{"id":10515,"date":"2014-07-05T11:20:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T15:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=10515"},"modified":"2014-07-05T11:20:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-05T15:20:05","slug":"a-cup-of-dragon-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/a-cup-of-dragon-well\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cup of Dragon Well"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Temple\"<\/a>Legend has it<\/a> that, in the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong (1711-1799 CE)<\/strong>, the grandson of the Emperor Kangxi, went on a holiday to the West Lake district, in the Hangzhou area of Zhejiang province, China. He stopped at the Hu Gong Temple, nestled under the Lion Peak Mountain (Shi Feng Shan). There, he was presented by the monks with a cup of green tea made from the temple’s own tea bushes.<\/p>\n

He was so impressed with the tea that, when he became Emperor himself, Qianlong gave these 18 tea bushes special imperial status and the tea became “Gong Cha,” or Imperial tea. Those trees are still living and, according to Wikipedia, “the tea they produce is auctioned annually for more money per gram than gold.”<\/p>\n

The green tea he sipped is known as Longjing or Lung Ching – “Dragon Well” in English, named after an eponymous well located in the nearby village, itself with an interesting story to tell.<\/p>\n

There are other parts to this legend<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Since the first cup of tea served, he was very impressed with its beautiful appearance, elegant fragrance and mellow taste. The monk who served the tea, brought him to the tea garden, where 18 tea bushes were planted. Being enamored with the work of women picking the tea, Emperor even decided to try it by himself.<\/p>\n

When the Emperor was enjoying gathering the tea leaves, urgent news came saying that his mother, the Empress Dowager fell sick and asked for his immediate return to the palace. When the Emperor came to see his sick Queen Mother, the aroma of tea leaves, which he kept in his pocket, attracted her attention. At once, he served the tea to her, and the Queen Mother fell in love with its amazing taste and flavor. After drinking tea for a few days, the Queen Mother was cured. The Emperor was so grateful to the tea that he granted the 18 tea trees under the Lion Peak Mountain the name of the Imperial Tea Tree. Since then, Dragon Well tea became a tribute tea to Chinese emperors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Tea<\/a>Gabriella Lombardi, writing in The Tea Sommelier,<\/a> says it is the “most famous of all Chinese teas.” (I found this wonderful, beautifully illustrated book on sale at Indigo, Eaton Centre, last weekend; a real steal for anyone interested in tea.)<\/p>\n

But the tea from that region was known long before Qianlong. It was mentioned by Lu Yu<\/a> (733-804 CE) in his famous “The Classic of Tea<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

There were other books about tea produced in China after\u00a0Lu Yu, such as Zhu Quan’s Manual of Tea<\/a>\u00a0from the late 14th century CE. Tea drinking in China is itself at least 2,000 years old, and the oldest tea trees are about 1,700 years old.<\/p>\n

Another legend says the tea plants are “watered by rain from a local dragon.”<\/p>\n

Tibettour.org<\/a> tells us:<\/p>\n

Dragon Well Tea flourishes in the mountainous area where mild climate and plentiful rainfall are plentiful year-round. Around West Lake, Shifeng Peak, Longjing Village, Yunxi Mountain, Hupao and Meijiawu Region offer such prime conditions. The history of planting tea trees is rather long in these areas, as the tea sage Lu Yu mentioned in his Book of Tea. The teas grown in these areas were called Shi, Long, Yun, Hu and Mei respectively in the past. Now, with an increase in production, it is generally classified into Xihu (West Lake) Longjing Tea, Qiantang Longjing Tea and Yuezhou Longjing Tea, among which the Xihu Longjing Tea is the best.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\"West<\/a>Dragon Well has a more recent historical significance:\u00a0it was the tea presented as a gift to President Richard Nixon during his famous trip to China.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Ten Ren Tea Company <\/a>site lists\u00a0“four outstanding unique characteristics” of Dragon Well:<\/p>\n