To make Long Jing, the cultivar #43 is generally used. This is a relatively new cultivar (since the 1970s), but traditionally Long Jing has been made from a group of cultivars called "Qunti. Yingshuang and Jiu Keng are examples of cultivars belonging to this group.
For a whole article on the 2 cultivars, see this blog article.
This is a very nice Long Jing Qunti coming from Jason's plantation in the West Lake area. See also his company page for more information and photos’of the area.
The tea is a ‘pre-Guyu’ and was picked between April 6 and 10.
Long Jing is also called Dragonwell. To make Long Jing, a bud is harvested and the first one or two leaves. These leaves are no larger than the bud. It is picked very carefully so as not to damage the leaf and bud.
A picker picks about 2 kg of fresh leaves per day, eventually becoming 500 grams of dried tea. The very best harvest of Long Jing accrues to the leaders of China.
Long Jing is dried after dyeing by roasting it in the wok. This is done by hand so the maker can feel the temperature of the wok. It takes a tea maker about 3 years to master 10 different hand movements for in the wok. A maker can process about a kilo a day of the highest quality Long Jing.
