The Longjing Tea Hills

Behind West Lake the hills are combed into tea rows, and the villages sitting among them grow the flat-pressed green tea that carries the name Dragon Well. Pickers take a bud and one leaf through a window of a few weeks in spring, and the leaf is fired the same day: pressed and turned by bare hand against the inside of a dry wok kept hot enough that the technique takes years to learn properly. The result is flat, jade-coloured and nutty rather than grassy. Leaf picked before the Qingming date in early April is graded at the top of the crop and priced accordingly. It is brewed in a tall glass with no lid, so the leaves stand upright as they open.

What you actually see

• The terraced rows - combed hillsides with paths running between the villages.
• Wok firing - leaf pressed and turned by hand in a dry heated wok, often done in the open.
• Pre-Qingming leaf - the first pick of spring, sorted and graded in front of the shops.
• Glass brewing - no lid and no pot, leaves standing upright in hot water.

When to go

Picking runs from late March through April and is the only time to see the hills working, with the days before Qingming in early April the busiest and most expensive. Outside spring the terraces are green and empty and the walk is pleasant but nothing is happening. Mornings avoid the coach parties.

Honest expectations

In April the villages jam with tour groups and the lanes fill with sellers, many passing off cheaper leaf from other provinces as West Lake Longjing, while the genuine article is expensive and hard to verify. Tastings end in a sales pitch every time. Outside the season there is little to do beyond the walk itself.

Nearby

West Lake lies directly over the ridge, and the tea museum sits between the villages.