Year 2012 Special Selected Long Jing Free 30g

Year 2012 Special Selected Long Jing (75g) Free 30g

Long Jing Tea is specially pan-fried by hand from young, tender leaves of the early spring. Its distinctly fresh sweet teste places it among the most delightful of all green teas. The dried leaves are smooth and appear to be sword blades in shape. Tea steeped is brownish yellow on colour with fresh and mellow taste. It is attributed with the properties of neutralizing the effect of grease, preventing cancer and building up resistance to bacteria.

Longjing tea (simplified Chinese: 龙井茶; traditional Chinese: 龍井茶; pinyin: lóngjǐng chá), also known as Dragon Well tea, is a variety of roasted green tea ^[1]from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China where it is produced mostly by hand and has been renowned for its high quality, earning the China Famous Tea title.

This tea variety is often called the national drink of China and is frequently given to visiting heads of state. It is a favorite tea amongst the Mainland Chinese leaders, with a portion of production reserved for government customers.

For best infusion results, water at around 75°C should be used to brew the tealeaves.

History and Legends

Longjing tea was granted the status of Gong Cha, or Imperial tea, in Qing Dynasty by Chinese emperor Kangxi. According to the legend, Kangxi's grandson Qianlong visited West Lake during one of his famous holidays.

He went to the Hu Gong Temple under the Lion Peak Mountain (Shi Feng Shan) and was presented with a cup of Longjing tea. In front of the Hu Gong Temple were 18 tea bushes. Emperor Qianlong was so impressed by the Longjing tea produced here that he conferred these 18 tea bushes special imperial status. The trees are still living and the tea they produce is auctioned annually for more money per gram than gold.

There is another legend connecting Emperor Qianlong to Longjing Tea. It is said that while visiting the temple he was watching the ladies picking the tea. He was so enamored with their movements that he decided to try it himself. While picking tea he received a message that his mother, the Empress Dowager was ill and wished his immediate return to Beijing. He shoved the leaves he had picked into his sleeve and immediatly left for Beijing. Upon his return he immediatly went to visit his mother. She noticed the smell of the leaves coming from his sleeves and he immediatly had it brewed for her. It is said that the shape of Longjing Tea was designed to mimic the appearance of the flattened leaves that the emperor brewed for his mother..

Longjing, which literally translates as "dragon well," is said to have named after a well that contains relatively dense water, and after rain the lighter rainwater floating on its surface sometimes exhibits a sinuous and twisting boundary with the well water, which is supposed to resemble the movement of a Chinese dragon.

Legend also has it that to achieve the best taste from Longjing, water from the Dreaming of the Tiger Spring, a famous spring in Hangzhou, is to be used. The water quality of the spring now is certainly very different than before.