Zhejiang (浙江) is a province on the east coast of China, south of Shanghai, with its capital Hangzhou (杭州). The landscape is made up of low hills, river lowlands and lakes - the best known being West Lake (西湖, Xi Hu) on the edge of Hangzhou. It is on the surrounding slopes, in locations such as Shi Feng (獅峰, “Lion Peak”) and Meijiawu (梅家塢), that China's most famous green tea, Long Jing (龍井, “Dragon Well”), grows.
The region's tea reputation reaches back to the Tang dynasty (618 - 907), when the scholar Lu Yu (陸羽) completed the Cha Jing (茶經) in nearby Huzhou - the world's first comprehensive work on tea. During the Song period the reputation of Hangzhou teas grew further, and under the Qing dynasty Long Jing became an imperial tribute tea: by tradition, in the 18th century the Qianlong Emperor declared eighteen tea bushes by the Hugong temple to be imperial.
The climate is subtropical monsoonal - warm humid summers and mild winters. Mist lingers over the lake and in the valleys in the morning, dampening the direct sun and, together with the mildly acidic soil of the slopes, supporting the slow, balanced growth of the shoots. Cooler nights and diffused light increase the proportion of amino acids, which give the leaf gentleness and sweetness.
Long Jing is processed by hand pan-firing in a wok, during which the leaves take on their characteristic flat, smooth shape. The cultivars Long Jing 43 (龍井43) and the native Qun Ti seedlings (群體種) are grown; the most prized is the Ming Qian (明前) harvest just before the Qingming festival at the beginning of April. The liquor is light greenish-yellow, the aroma nutty-chestnut, the taste sweet with umami and a clean finish. Alongside Long Jing, Zhejiang is also home to the white green tea Anji Bai Cha (安吉白茶) from an albino cultivar. It is among the largest producers of green tea in China.
