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For a spring project, I decided to compare three Mingqian teas: Bi Luo Chun, Longjing, and Anji Bai Cha. In total, I bought 340 g of green tea, which in hindsight is a lot of green tea. I seriously overestimated how much green tea I would be able and willing to drink, which is why this little experiment is still ongoing. For Part 2 of this three-part extravaganza, I bought four Longjings from Teavivre, Treasure Green, and Seven Cups.

Tea bush: Seed-grown Heirloom Quntizhong
Location: Shifeng Mountain, West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Picking date: March 31, 2024
Price/g: US$1.68

As part of this project, I wanted to compare the more prolific Longjing No. 43 with the traditional Longjing variety, which is said to be more floral and complex. Seven Cups sells both of these teas. For the comparison session, I steeped 2.4 g of all four teas in 120 ml of 185F water, starting at 4 minutes. This produced very potent, not to say bitter, steeps! I later did a more typical session, steeping 3 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed.

The dry aroma is of candied chestnuts, hazelnuts, roasted grains, butter, spinach, and faint florals. The first steeps are quite bitter, with notes of chestnuts, hazelnuts, roast, and grain. Subsequent steeps feature roast, hazelnuts, green beans, other veggies, and orchids. The final steeps are grassy, roasty, vegetal, and faintly floral.

Bowl steeped, the florals appear. The first couple rounds have notes of chestnuts, hazelnuts, roasted grain, butter, spinach, asparagus, orchid, sweet pea, and lilac. The florality is most notable after the tea has been steeping for a few minutes, particularly in the aftertaste and the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps are nutty, buttery, vegetal, and floral, with a pronounced floral aftertaste and some asparagus/spinach/grassy notes. The final steeps are grassy, with vegetal and floral hints.

More floral and complex than the Dafo Longjing, this tea still has the nutty, smooth, roasted profile that’s typical of dragonwell. This tea is also less sweet than the Dafo. The differences were hard to detect at first, and they were more apparent in the regular bowl steeping session than in the comparison session. If you love Longjing, this is definitely the one to get, though I think most people would be happy with any of these four teas.