Longjing tea 龍井茶

Almost 15 years ago I bought Longjin tea online from China. Since then, for me, the name Longjin (lit: Dragon Well) is synonymous with Chinese green tea. But what do you get if you buy Longjing? Many teas are sold under the name Longjing. They might be from a completely different area. Authentic Longjing tea comes from the Zhejiang Province, which is still a vast area. Stricter definitions confine the tea to Xihu District, Hangzhou.

I took a taxi to Longjing village, in the middle of Xihu District. The buds are picked in March and April, before Qingming Festival, which falls on the 15th day from the Spring Equinox in the first week of April. I arrived a few weeks after the first harvest and many tea growers were pruning the tea bushes with motorised hedge trimmers. It was noisy and decaying, brown leaves were everywhere.

I wandered about until I got to Hugongmiao Temple (胡公庙). Inside the temple area there is a tea house, where you can buy expensive tea ware and, of course, Longjing tea. I ordered one glass of Longjing tea at ¥ 98. While I contemplated my € 13 tea, it sunk in I had just arrived in China. On my first day I already made a long wish come true. The veranda of the tea house was quiet and peaceful. The pale yellow tea leaves were dancing in the water and slowly sinking to the bottom. Life was good for a moment.

There are many legends surrounding Longjing tea. Qianlong Emperor (Reign: 1733–1735) is said to have visited West Lake during one of his holidays. He went to Hu Gong Temple and was presented with a cup of Longjing tea. In front of the Hu Gong Temple were 18 tea bushes. The Qianlong Emperor was so impressed by the Longjing tea produced here that he conferred these 18 tea bushes special imperial status. The 18 tea bushes are still there, although I am sceptical of that claim, to put it mildly.

The 18 imperial tea bushes.

Qianlong Emperor (25 September 1711 – 7 February 1799)

Longjing Village

Recognising Longjing is quite easy, knowing exactly what you are looking at is very complicated, or nearly impossible. Several different varietals are growing in the region. Longjing Qunti, which is referred to by locals as lao shu, or ‘old tree varietal’, is the same varietal Emperor Qianlong would have tasted. A second varietal is called Longjing #43, or locally xin shu, ‘new tree varietal’, which was introduced later to yield small, perfect, early buds. Longjing #43 also buds earlier, which will yield a much higher price for the tea. The very first Longjing of the year is sold at inflated prices. However, it is easy to sell #43 varietal and claim the small buds are a sign of early picked leaves, while they are not. You can end up paying too much for your Longjing tea leaves because it is difficult to tell if they were indeed picked in Xihu District, at which elevation and at which date, 'pre-qingming' (清明前) or not. Many resellers don’t even know. I bought 50 grams Longjing in Longjing Village in what looked like a reliable shop for ¥ 200, which is at least the right price for the real deal.

Pan-firing Longjing tea leaves. Leaves are hand roasted for 15 minutes immediately after picking to prevent oxidisation. After cooling down and the final selection, the leaves are pan-fried one more time before packaging. Shared under: GNU General Public License.