Spring Tea Picking at Longjing Village, Hangzhou
Harvesting season in China can vary greatly between the different growing regions, sometimes starting as early as March and lasting until late November.
This year, we made it our mission to experience tea picking in China for the first time. Joining a one-day tour with Lu Ming Tang, we travelled from Shanghai to Longjing Village, 10km out of Hangzhou, to pick some freshly grown tea leaves of our own!
The village itself was only a 5-10 minute walk from the Imperial Library, where local vendors could be seen sitting outdoors with their metal pans drying freshly picked green tea. The smell emitting these pans and local shops was unbelievable – a delicate and sweet fragrance that reminded us of everything matcha we had ever eaten.
Walking through the village, we saw numerous bamboo baskets holding Longjing's infamous tea leaves; ranging from bright greens to paler hues once dried.
We met a local tea grower and guide, who was to bring us to his part of the plantation. His little tea shop was decorated with traditional wear - hats, old outfits and little bamboo baskets used for collecting tea. Tying our own little baskets to our hips, we were led towards the tea terraces at last!
It probably only took us around 10-15 minutes to get to our tea master's terraces. Though we were extremely grateful that Spring temperatures were low, as we're sure that climbing up the small hill would have been quite the workout otherwise in the scorching sun.
The view from the middle of the hill was incredible - a beautiful panoramic view of the valley where terraces seemed to cover every surface of the surrounding area.
Here, we were taught how to pick the freshest tea leaves by the very best, and we're left to search for our own leaves to fill our baskets with.
And we watched with deep curiosity as locals rapidly whipped fresh leaves from the terraces bushes into their baskets at what seemed like lightening speed.
The ridge of the hills themselves are said to represent that of the dragon which the area takes its name from, extending from head to tail and curling around the plantation we were now in. It's the place of origin for Longjing tea, and regarded as the best.
The secret to picking fresh tea, we were taught, was to look for buds that had three leaves - usually two larger ones encasing a smaller one in the middle.
They were delicate little leaves, with a lovely bright green colour and the slightest fragrance to it.
Our guide and tea grower threw the fresh leaves into a metal pan, and we all gathered around to watch him lift, swirl and flick the leaves in and around the pan in order to dry them - preparing them for consumption. Expertly working with bare hands in this large metal bowl, we watched as the leaves slowly started to dry, turning a lighter shade of green and emitting the most delicious, sweet fragrance.
As the day drew to a close, the now dry tea leaves were ready and we were able to sample some freshly dried, freshly brewed Longjing green tea. An unbelievable, and delicious experience.
N.B. If travelling to Hangzhou during a weekend, be sure to allow some extra travel time to get to Longjing Village! On a good day, this trip is usually around 30-40 minutes by taxi, or an hour by bus. Arriving on a Sunday though, around 11am, we ended up being stuck in traffic for over 1.5 hours while trying to get to Longjing Village in a taxi (due to the area around the West Lake being highly congested).