Longgu Tea from Suichang

Longgu Tea from Suichang is a type of pan-fired green tea from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. Some friends have been puzzled by the name of this tea—typically, a local specialty tea is named after its place of origin, but there is no place called “Longgu” in Suichang. Later, upon consulting the county annals, it was discovered that the two characters “龙谷” (Longgu) are the authentic calligraphy of Tang Xianzu, a renowned literary figure and dramatist of the Ming Dynasty who once served as the magistrate of Suichang. The name “Longgu” corresponds to “Longjing” (Dragon Well), implying that just as Hangzhou has West Lake Longjing, Lishui has Suichang Longgu.

Suichang County is located in the “National Ecological Demonstration Zone” of Lishui City in southwestern Zhejiang. The Qiantang River and the Ou River run through the area, and it has long been praised as the “Golden Mountain, Forest Sea, and Immortal County of Suichang.” The region enjoys abundant rainfall, a warm and moist climate, high humidity, and ethereal clouds and mist, making it highly suitable for growing tea trees. Most tea plantations are located in mountainous areas at elevations between 200 and 800 meters, giving rise to the distinctive high-mountain mist tea with superior quality.

Tea has been a traditional cash crop in Suichang County. Historical records show that during the Sui and Tang dynasties, Suichang was already one of the 55 tea-producing counties in China. In the first year of the Chongning era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1102 AD), Suichang tea workshops were among the 40 major tea workshops in the country.

In the 1960s, Suichang County began large-scale development of tea plantations. In 1974, it was listed as one of China’s 100 tea production base counties, and in 1984, it became one of the eight major eyebrow tea export base counties in the country. The county now has 103,000 mu of tea plantations. In 2010, tea production exceeded 6,500 tons, with an output value of nearly 300 million yuan. In 2005, it was awarded the title of “National Pollution-Free Tea Production Demonstration Base County” by the Ministry of Agriculture and has been recognized multiple times by the Provincial Department of Agriculture as “Zhejiang Province’s Advanced County in Tea Cultivar Development” and “Advanced County in Primary Tea Processing Plant Optimization.” In 2007, it was designated by the provincial government as a “Strong Specialty Tea County with Distinctive Advantages in Zhejiang Province,” and in 2010, it was named “China’s Hometown of Famous Teas” by the China Tea Science Society.