West Lake Longjing Tea

West Lake Longjing Tea

　　West Lake Longjing Tea is world-famous for its "four excellences": green color, rich aroma, mellow taste, and beautiful shape. The finished tea is flat, straight, smooth, and uniform, with a tender greenish-yellow hue. When brewed, the tender buds unfurl into distinct sprouts — one leaf and one bud together — shining brilliantly, standing upright with lifelike vibrancy. The fragrance is as refined as orchids, lofty and long-lasting. The tea liquor is bright, and the taste is fresh and sweet. It has been praised as the "Golden Sprout" and the "Peerless Treasure," and has become a high-grade national gift tea. The mountains surrounding West Lake in Hangzhou have long been celebrated for producing famous teas. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu, in his world's first monograph on tea, the *Classic of Tea*, recorded tea production from the Tianxing and Lingyin temples in Hangzhou. Throughout history, countless people, both in China and abroad, have extolled the fine teas from this region. Historically, West Lake Longjing Tea was categorized into four types: "Lion," "Dragon," "Cloud," and "Tiger." Today, these are grouped into three main types: "Lion," "Dragon," and "Plum." Among them, Lion Peak Longjing ranks the highest. Its color is green with a hint of yellow, its fragrance is intense, and its taste is refreshing and mellow — truly a top-tier tea. In 1981, Lion Peak Longjing was named a National High-Quality Product and awarded the National Gold Medal. Modern scientific analysis shows that Longjing tea contains higher levels of amino acids, catechins, chlorophyll, vitamin C, and other chemical components than other teas, making it especially beneficial to health. No wonder the ancients said Longjing tea is "as precious as gold and hard to come by." Longjing tea is produced in the West Lake Township of Hangzhou, with tea gardens mainly located around Longjing Village in the southwest of West Lake. The beauty of West Lake scenery pairs perfectly with the excellence of Longjing tea. The area enjoys a mild climate, distinct seasons, and abundant and evenly distributed rainfall. Especially during the spring tea season, light mist and clouds often shroud the mountains. Most tea gardens are situated in valleys or on slopes near streams and creeks. The soil is mostly sandy, loose in texture, well-aerated and drained, and rich in effective phosphates — all conditions conducive to the healthy growth of tea trees. This leads to deep-rooted, lush tea bushes that remain evergreen year-round, sprouting multiple times a year and allowing for a long harvest period, from the time willows first turn green until forests are tinged with autumn hues. The Longjing tea gardens lie within the West Lake Scenic Area — on Lion Peak Mountain, in Meijiawu Valley, along Yunxi Path, beside Hupao Spring, around Lingyin Temple, and along the Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies. Everywhere, dense groves and swaying bamboo provide a lush backdrop. Under their shaded canopies, stretches of tea fields glow emerald-green, and layers of tea-covered hills stretch into the sky, adding poetic charm to the lake and mountain views. The beauty of Longjing tea — both in appearance and quality — is inseparable from its refined processing. Producing premium-grade Longjing involves two key steps: "pan-firing (Qingguo)" and "final firing (Huiguo)," without rolling, which is a unique feature of its production. The frying techniques include shaking, stirring, squeezing, flicking, lifting, spreading, pressing, pinching, compressing, and grinding — known as the "Ten Techniques." One pound of premium Longjing consists of 30,000 to 40,000 tea buds, requiring six hours of picking and over four hours of processing. A skilled tea roaster can process about one kilogram of tea per day. Today, West Lake Township includes 13 tea-producing villages such as Meijiawu, Longjing, and Shuangfeng. Each village has its own tea processing plant, and the township produces approximately 2,000 dan (about 100 metric tons) of Longjing tea annually. Of this, Meijiawu accounts for about one-third of the total output. Longjing tea and Hupao water have long been hailed as the "Double Wonders of West Lake." Visitors to Hangzhou consider it a special delight to sip a cup of Longjing tea by the Hupao Spring. (Hangzhou)