Why Does a Culinary Desert Offer China's Most Exquisite Freshness?

For tea connoisseurs, there are two ways to welcome spring:

One is to savor a cup of spring tea, and the other is to savor a cup of West Lake Longjing.

Don’t misunderstand—West Lake Longjing is, of course, a spring tea, but this is actually a "white horse is not a horse"-style compliment to its uniqueness.

From the Tea Sage Lu Yu to the monk Biancai, from Su Shi to the eighteen imperial tea trees bestowed by Emperor Qianlong, countless literati and scholars have contributed to its legacy, collectively crafting the freshest spring tea.

The mist-shrouded shores of West Lake nurture the freshest spring tea.

For the final stop of our "Authentic Spring Flavors: Tea Hunting in China" journey, we arrived in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in search of the undisputed "C-position" of green teas.

In China, green tea is the undisputed leader among tea categories, accounting for about 60% of domestic tea sales annually. Among green teas, West Lake Longjing, occupying the absolute "C-position," can rightly be called the pinnacle of Chinese tea.

Premium-grade West Lake Longjing typically uses only the first bud and one tender leaf of the tea plant.

West Lake Longjing is so famous that even those who never drink tea have likely heard of it. Searching for "Longjing" on online shopping platforms reveals prices ranging from under 100 yuan per jin to several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan per jin. Even outside Zhejiang, other provinces produce teas marketed as "Longjing."

In reality, most "Longjing" teas from other regions cannot be considered authentic. According to China's geographical indication standards, Longjing tea's protected production areas are strictly limited to three regions in Hangzhou and Shaoxing, Zhejiang: West Lake, Qiantang, and Yuezhou. Only green tea picked within these areas and processed using specific methods qualifies as Longjing tea.

West Lake Longjing is the core protected area within this geographical indication. As the name suggests, it is tied to Hangzhou's West Lake, but this doesn’t mean all Longjing bought near the lake is West Lake Longjing! Its production area is strictly bound to West Lake District, occupying less than 1.3% of the total Longjing production area. Even within this small zone, there are further divisions into first-tier and second-tier protected areas.

At the break of dawn, tea farmers head up the mountains to begin a day of tea picking.

The first-tier protected area of West Lake Longjing covers the famed traditional core zones of "Lion," "Dragon," "Cloud," "Tiger," and "Plum," spanning just 48 square kilometers—about the size of Beijing's Xicheng District. Simply put, only the tea plants seen within West Lake Scenic Area during a visit might belong to this elite tier.

The hierarchy of Longjing tea resembles a pyramid, with Shifeng Longjing from Longjing Village at its very peak. The village's production area is only about 1,000 mu, yielding just 30,000 jin of dried tea annually.

In Longjing Village, many tea fields have a history of tea cultivation spanning over a century.

Facing nationwide demand, the scarcity of West Lake Longjing becomes ever more apparent, cementing its status as a rare treasure throughout history. In the 1970s, a cup of authentic West Lake Longjing in Hangzhou teahouses could cost over a dozen yuan—nearly half a month’s wages for an average worker.

Today in Longjing Village, the purchase price for fresh leaves alone can reach 900 yuan per jin. With roughly 4 jin of fresh leaves needed to produce 1 jin of dried tea, the raw material cost for premium pre-Qingming Shifeng Longjing is nearly 4,000 yuan per jin. Add the skilled labor of master roasters, and the price of genuine West Lake Longjing is naturally steep.

In Longjing Village, fresh West Lake Longjing leaves fetch up to 900 yuan per jin.

Yet, the value of West Lake Longjing lies not in its high price but in its exquisite craftsmanship.

Within the prestigious first-tier production zone, tea masters delineate micro-terroirs with the precision of Chaozhou butchers dissecting beef. Tea fields on the shaded versus sunny side of the same hill—or even just a few trees apart—often belong to different villages and brands. The key lies in the soil. Even in Longjing Village, renowned as the finest, only leaves grown on its white sandy soil yield the most exceptional Shifeng Longjing.

