The wrong water ruined a good tea
My first Longjing was a disaster of my own making. I bought a small bag of pre-Qingming leaf in Hangzhou, took it back to the hotel, and poured boiling water over it, the way I had been making green tea at home for years. The cup came out scorched and bitter, and I decided Longjing was overrated. It took a local friend to show me the fix: water off the boil, about 80 degrees, in a glass, no lid, three grams, and watch the flat leaves unroll over three minutes. The same leaf, handled properly, tasted of chestnuts and orchids. I have ruined and then rescued this tea a dozen times since, and this guide exists so you skip the first part.
Longjing, dragonwell, is the most famous green tea in China and the drink that made Hangzhou’s hills famous. Here is what it is, where it grows, how to brew it, and how not to get robbed buying it.
The hills that make it
Longjing is grown in the hills around West Lake, and the protected core is small: five traditional zones, each with its own character. Lion Peak (Shi) produces teas with a tight, classic shape; Longjing village (Long) sits at the center; Yunqi (Yun) holds the oldest trees and a cloudier microclimate; Tiger Spring (Hu) gives the zone named for the spring that supplies the water the tea is traditionally paired with; and Meijiawu (Mei), the valley on the south side, is the most open to visitors, with tea houses lining the road up the hill.
Tea sold as West Lake Longjing must come from this core. Beyond it, Zhejiang produces larger volumes of the same style in the Qiantang and Yuezhou districts, which is good tea and a fraction of the price, and other provinces, notably Sichuan and Guizhou, produce flat green teas that imitate the shape without the terroir. The label 西湖龙井 (Xihu Longjing) is a protected geographical indication, so look for it, and treat any suspiciously cheap tea bearing it as fiction.
The two varieties and the picking calendar
Two tea bushes matter. Longjing No. 43 is a bred cultivar picked early, from late March, with a consistent shape and a lighter, sweeter cup. The local seed variety, qunti, sometimes called the old tree, is picked from early April, has smaller and more irregular leaves, and produces the deeper, more complex cup that serious drinkers pay for. Most of what visitors taste in April is No. 43; ask for qunti by name if you want the old style.
The calendar rules the market. Mingqian tea, picked before the Qingming solar term around April 5, is the first and the most expensive, with a delicacy that fades by summer. Yuqian tea, picked before the grain-rain term around April 20, is the value pick: still spring tea, still fresh, at maybe half the price. Anything sold as fresh Longjing after May is last year’s leaf or a different province’s tea with a story. Our guide to Chinese tea types puts Longjing among the pan-fired greens it belongs with.
| Term | Approximate date | Quality and price |
|---|---|---|
| Mingqian (before Qingming) | Before ~April 5 | Finest and most delicate; 1,000 to 3,000+ RMB per 500 g in the core zone |
| Yuqian (before grain rain) | Before ~April 20 | Excellent value; 300 to 800 RMB per 500 g |
| Late spring picks | Late April to May | Fuller body, lower price; 100 to 300 RMB per 500 g |
| Summer and autumn leaf | June onward | Coarser, more bitter; mostly sold loose and cheap |
How it is made
Longjing is a pan-fired green tea, and the firing is done by hand in a wok heated to around 100 degrees. The maker grabs, shakes, presses, and flaps the leaf against the metal until it flattens into the sword shape the style is known for, a process that takes a full day’s leaf per hour of work. The hand-roasting is what you are watching when a tea house on Meijiawu demonstrates the craft for visitors, and the movement, the leaves gripped and folded in the bare fingers of a woman who has done it for forty years, is the reason people film it.
Machine-roasted Longjing, which is most of the market, produces a looser, paler leaf at a third of the labor cost. It is not bad tea. It is just not the same cup, and the difference is the reason the hand-fired version commands its price.
Brewing it properly
Use a glass, so you can watch it. Three grams of leaf, about 200 ml of water at 80 to 85 degrees Celsius, which in practice means boiling water left to stand for five minutes. No lid. The leaves sink, then rise, then drift down again over three or four minutes, and the first infusion is the sweetest. Add water the same temperature as the cup empties, and get three infusions before the leaf gives up. Do not use boiling water, do not steep it like black tea, and do not add milk, which sounds obvious until you meet someone who has tried.
