4. Sound. Take small amount of Tie Guan Yin tea leaves into the pot and you’ll hear the voice of “koudang koudang”, the high-quality tea is with a ringing sound while the secondary with a hoarse voice.
5. Aroma. The aroma of tie guan yin tea belongs to the fougere, like orchids in the empty valley with a timeless fragrance, which may give people a poetic sense of elegance and tranquility.
6. Taste. The taste is very rich, but not strong astringent or greasy. The aftertaste is sweet, like a poem by Lu You said “the sweetness stays on the tongue all the day”.
7. Color. The Tie Guan Yin tea water is golden yellow, rich and gaudy clear. After brewing the leaves are hypertrophy and bright (one of the characteristics of Tie Guan Yin tea leaves are dorsal rolled) with a shiny silk surface.
8. Resistance of brewing. (Tie Guan Yin, after many times brewing, the aroma, taste, dragon well tea water should keep consistently). The Tie Guan Yin with keeping quality is high-quality.
9. Meanwhile, in conjunction with the specific circumstances of different seasons, hills and styles, so as to carry out a more comprehensive judgement of Tie Guan Yin tea
Longjing tea was granted the status of Gong Cha, or Imperial tea, in Qing Dynasty by Chinese emperor Kangxi. Kangxi's grandson Qianlong visited West Lake during one of his famous holidays. He went to the Hu Gong Temple under the Lion Peak Mountain (Shi Feng Shan) and was presented with a cup of Longjing tea. In front of the Hu Gong Temple were 18 tea bushes. Emperor Qianlong was so impressed by the dragon well tea produced here that he conferred these 18 tea bushes special imperial status. The trees are still living and the tea they produce is auctioned annually for more money per gram than gold.
There is another legend connecting Emperor Qianlong to Longjing Tea. It is said that while visiting the temple he was watching the ladies picking the tea. He was so enamored with their movements that he decided to try it himself. While picking tea he received a message that his mother, the Empress Dowager, was ill and wished his immediate return to Beijing. He shoved the leaves he had picked into his sleeve and immediately left for Beijing. Upon his return he immediately went to visit his mother. She noticed the smell of the leaves coming from his sleeves and he immediately had it brewed for her. It is said that the shape of Longjing Tea was designed to mimic the appearance of the flattened leaves that the emperor brewed for his mother.
Longjing, which literally translates as "dragon well," is said to have named after a well that contains relatively dense water, and after rain the lighter rainwater floating on its surface sometimes exhibits a sinuous and twisting boundary with the well water, which is supposed to resemble the movement of a Chinese dragon.
Legend also has it that to achieve the best taste from tie guan yin tea, water from the Dreaming of the Tiger Spring, a famous spring in Hangzhou, is to be used. The water quality of the spring now is certainly very different than before.
This is China's most famous tie guan yin tea and simply the best of all Long Jing variety. Xi Hu Long Jing has more than a thousand years of recorded history and was mentioned in the first ever tea book (Cha Jing) by Lu Yu during the Tang Dynasty. So popular that even Queen Elizabeth II, former US President Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger once tasted this tea during their visit to China.
Xi Hu is now a protected area. Only the leaves picked within the designated 168 sq km of Xi Hu area can be considered as Xi Hu Long Jing. To ensure its authenticity, we will provide a coded anti-fake label issued by Hang Zhou's Quality Control Department (for 100 grams and above only).
Other names:
West Lake Dragon well, Xi Hu Lung Ching
Taste:
The pleasant aroma is refreshingly light with a hint of fruit and nut combined. The aftertaste is almost instantaneous, filling your mouth with a sweetness reminiscence of grape fruit.
Appearance:
Exquisite flat and narrow emerald green tea leaves. 1 bud and 1 to 2 leaves. The dragon well tea leaves easily sink to the bottom of the cup during infusion.
Origin:
Xi Hu, Zhejiang Province
Brewing guide
We recommend using glass-based or porcelain tea ware. Rinse tea cup and teapot with hot water. Use about 2 grams of tea leaves (1-2 teaspoons) for every 150ml of water. Steep tea leaves in hot water at 70°c (158°F) to 80°c (176°F) for 1 minute for the first and second brewing. Gradually increase steeping time and temperature for subsequent brewing.
The legend of Longjing Tea
Named after the region, Dragon well tea(Longjing) has been appreciated as the crown of Green teas for about one thousand years. Prized above all other green teas, it is the pinnacle of teas.
