Pre-Qing Ming Long Jing Green Tea 2021 50g

The Pre-Qing Ming Long Jing Green Tea 2021 represents the flavors you can taste in the leaves harvested this year and processed before the Qing Ming, so, in the days before the 4th (or the 5th, depending on the year) of April

This specific date is the 104th day after the winter solstice and, besides the traditional Chinese celebration related to the light and the parents, it commands an important difference for Long Jing in the market.

The tea harvested before the Qing Ming, in fact, has a more desirable taste for Chinese people instead of the products after the 4th of April. The key difference between the two picking times is the size, and so the vegetal development, of the leaves that has quite a huge impact on the final flavor profile of the beverage.

The Pre-Qing Ming Long Jing have, generally, a small size leaf capable of giving particular sweetness to the infuse, while, the products after the Qing Ming, made of bigger leaves, show more the vegetal aspects of the tea.

Anyway, after this Qing Ming discussion, it’s good to remember that there are no real standards in the tea world and, most of the time, the real differences here are made by the producer who can command the vegetal or sweet expression depending on his processing skills.

The Pre-Qing Ming Long Jing Green Tea 2021 shows in the cup quite a good balance between some vegetal and sweet flavors. During the first sips the infuse already shows a sweet taste with a light grassy note. In the aftertaste, then, it comes a warm and soft chestnut sweetness with quite a long persistency in the mouth.

Because of the quality and intensity of flavors in the Pre-Qing Ming harvest, this product doesn’t loose too much its distinctive taste through the time. If you want to discover how the Long Jing evolves and preserves its flavor profile you can compare the 2021 harvest with the 2020 that you can find in our offer as Long Jing Pre Qing Ming Green Tea.

Place of origin

Hangzhou – Zhejiang, China

Production

The Long Jing Pre-Qing Ming Green Tea 2021 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 Pre-Qing Ming Green Tea 2021

We invite you to brew the Long Jing Pre-Qing Ming Green Tea 2021 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 mentioned 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. The effects of these three elements could cut down the level of sugar in blood, slow the cellular aging process, and reduce the sense of fatigue through the day.

So, a daily dose of Green Tea is surely positive for our health but it’s also suggest to not exaggerate the assumption of this beverage in order to avoid te assumption of too much caffeine.