China's most famous green tea · Meijiawu Village · Tea culture
Longjing (Dragon Well) is China's most famous green tea, and Meijiawu Village in the hills west of West Lake is its spiritual home. The tea has been cultivated here since the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and the terraced fields climbing the hillsides are a beautiful sight in any season — electric green in spring, deeper shades in summer, golden in autumn.
What makes Longjing special is the hand-roasting process. Freshly picked leaves are pressed, rubbed, and shaped in a hot iron wok by a master roaster using ten distinct hand movements — a technique that takes ten years to learn. The result is tea leaves that are flat, smooth, and emerald green, with a distinctive chestnut aroma and a sweet, clean taste.
A visit to Meijiawu typically includes walking through the tea fields, watching a roasting demonstration, and participating in a gongfu tea ceremony where you'll taste multiple grades of Longjing and learn to discern quality. Spring harvest (Ming Qian, picked before the Qingming Festival in early April) is the most prized and expensive.