The water matters more than with most teas. The traditional pairing is Longjing leaf with Tiger Spring water, drawn from the spring at the foot of Daci Hill outside the city, and Hangzhou tea houses that serve both together will tell you the spring is why the tea tastes the way it does. Whether you believe the water theory or not, the walk to the spring is one of the pleasantest in the city. The serving customs are covered in our guide to Chinese teahouses and the formal practice in our guide to the Chinese tea ceremony.
Buying it without getting robbed
April in the villages is a free-for-all. The road up to Meijiawu and the lanes of Longjing village fill with tasting tables, every house sells, and the price spread between neighbors for supposedly identical tea can be a factor of five. The honest system: taste everything, buy from the person who lets you taste the cheap and expensive versions side by side, and buy the middle. As a visitor you will not identify the best tea in the room, and neither will most people in it. Paying 400 RMB for a genuinely good 500-gram bag beats paying 1,200 RMB for a story. Our guide to buying tea in China covers grades and fakes in detail.
In the city, the safe option is a reputable shop on Hubin or Wangxing? the safest is the tea counters at the big department stores and the China National Tea Museum shop, where the provenance is documented and the prices are honest if not cheap. The museum itself, on the hill above Longjing village, is free and explains the whole system, from bush to cup, in a couple of hours. The city context is in our Hangzhou travel guide, and the food pairing is covered in our guide to Hangzhou food and Longjing tea, since the leaf turns up in shrimp dishes and sweet soups across the local kitchen. The temples on these same hills, Lingyin among them, make a good morning paired with a tea house afternoon.
Quick facts
- The protected core zone covers five areas: Lion Peak, Longjing, Yunqi, Tiger Spring, Meijiawu
- Mingqian leaf, picked before about April 5, is the first and most expensive pick
- Qunti, the old local seed variety, is prized over the early Longjing No. 43 cultivar
- Brew at 80 to 85 degrees, three grams per 200 ml, in a glass, no lid
- Core-zone Mingqian runs 1,000 to 3,000+ RMB per 500 g; Yuqian runs 300 to 800 RMB
- Hand-roasting in a hot wok is the craft display the Meijiawu tea houses perform
- The China National Tea Museum above Longjing village is free and worth two hours
- Buy in season; fresh-pick claims after May are almost always false
Frequently asked questions
Is expensive Longjing worth it?
The top of the market, hand-fired Mingqian from the core zone, is genuinely different: sweeter, thicker, with a finish that lingers. But the price curve is brutal, and most drinkers are perfectly happy at the Yuqian level. Buy the middle, taste widely, and spend the difference on the trip.
How do I know I am buying real West Lake Longjing?
Look for the 西湖龙井 geographical indication label and a shop that names the specific zone and the picking date. In the villages, buy from someone who lets you taste and who does not flinch at questions about where exactly the leaf was grown. If a price seems impossible, it is.
Can I pick tea myself?
Some Meijiawu tea houses run picking-and-roasting experiences, usually 100 to 300 RMB including the tea you process and take home. The picking is harder than it looks and the roasting is genuinely hot work, but the demonstration is the best part of any Hangzhou April.
Should I buy loose leaf or cakes?
Loose leaf, always. Longjing is a fresh green tea, and it should be drunk within months of the April picking; it does not improve with age the way pu’er does. Buy small quantities, store the bag sealed in a cool, dark place or the refrigerator, and finish it within six months.
Is Longjing caffeinated?
Yes, a real dose of it, comparable to other green teas. If caffeine keeps you awake, drink it in the morning. The local habit of endless refills through an afternoon adds up more than visitors expect.
What dishes use Longjing?
Longjing shrimp, the local classic where the leaf is tossed with river shrimp, and the tea in sweet soups and desserts around the lake. Both are best tried at a Hangzhou restaurant rather than made at home.
If you want the tea hills, the markets, and the spring built into a Hangzhou route, we can help you plan a custom food-and-travel itinerary through the contact page. Tell us whether your dates land in April, because that one month decides everything about this tea.
Written by the ChinaTravelFood editorial team.
