.

It's so hard to find truly organic dragonwell tea, as China's still immature market economy is wide open for abuse. Numi's holistic sourcing practices alleviates most of my concerns.

My wish is for them to vacuum pack their teas, as a pound of tea can grow moldy pretty fast in a warehouse or kitchen pantry. (freezing unused tea in airtight containers does the trick). Also, there should be a "Organic" label on the tea if it is organic as the bullet points indicate.

For those new to Dragonwell- I recommend about half a teaspoon in a tea ball or meshed tea pot per 12 oz of water. For those who don't enjoy heavy tannins, pre-brew and stir the leaves in a little hot water for 10-15 seconds before brewing for 5 minutes. Experiment with pre-brew and brew times to find your ideal mix of flavors.

Update- Amazon finally pulled the "Organic" claim from it's description. For a pound of tea, this is still a great deal, but I will look else where when shopping organic.

This is a very good dragonwell tea. One company, Company A, used to sell their dragonwell for $32 per pound. Now, they have added $20 to that price with no explanation, bringing it to $52 lb. I have purchased more than 20 pounds of it over the years. Another company, Company S, also offers a dragonwell that is close to the same price, though, in my opinion, not as good as Company A's offering. The Numi dragonwell is a great price and made me extremely skeptical. My skepticism was unfounded. This is a superior tea. The leaf is full and the liquor is light, smooth, and slightly sweet and smoky. The only difference I recognize is that Numi does not pack this in a hermetically sealed bag. This means that you should pack it on your own when it arrives. I typically vacuum seal about eight ounces immediately. Aside from that, this is a great introduction to green tea. It is not a typically cheap green tea. Many people are turned off to green because they only tried the low-quality greens. Try this and you will see green in a different way. The price of this allows you to enjoy it often for pleasure and health!

I searched extensively online to find good sources of dragon well (longjing) green tea, and bought this Numi bag as well as more expensive tea from Sevencups, Teaspring, and Amazing Green Tea. This Numi tea was the least expensive of everything I bought. You get 16 OUNCES of this for the same price as 30 GRAMS (!) of Jipin grade from Amazing green tea. That's 15 times as much tea for the same price. I only wish it were as good, but the quality is far inferior. The Jipin from Amazing green tea has far more flavor, sweetness, nuttiness, and complexity. It really is amazing. I don't have a horse in this race (I'm just a green tea lover), but wanted to post my review here in case it saved someone else from buying this when it wasn't what they wanted. If you're looking for value and don't care much about flavor, this is fine. A little burnt and bitter, but drinkable. But those seeking a peak experience of what properly picked and pan-roasted green tea can be should search elsewhere.

This is an excellent varietal of green tea.
It is mellow with distinctive chestnut flavor.
It is a great introduction to those who are not traditional green tea drinkers, yet want to enjoy the health benefits this type of beverage provides; it lacks the strong grassy essence of gunpowder varietals that many American drinkers dislike.
Numi is the brand to stick with, in my opinion, due to their use of whole tea leaves, ethical business practices, and provided value.
Overall a premium and high quality tea with a pleasing and distinctive taste due to its unique processing of the leaves that protects from oxidation (panfry/steam).

This is a good intro into whole leaf green tea I think. It's better than bagged green teas I have tried but not as good as some other whole leaf teas I have tried. This is good because people at first will put more leafs in than they need due to never trying whole leaf tea. This tea isn't that strong so new comers wont be turned up by over bitterness when using to many leafs. I find though that some other more expensive whole leaf teas to be a little more robust in flavor. For the price it's worth getting if your not looking to spend $50+ on some other 16oz teas. Due to the fact that this was sitting in a warehouse for a while I would recommend taking 3/4ths of it and putting it in the freezer as it can/ will mold fast if left out. It will take you a while to use up all 16ozs.

I have been drinking green tea for a long time...I would say this tea is pretty good within the price range. I will definitely buy some other Numi green tea.

I love tea. Dragonwell green is a fav and I normally get it via Teavana for 7.50 for 2 oz so imagine my delight to get the same thing only organic and in a very large amount! It did not disappoint.

I just received my tea today, and I am more then happy with what I received. This is a great quality tea, and has a wonderful flavor. Also this is a ton of tea! I had ordered a bodum canister to hold the tea, and I was surprised that I could only fit about half the bag in a 1L/34oz container! This really is a great deal on a high quality Dragonwell, you will not be disappointed with this tea.

Mild tea with good flavor. This tea is less bitter then most green teas that I have tried. Had best suggess using a large tea ball to allow more flow throuh the tea as the leaves are large. I drink 2 cups of green tea every day the large (16 oz) bag lasted about 5 months. I think it is a good value for the cost. This is the second bag I purchased.

I have been living in Shanghai for over four years now, so I have a pretty good idea of what good tea tastes like. And this is not even close to good tasting tea. I drink only the best quality Long Jing Green Tea and I drink about 1.5 liters per day. But I admit that my Chinese green tea is much more expensive than this tea. I like my tea cold and with a little sugar.
I brew my own tea in China at 180 degrees F, not hotter and not cooler. I put the tea in the microwave oven in a glass container with plastic wrap over the top of the pitcher. The plastic wrap helps maintain the heat for longer after the peak temperature has been reached. I let it brew for probably an hour until it cools down to a slightly warm temperature. I pour in one-third a cup of sugar and mix it while the tea is warm. I brew the tea leaves two times with half of the 1.5 liter bottle of water each time. Then I mix the tea together and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours, preferably 48 hours. I have found the refrigeration cycle makes the tea mellower and not bitter. Even my 56 year old Chinese fiancée says my tea brewing method tastes better than she has ever tasted in her life. I know that refrigeration is contrary to what a lot of people think is best. But I learned this technique when I was a teenager working in a Baptist Encampment in Texas during the summer. A cook taught me that putting the huge vat of tea into a cooler for a day makes tea more mellow tasting and less bitter. And I always got great compliments way back then from the hundreds of people who drank my tea. Of course, this was just ordinary tea, not green tea. But it works the same way with green tea.
The tea leaves in this Numi Dragonwell tea look the same as what I buy in China, but the taste is quite different -- definitely bitterer. I have read that the best leaves are the newly formed leaves picked from of the top of the tea tree. I have visited tea tree farms in China. Tea trees will grow into a real tree unless they are pruned to remain like a waist high tree shrub. I suspect this particular brand of tea leaves may have come from the older more mature lower branches of the tea tree. But I have no way of knowing if that is true or not. I just know it doesn't taste nearly as good as the tea leaves I purchase in China. And to be fair, the price I pay in China is considerably more than this price on Amazon. I just ordered another brand of tea that should arrive next week. It is a Long Jing green tea called Boston Tea. I will update my review then.