How we chose our limited-edition Dragon Well Tea

It can take years to master the skills required to correctly wither, press and dry the leaves for a premium Dragon Well tea like this one. Also referred to as simply 'Longjing', or Lung Ching, Dragon Well is one of China's 10 most famous teas, and this one is extraordinary – picked for our Rare & Limited range by The Tea Makers of London master taster from numerous teas flown in from around the world.

For tea to make it into our Rare & Limited range, the teas have to be single-origin, single-harvest (micro-batch) from independent artisan farmers and produced using traditional methods. Most of all, the teas have to be authentic and the best representations of their kind – in a word, sublime, just like this one.

Alternatives to this Chinese loose leaf tea

If you love our limited-edition Dragon Well, The Tea Makers of London has plenty more early-harvest spring teas for you to choose from. For another 'king of Chinese green teas', try our refreshing Dragon Well Longjing or the mellow, delicate and pesticide-free Organic Dragon Well. Jasmine Dragon Pearls is a beautiful infusion made of tiny tea balls that unfurl hypnotically as they brew for an intensely floral tea. And if you delight in a more lingering flavour, see our Mao Feng tea from Fujian – distinctive for its long, dark green downy leaves and aromatic characters.

Read more about the history of Dragon Well Tea and how it's processed in our Tea Journal.

For a traditional tea experience and a fuller flavour, we recommend drinking Dragon Well tea from a Yixing Clay teapot. As with our other Chinese teas, you can also brew the tea in one of our luxury Gaiwans.

The climate here is temperate Humid Subtropical (CFA), with strong seasonality. There is generally cloud cover year round within the West Lake, with just a gentle breeze picking up across the sea to east. The summers are short and typically very hot, with temperatures fluctuating between 22°C and 34°C, with significant and persistent overcast skies paired with rainfall which drives humidity anywhere between 50% and 99% saturation.

As the season progresses into autumn, the temperature, precipitation and humidity decrease until the winter, which experiences lower rainfall than any other time of the year, but with temperatures between 5°C and 8°C. Spring brings warmer weather and more rain, with humidity around 25%. The lake draws its water from the Qiantang river. It is famous for its lotuses, which bloom in June.

The shores are home to hundreds species of plant, including rare, protected species such as the wild soybean or short-spike bamboo. To lake is surrounded by abundant trees, including peach trees, willows, magnolia and cherry trees. The lake was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 for its outstanding garden design. The fertile hills above the lake, which are misty for most of the year, offer the perfect landscape for tea growing.