First Pluck Shifeng Longjing (Shifeng Dragon Well)
Green Tea 2024
An incredible rarity of a tea. This is the first day’s harvest of the original Shifeng Longjing made from heirloom tea bushes. Richly complex with full toasted soybean flavors and intense savory and sweet fruit aromas, yet soft and clean with notes of tender bamboo shoot.
$51.00
- 2024 $42.00
- Tea Origin
- Shifeng Mountain, West Lake, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
- Tea Bush
- Lao Chashu Quntizhong (Old Heirloom Tea Bush)
- Tea Maker
- Chen Xiaochao and Weng Shunqin
- Harvest Time
- March 26th, 2023
- Plucking Standard
- One bud, two leaves
Longjing (Dragon Well) green tea is the most famous of all Chinese teas. Produced in the West Lake region of Hangzhou for centuries, its popularity has now carried it to other parts of Zhejiang and even other provinces. However, the authentic Longjing produced in the original West Lake area carries the longest history of tradition and is still the most valued. It is often given as a traditional gift for blessings of health and longevity. For centuries, the tea from Shifeng Village has been praised as the best of all. However, it can be difficult to find. The modern “West Lake Longjing” government branding groups all four production areas in Longjing together under the same banner. Seven Cups is honored to be able to offer the authentic Shifeng Longjing from Wengjiashan Village in the original area of production in Shifeng.
This version of the original Shifeng Longjing was made only with the leaves from the very first day’s harvest on March 30th, 2024.
This is the standard of tea that was once made as ‘tribute tea’ for the emperor in imperial China, possessing the highest level of quality and prestige. These tender pluckings are picked at the traditional standard of one bud and two leaves. After withering, a round of traditional hand-frying in an iron wok develops that distinctive toasted soybean character that sets Longjing apart from any other green tea.
Meeting the Longjing Tea Makers
Seven Cups founder Austin met the famous Shifeng Longjing tea maker Mr. Weng Shangyi (1930-2018) in 2006, on the recommendation of a friend from the Hangzhou government. Using his family’s inherited old-growth Longjing tea bushes, Mr. Weng made Shifeng Longjing for his entire life, and continued to do so until his regrettable passage in 2018.
We’re honored to still carry Shifeng Longjing made from the bushes in the Weng family gardens, handcrafted by Mr. Weng’s apprentice Chen Xiaochao, who has worked for the Weng family making Longjing tea for over 20 years.
When the government recommended that Wengjiashan farmers remove their old heirloom tea bushes to plant the early-flushing and high-yielding Longjing #43 cultivar, Mr. Weng stubbornly refused, preserving his family’s old Longjing tea bushes. Old bushes of the region’s original tea cultivar are now quite rare, and tea made from them is now being recognized for its remarkable quality.
No chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide was used in the production of this tea. Click here to read more about our promise to fair trade and the environment.
