West Lake longjing tea has been enjoying great popularity

The West Lake Dragon Well tea is produced in the mountains surrounding the West Lake. It is with jade green color, rich aroma as fragrant as orchids, mellow taste and sparrow-tongue-like shape. West Lake Longging tea has always been tribute for the ancient emperors. Since its sharp rise in Ming Dynasty, West Lake longjing tea has been enjoying great popularity all the time, which is very rare in the history of tea. Till now, it still ranks first in the famous tea produced in our province.
Dragon Well tea became famous in Hangzhou in between 1522 and 1566. Tian Yiheng(who was father of Tian Rucheng), said in his essays that the water in the old Dragon Well was extremely cool and green jade, and tea produced in this area was the best of the mountains south or north near the Lake. According to the record in these essays, there were two Dragon Wells, namely the new Dragon Well and the old Dragon Well, where made tea and only the tea produced in the north and south mountains of the West Lake were rated as famous tea. Besides, in line with the book, Annals of Zhejiang——Produce, the tea was as fragrant as beans, with its clear tea soup tasting sweet, which shows the features of the initial Dragon Well tea.
West Lake Dragon Well tea was included in the Chinese famous tea around the years from
1573 to 1619. The earliest record we can refer to at present is in the Book of Events about Tea written by Huang Yizheng, a Yangzhouese, which has depicted about 97 famous tea all over China. When Qianlong Emperor made inspection tour in regions south of the Yangtze River, he visited the Dragon Well village and enjoyed the West Lake Dragon Well tea. Once, he highly praised the picturesque scenery of Dragon Well mountain and West Lake Dragon Well tea. In his Traveling in the Dragon Well Area in the Rain Once Again, Qianlong praised that the West Lake was very beautiful and West Lake Dragon Well tea was excellent. Before long, West Lake Dragon Well tea was classified as tribute. In addition, when Qianlong Emperor watched the industrious scene of the tea growers picking tea leaves, he wrote two poems, The Song of Tea Picking. Till now, a much told tale goes that Qianlong Emperor planted 18 tea bushes in person, which were the evidence that he was fond of West Lake Dragon Well tea.