The best green tea in the world

[umijoshi]

Why Longjing tea --- Dragon well tea is called the the of emperors? Why longjing tea is called the best green tea in the world ?

From what I understand, it's called that because it's one of the few 'special quality' teas that was produced close enough to a large urban city to get mass popularity. If it were in a more remote location, I don't think history would have favored it as highly -- despite being a great tea. On top of that, an emperor supposedly said it was good, which is sometimes the only reason you need.

[NateHevens]

Why Longjing tea --- Dragon well tea is called the the of emperors? Why longjing tea is called the best green tea in the world ?

It's an extremely popular green tea, and with good reason, as umijoshi pointed out.

However, this stuff is subjective. Gyokuro is usually my favorite, but others will disagree. It's all about your personal tastes...

[janet11]

Grown near the city of Hangzhou, in the Zhejiang Province of China, for more than a thousand years, Longjing has gained a great reputation for its exquisite quality.
This green tea is indeed a world full of elegance, benefits and history, starting with its name.
According to one version, in ancient times, people believed that a dragon lived in the village well, controlling the rainfall. They would actually visit the well and pray for rain.
Another legend says that the name Longjing is both the name of a water spring and the name of a temple, where monks planted tea trees.

[chrl42]

Why LJ is considered the best in the world? Because it's 'famous'.

Many people don't know LJ was rarely known in the world until Ming dynasty, Qing dynasty's 'celebrity' emperor Qianlong (he was fond of romantic southern culture) liked to travel to South...one day he passed Hangzhou and tasted tea, he pretty liked it..then Hangzhou farmers picked 9 trees as 'tributary' tea trees, LJ's fame started since. In China, something that becomes tributary properties mean its quality is top, a proud of era.

But even Qianlong (possibly who understood tea deepest along with Song's Huizong), his favorite was Wuyi tea (China's 2 of most tea-related emperors' favored Wuyi the most)

Luyu said purple-ish leaf is best in tea, so in Tang dynasty purple buds from Guzhu (Gu Zhu Zi Sun) or teas from Yangxian (today's Yixing) were most popular..

Song dynasty, Wuyi became tributary place...and so on.

LJ became nation's favorite in Qing dynasty, and then became Chairman Mao's favorite during the PRC (and Nixon's, too )..fame of LJ continued...

[joelbct]

Speaking of LJ, can anyone recommend vendors for authentic 2017 Shi Feng or Xi Hu?

Seven cups and tea trekker are sold out. I tried using forum search function for Verdant, because they pop up early on Google results (good SEO?), and just found a long contentious thread from 2012 about Puerh. So, has anyone tried Verdants LJ, is the #43 any good, or the non-1st plucking traditional varietal?

Is teaspring still good? Any other west-facing vendors? I'm sure Hojo's is top notch but I'd rather keep it at around $1/g, if this is even possible for authentic pre chingming LJ.

[ethan]

Joel, A summary of the thread about Verdant, is that Verdant lied about pu-erh. A summary about them in general is that there is a great effort put into its stories about families growing tea etc….. In other words, it is a company that is a b.s.er. That does not prevent them from having some good tea, but it does make me suggest you try buying elsewhere before risking $ with a company that might care more about the quality of its photographs than the quality of its tea. Personally, I bought a sampler from Verdant years back which contained one decent tea, a black, good but not good value for $ for sure. Cheers

[Groucho]

How is Tea Vivre's offering?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[joelbct]

I was actually about to purchase samples of teavivre's 2 2017 prechingming dragonwells, so I'll let you know. It doesn't purport to be Shi Feng or Xi Hu, though.

Maybe spending the $ for alleged actual Shi Feng or Xi Hu isn't quite worth it anyway. Even YS' 0.14USD/G "outskirts of Hangzhou" dragon well is pretty tasty.

I'd have tried seven cups again if it were in stock. I looked at my old email account and they were the vendor I used last time I had Shi Feng, and I remember it was excellent.

Edit, I just ordered 25g of each of teaspring's three (non-shi feng) LJ's. Will post results when they arrive.

[William]

Edit, I just ordered 25g of each of teaspring's three (non-shi feng) LJ's. Will post results when they arrive.

Keep us updated!

[ginagreen]

Its famous due to its historical and cultural background.

[Frisbeehead]

I would definitely recommend trying Life in a Teacup's Longjing, they have some great quality Chinese greens. Their Longjing, Anji Bai Cha, Mao Feng, and Tai Ping Hou Kui are all very good.

[Bok]

Is it me, or are these posts all thinly veiled attempts to get people to go for the thread openers shop?

The best whatever tea, do you like whatever tea…

Or am I being overly suspicious.