Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea

TheLong Jing Dragon Well Green Tea is well known product both in China and all around the world. The great popularity of the Long Jing is also related to the tradition of bringing its leaves as a gift to friends and family members.

There are also a lot of legends related to the Long Jing. Some of these stories tell about the discovery of the first camelias that originated this precious variety of tea while, others, exalt the extraordinary benefits of these green and shiny small leaves.

The words Dragon Well in the name of this product, for example, refer to either a specific geographic area around the Xi Hu lake (historical place of origin of this tea) and a myth about the Long Jing. t is told, in fact, that the leaves of this tea should be infuse with the water coming from the springs close to the Xi Hu lake. A tea prepared in this way has to reveal, on the surface of the beverage, some swirls of steam resembling to the shape of a snake-like dragon.

Apart from what it’s said in the legends the Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea shows the classic aspect of an high quality product from Hangzhou. The emerald green leaves, in fact, have the traditional flattened and tight shape of a carefully hand-made processing.

The infuse of this Long Jing has a short sweet phase in favor of a more expressive vegetal character. In particular you can taste a fresh grassy flavor with a slightly balsamic note followed by a warm feeling that suggest an hay aroma in the mouth.

For the people who appreciate the vegetal character of this famous Chinese green tea we also suggest to try our Long Jing Xi Hu Organic Green Tea.

Read also: Long Jing, tea and legends

Place of origin

Hangzhou – Zhejiang, China

Production

The Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea has a processing style strictly linked to the tradition. The leaves, after a brief withering phase under the sun, are cooked in big iron wok heated at a temperature around 180°C. This practice stops the enzymatic activity in the vegetal mass and, so, it prevents the oxidation of the product.

In the end the green leaves are banded and left to rest for a while so they can fix their final shape and loose some residual humidity.

Brewing instructions for the Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea

We invite you to brew the Long Jing Dragon Well Green Tea in the traditional Chinese style (Gong Fu Cha) with a Gaiwan of an approximate capacity of 100 ml. Following this brewing technique you can, with 4 grams of leaves, do multiple infusions and have the most complete tasting experience of your tea.

After a brief rinse of the leaves in water at a temperature of 80°C you can do a first infusion of 10 seconds and, after that, maintaining the same water temperature, you can continue to brew the product rising up the previous steeping time of 5 seconds (10 – 15 – 20…).

In order to have a more traditional brew in the Western style we suggest to steep 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) for one minute and an half, using water at a temperature of 80°C in a mug with an approximate capacity of 150 ml.

For a better tasting experience, we recommend filtering the infusion as soon as the set steeping time has elapsed. The infusion times we suggest, however, can also be slightly modified to your liking to obtain a more or less intense flavour.

Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.

Green Tea benefits

Green Teas are always the most popular category when it comes to the health benefits of this beverage.

Instead of other teas, in fact, the tender and young leaves of this product has an higher concentration of useful and easily assimilable molecules for our body.

The most relevant benefits in Green Teas are related to antioxidants, amino acids and caffeine. A daily dose of these three compounds could cut down the level of sugar in blood, slow the cellular aging process, and reduce the sense of fatigue through the day.

So, the Green Tea is surely positive for our health but it’s also suggest to not exaggerate the assumption of this beverage in order to prevent some unpleasant side effects of caffeine.