Early morning on Westlake, Hangzhou. The nicest day I can pray for as far as being Chinese: misty rain, cool, mosquito free. Poetic and lyrical, scenes of swaying boats and gentle willow trees. Whale size koi fishes happily hopping up the water. Tourists not too loud yet.
The worst day in terms of tea: tea master probably sleeping in. With this unusual rainfall, there should be no harvesting today.
The Dragonwell on the left and the right have minuscule differences, so I was put to task to judge and discern the difference. The left has better fragrance and sophisticated entry and aftertaste while the right glass has more perfect looking leaves. The right is probably the first picking and the left is maybe a couple ones into it, both being first flushes, Pre-Ming, and from Lion’s Peak. The right is slightly lower elevation than the left, I hazarded…..
Both were probably harvested around end of March within a day or so of each other.
All correct, said tea master. The right is about 100 meters lower than the left, but it is the first picking, while the left sprouted a little earlier and has been picked for 2 days more. Harvest date: March 27 to the right and 29 on the left.
Not being particularly a Dragonwell specialist, I am not sure how I managed to parse through such small differences.
Why purchase so early, he asked, as every early firing goes to high roller corporations to gift to government officials? They want the earliest of the early, and only really sophisticated customer palates can discern the difference anyway? Why compete with the high rollers? April 2 harvest is still Pre-Ming after all, and slightly less expensive!
It matters to my customers, I said, that they get the best, the earliest, even if they are not Communist officials!
Tomorrow: on the ground and ready to report! This year, the temps were really uneven, cold one day and hot another, causing yields to vary a lot day to day.
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 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!
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…