How to brew Dragon Well (Longjing) green tea

Dragon Well — Longjing in Chinese — is a pan-fired green tea from Zhejiang province, and the best of it from the hills around West Lake in Hangzhou. The leaves are pressed flat against a hot wok by hand, which gives them their smooth, blade-like shape and a toasted, chestnut sweetness quite unlike a Japanese green tea.

In a glass, the grower's way

Li Xiaoping — Mrs Li — grows Dragon Well on Shi Feng, Lion Peak, in the hills around Longjing village, and her method, as published by Verdant Tea, the American importer that buys from her, is a glass and a whole day.

Glass: a tempered glass or a mug of about 350 ml. Leaf: 4 to 5 grams. Water: boiled, then cooled to about 85 to 90°C — warmer than many merchants advise for green tea, and she is the one who grows it.

Put the leaves in the glass first. Pour in a little water, until the glass is about a third full, running it down the side of the glass so that it cools a touch before it reaches the leaves. Then fill the glass. Start sipping straight away, blowing the leaves aside; the tea grows stronger as it stands.

When you are two-thirds or three-quarters of the way down, top it up, and carry on all day. Keep a little water over the leaves so they are never left exposed, and start again with fresh leaves after about four hours. And her one firm rule: do not cover the glass. A lid keeps the heat in and stews the tea.

For a lighter cup, she says, use less leaf or cooler water; for a stronger one, more leaf. Her husband takes about 10 grams to his mug. Mrs Li sticks to 5, for herself and for guests.

In a pot

If you would rather brew it in a pot and pour it off, Whittard of Chelsea's general figures for green tea — 65 to 80°C, two to three minutes — are a sound start, and Dragon Well will happily take the top of that range.

Before Qingming

The most prized Dragon Well is mingqian, "before Qingming": picked in early spring, before the Qingming festival around 5 April. The buds are tiny and tender, and the price is steep. If it seems too forceful in the glass, take Mrs Li's advice for a lighter cup — less leaf, or cooler water. Tea picked after Qingming is larger-leafed, fuller and much better value, and nothing to be ashamed of.

West Lake or not?

"Longjing" alone may come from a wider area of Zhejiang. "West Lake Longjing" — Xihu Longjing — is the protected name for tea from the original hills around the lake, Shi Feng among them. As with Darjeeling, the more specific the label, the more you are paying for, and the more you ought to be getting.