If I couldn’t get good tea when I am travelling, I will just drink water. Why bother drinking bad tea? Have never figured that part out about others. They may pay pennies less per cup of vastly inferior tea. Yes, Pre-rain Qing Ming Dragonwell will be over $550 p/lb easily. That’s $5.50 a serving ( but makes 4 cups)for one of the most expensive teas in China only government officials get that you…
Longjing Village, by far the wealthiest tea farm in the country….
Longjing Village, by far the wealthiest tea farm in the country. Longjing is grown on a rather small cluster of hills, around five major ones with Lion’s Peak being the top grade. Wealthy merchants come with Rolls Royce’ full of cash; some are extremely discerning, some completely fooled. If you can’t taste the difference, the locals will sell you Longjing brought in in truckloads from outside surrounding areas. At the end, either you know and are friends with the teamasters, or with 99% certainty, you have been sold non-authentic Dragonwell. Or unless you are a discerning merchant, or a major government official. At the end, the tradition of bribery and greasing the palms ( in this case, coating the palates) of the government gets you everywhere in life. Merchants happily pay 4000-5000 RMB (about $700-$800 USD) and up for what they thought were real, handcrafted, pre-rain Dragonwell, and would buy 20#s just for gifting!
Forget it if you are a tourist and think you bought real Dragonwell on location!
Number 43 is a bad number
For ultra tea nerds only:
The original varietals of Longjing, Dragonwell, were just called ‘traditional small leaf guanmu’. Grown from seed, they grow in puffy clusters like the photo below. These varietals sprout a bit late and have fewer buds, and slower in regrowing new buds. However, it has much more complexity on the palate, and long lingering aftertaste with absolutely no bitterness no…