According to Lu Yihua, deputy secretary of Longjing Village, the village is named after Longjing tea. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong visited this place four times on his six southern tours and bestowed the title "Imperial Tea Trees" upon the eighteen tea plants in front of the temple. For this reason, West Lake Longjing tea produced in Longjing Village is proudly labeled "Lion Peak Longjing" by vendors, signifying its status as the "cream of the crop."

When Emperor Qianlong visited Hangzhou during his southern tour,

he designated the eighteen tea plants in front of Hugong Temple as "Imperial Tea."

Unlike the usual impression of wild, misty mountains producing fine tea, West Lake Longjing is deeply "worldly." Just a five-minute walk from the bustling Longjing Village brings us to the nearby tea mountains, where the faint clamor of visitors below can still be heard. Located in West Lake District, the core urban area of Hangzhou, it is less than 10 kilometers from the city's bustling Wulin Square and just a mountain away from West Lake itself.

The tea fields of West Lake Longjing are just a mountain away from West Lake.

To the northwest of the village, Tianzhu Peak and Lion Peak form a towering natural barrier, blocking the cold winter winds. To the southeast, Manjuelong shields the area from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. Encircled by mountains, Longjing Village and its surroundings form a secluded microcosm. Longjing, Meijiawu, Wengjiashan... These villages, where tea picking and processing have been passed down for generations, are scattered across the valley, surrounded by century-old tea fields.

The historic tea villages of the West Lake Longjing production area are nestled among mountains and tea fields.

In Longjing Village, we visited the tea workshop of Lu Zhoudong, an inheritor of West Lake Longjing's intangible cultural heritage, who demonstrated the tea-making process for us.

West Lake Longjing is a representative flat-roasted green tea. Each master roaster works with a single wok, skillfully employing ten techniques such as "grabbing, shaking, pushing, and pressing" in the scorching heat to shape the tea leaves into their characteristic flat, smooth form—narrow at both ends and wide in the middle, resembling a bowl nail—while developing its unique flavor.

Watching "Tea Roasting King" Lu Zhoudong at work is like observing a rhythmic Tai Chi performance—fluid and effortless. Lu says, "The tea is alive in my hands; it listens to me," as if he has reached a state of "doing as one pleases without overstepping boundaries."

Mastering such transcendent skill is no easy feat. Beyond the long years of accumulation—"three years for the first roasting, five for the second"—just the second roasting step alone requires nearly half an hour of continuous stirring in a wok at nearly 100°C, with "tea never leaving the wok, hands never leaving the tea," enduring hardships unimaginable to most.

Hand-roasting is the cornerstone of West Lake Longjing's exceptional quality,

and also a tremendous test for the tea maker.

Even after 40 years of tea making, Lu Zhoudong occasionally burns blisters on his hands. New apprentices often suffer swollen palms after their first attempt. Yet, to ensure precise temperature control, Lu forbids them from wearing gloves.

No gloves are worn during roasting to maintain precise control over the wok's temperature.

Since age 16, Lu Zhoudong has carried forward his family's nine-generation tea-making legacy. Unlike most masters who teach by rote, Lu seeks not only to know how but also why—understanding the scientific principles behind each inherited step. To this end, he spent 11 years attending advanced tea evaluation courses at the Tea Research Institute. This dedication likely propelled him to stand out among over 50 candidates from various tea villages in 2011, becoming the youngest "Tea Roasting King."

Lu Zhoudong's tea-roasting movements flow as smoothly as Tai Chi.

Many describe Lu as a "tea obsessive." Indeed, his demeanor resembles that of an artist—one who loses himself completely in creation. In high spirits, he shared his tea-making experiences with us, from Pu'er and oolong to black tea and jasmine tea. Lu believes a good tea master must not work in isolation; even teas differing in category and processing methods can offer cross-disciplinary insights.

A cup of spring West Lake Longjing greets the nose with its aroma. Lu Yihua explains that traditional Longjing's fragrance is not the roasted soybean scent often marketed, but closer to the fresh, natural floral notes of leguminous plants in bloom. Its taste defies the common perception of green tea's bitterness, offering instead a sugarcane-like sweetness.

The liquor of West Lake Longjing has a natural beige hue, green tinged with yellow.

"Xian" (freshness/umami) is one of the five basic human tastes. When ancient Chinese created the character for "xian," they combined the symbols for fish and lamb, representing the most exquisite flavor we can perceive.

