This tea offers excellent value, and is quite a delicious tea for something that comes from a teabag. However, I think its necessary to pay attention to how you steep this and to find a brewing protocol that works best.

When I first brewed this, I roughly followed the instructions on the box, and steeped for around 2 minutes in around 1 cup of water. The aroma was wonderful, having a good balance between a floral brightness, and a sweet, roasted scent characteristic of longjing tea. However, once I tasted it, I was a bit disappointed because I felt the flavor was a bit muddled, a bit too bitter, and heavy, not much like other longjing teas i've had.

After a bit of experimenting, I found my optimal way of steeping. I brew for around 45 sec, in only around 1/4 cup of water (maybe even a bit less), with the water slightly cooled to around 70C (that's just a guess and I didn't measure). The aroma is not quite as strong, but is still very present. I enjoy the taste of the tea far better this way, as the sweeter notes come through, the tea is brisker and less heavy, and I can more fully appreciate the floral, nutty flavor that presents itself briefly as I am drinking it. Also, doing it this way, I can get multiple steepings, and I find it retains flavor event after quite a bit.

As a side note, the tea tends to have a very slight recycled paper taste, which I am assuming comes from the bag or the packaging. It's not nearly enough to bother me, but I find it noticeable, despite how you steep it. Also, doing a side by side comparison with a better quality longjing, the taste of this tea is definitely more muddled. Despite all this, I think it still stands as quite enjoyable.

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