Longjing Tea owns this reputation by virtue of its brilliant, clean, fresh green taste. It has beautiful color, elegant shape, fine fragrance, and an exceptional taste.
Hangzhou, the region where Longjing Tea is grown, enjoys renown, as the province of China's most beautiful women. This magnificent region abounds in legend, poetry, exquisite gardens and its masterpiece-Dragon Well Tea.
How to brew the Nice Longjing Tea:
To brew the perfect cup of Longjing Tea you will want to use slightly cooler water than you would for your typical tie guan yin tea. The water used to brew Longjing Tea should be between 140 degrees F and 190 degrees F. The higher the quality of Longjing Tea is, the cooler water is used, and the shorter the brewing time is needed. Longjing Tea typical use one teaspoon per cup of water and can also be steeped multiple times. You can typically steep a single serving of Longjing Tea leaves two to three times before discarding.
How to Choose Longjing Tea:
The original Dragon Well Tea came from Lion Peak Mountain in West Lake (Xi Hu). Due to its popularity, Dragon Well Tea is now cultivated throughout China. Today any tea that is produced using the same technique is called Longjing.
Three Points to Teach You the Way to Choose Longjing Tea:
1: To know when the tea is picked:
The best Dragon Well Tea is gathered several days before Qingming (Pure Brightness, 5th solar term) when new twigs have just begun to grow and carry "one leaf and a bud." To make one kilogram (2.2lb) of finished tea, 60, 000 tender leaves have to be plucked. In the old days Dragon Well tea of this grade was meant solely for the imperial household; it was, therefore, known as "tribute tea". That is one of the many reasons why Dragon Well Tea is so precious. Dragon Well Tea can only be produced for 6 weeks a year. A good tea picker can harvest only 2 kilograms of fresh leaves in 10 hour a day.
2: To know the way and how much time to roast the tea:
Once the tea shoots are harvested, they must be roasted the same day. After picking the tea is "withered", the tea is spread thinly to dry for 8 to 10 hours to remove moisture and reduce any grassy or bitter flavor. Once the tea is sufficiently dried, it is "Roasted". Roaster usually uses bare hands to roast tea to feel his work. It is an extremely hot job and takes novices many years to harden their hands so that they do not feel the heat. Watching an experienced roaster dry the tea is like watching a martial art master. It takes a novice over 5 years to master 10 hand required movements to dry the tea. A master roaster can only fry 1 kilogram of high grade Longjing Tea each day. After roasting, the freshly processed Dragon Well tea is ready to drink.
3: Aroma also is one of the most important factors in judging the quality of a kind of tea.
By putting 3 grams worth of leaves into 100 milliliters of boiled water, people can judge the quality of the tea by the smell. Dragon Well Tea is pan fried, so it has a delicious chestnut aroma which should be high, and lasting. The brewed tea is floral with an exceptionally long sweet aftertaste. Lesser teas often taste weak, grassy, or bitter.
High quality Dragon Well Tea will never have these features. The easy way to buy a West Lake variety is to ask for an authenticity certificate. This won't guarantee its authenticity, as tea gardens often sell fake tea with the certificates they have been issued. If possible it is always best to purchase tea at an actual tea plantation.
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To protect dragon well tea from pseudo teas, the government made a strict grading on the producing area of Longjing tea. Lion Peak Mountain, Longjing village, Wuyun Hill, Hupao, and Meijiawu village, all in the West Lake Scenery Area, are the only five places that can use West Lake as the brand of their Longjing tea.
Picking is still done, in the majority of cases, by hand. The first harvest of the year is called the New Tea (or the First Tea), the highest in the quality of aroma and flavor. The best Longjing are picked before Chinese Pure Brightness Festival (Qingming Festival) in early spring. There are three requirements of Longjing tea picking: early, tender and diligent.
In the picking season, women tea growers would get up early in the morning, with bamboo hat on the head and bamboo basket on the back, plunge into the tea garden and get busy with the tea leave picking. Tie guan yin tea picking follows a very stringent harvest requirement. The New Tea needs tender tea shoots, what we call “one bud and two leaves”. They are only slightly unfurled, one pick is no larger than 2 centimeters, 1 kilogram can have 80,000 of them. Picking Longjing tea is a laborious work. To ensure the grading requirement for the tea, the pickers have to work devotedly on the tea leaves. A good tea picker may harvest only 2 kilograms fresh leaves in 10 hours.