How To Pick the Perfect Dragonwell Tea

Dragonwell tea, also known as Longjing Tea, hails from the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province of China. It is known for its trademark roasted flavor and high quality tea leaves, earning it the name of “China’s Famous Tea”. Dragonwell is hand picked and processed during the early spring, making for a top-notch green tea.

Dragonwell tea gained its fame and popularity through the praises of the ancient Chinese Emperors, who considered the tea to be a tribute tea. These emperors would writebeautiful pieces of poetry purely dedicated to this distinctive, highly regarded tea. This grand Chinese tea is known for its “four uniques”, which are its jade color, vegetative aroma, mellowchestnut-like flavor and singular shape. A Dragonwell is pan-fired tea that is flat, smooth, and slick to touch. These characteristics are a classic leaf-style for many pan-fired green teas.

Dragonwell tea is left untouched during the winter months, allowing the tea to take in vital nutrients to produce a perfect harvest. During the early days of spring the buds of the tea plant grow slowly and contain the highest amount of natural sugar, also known as energy and nutrients from the soil. As the months go on and the weather becomes warmer the tea plants grow at a faster rate. This provides the plant with more sunlight exposure which then translates to higher chlorophyll levels in the leaf. Higher chlorophyll content makes for a greener and more
flavorful leaf. 

An early harvest or pickings of Dragonwell are the lightest in their flavor and aroma profile. Don’t be mistaken though, this harvest is known for producing a thick mouthfeel with a pleasant sweet aftertaste. This produces a subtle but noticeable complexity. These early leaves will have a smaller leaf with prominent yellow tones or color and will be filled with yellow and silver downs. A later harvest will have a stronger, more pronounced flavor and aroma. The texture of the leaf is more subdued and it has a delicate, balanced sweetness with a deep green tea flavor. Later harvests will have a more yellow green color with varying darker shades.