Hangzhou is often jokingly called a "culinary desert" alongside Beijing, but locals never abandon their pursuit of springtime freshness. Fuyang and Lin'an in Hangzhou are major producers of spring bamboo shoots in China. Simmering seasonal bamboo shoots with salted pork to make "Yan Du Xian" (salted pork and bamboo shoot soup) needs no verbal praise—the taste buds provide the best verdict.

The soul of Longjing Shrimp lies in the subtle hint of Longjing tea fragrance within the shrimp's natural sweetness.

Stir-fried shrimp is common in Jiangnan cuisine, but adding brewed Longjing tea transforms it into Hangzhou's iconic dish—Longjing Shrimp, showcasing another dimension of the city's pursuit of springtime umami.

"To drink good tea and know how to enjoy it is a kind of 'pure happiness.' But to savor this joy, one must first have leisure, and secondly, a cultivated sensitivity." —This was indeed said by Lu Xun.

Hupao Spring by West Lake, paired with West Lake Longjing tea, is known as one of the "Twin Wonders of West Lake." Fetching buckets of tea-brewing water from Hupao Spring Park at dawn is a daily ritual for many old-school Hangzhou residents, rain or shine.

Hupao Spring, revered as the "Third Finest Spring Under Heaven,"

is considered the pinnacle of tea-brewing water by Hangzhou locals.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou's prosperity—"markets glittering with pearls, households overflowing with silks"—has allowed its people to refine material lifestyles. Teahouses emerged to satisfy both palate and social leisure.

By 2015, Hangzhou had about 7,600 teahouses, over three times the number of cafés. Since the late 20th century, buffet-style tea snacks became popular—paying for just tea grants access to dim sum and even staples like "Pian Er Chuan" noodles.

By the picturesque West Lake,

a single cup of tea can leisurely fill an entire afternoon.

Teahouses increasingly blur the line with restaurants, becoming as essential as "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea." This is Hangzhou's unique tea culture, steeped in West Lake Longjing.

Tea culture thrives on profound history and heritage. West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is Hangzhou's emblem, with Longjing tea plantations as its cultural cornerstone. As Su Shi, Hangzhou's "former mayor," noted, poet Xie Lingyun planted tea trees by West Lake as early as the Southern Dynasties. Ming scholars like Huang Yizheng and Xu Wei later enshrined Longjing among China's finest teas.

The plaque at Old Longjing near Shifeng Mountain bears Su Shi's calligraphy.

Between West Lake's twin peaks stands China's first national tea-themed museum—the China National Tea Museum—a global showcase of Hangzhou as the "Tea Capital of China." During our visit, hundreds of schoolchildren arrived for a study tour.

The tea utensils displayed in the museum

guide us through the drinking customs of different historical eras.

For millennia, West Lake Longjing has been an invisible thread connecting literati across centuries. Tea-drinking evolved from daily habit into a cultural force transcending time.

The radiant jewel in the crown of China's Tea Capital—West Lake Longjing is truly deserving of its fame!

West Lake Longjing, a concentration of historical and cultural heritage,

The Tea Explorer is heading to the tea mountains to bring you premium tea!

Simply follow "Authentic Tea Journey," leave a comment about spring tea—sharing your insights, recommendations for hometown spring tea, or travel experiences related to spring tea. Seven days after the article's publication, we’ll select five lucky readers with the most insightful and substantive comments to receive a gift of "West Lake Longjing" provided by Lu Zhoudong, a非遗传承人 (intangible cultural heritage inheritor) of this tea!

The West Lake Longjing offered this time is authentic, sourced entirely from Longjing Village in the core production area and crafted using非遗 (intangible cultural heritage) techniques in Lu Zhoudong’s tea studio.

The "Authentic Tea Journey · Spring Tea Team" has successfully concluded its expeditions across key spring tea regions, including Meitan, Suzhou, Yiwu, Lao Ban Zhang, Huangshan, and Hangzhou. Thank you for your support!

Editor | Ou Hantian, Fei Tianyimian

Planning & Review | Ou Hantian

Header Photo | Visual China Group

Cover Photo | Visual China Group