Dragon Well manual processing technique - a skill need preserve
Dragon Well has being honored by Chinese tea drinkers for centuries. This spciality green tea is acclaimed as one of the top 10 Chinese speciality green tea. It has a smooth flat appearance, tastes mellow and sweet, with a pleasant aroma slightly resemble Chinese chestnut.
Top grade Dragon Well is only available in early spring (from the first budding to early April), and is made by hand, its plucking standard is "a bud and one leaf"; Followed by Premium grade Dragon Well, the plucking standard is from "a bud and two leaves" to "a bud and two leaves", plucked before late April; Ordinary grade Dragon Well is made in late April to Early May, it has more mature leaves, and has more strength and less mellowness.
Skillful tea makers hand-fry the tea in a wok throughout the making process. The temperature of the wok is adjusted in response to changes in the fried leaves, the tea are fried with different levels of "pressure-release" introduced by subtle changes in hand movements. Normally it needs 3-5 years hand-on learning to become a qualified Dragon Well tea maker, tea makers continue refine their skills and build expertise thereafter.
Making Dragon Well is a very tedious job, younger generations are not keen to learn this skill, with the booming of China's economy, they have better choices and opportunities. Now in Hangzhou, the hometown of Dragon Well, Dragon Well makers are all above age 40.
Turn to machine making is one choice, to date, Dragon Well Machine could produce the tea with excellent appearance, however, machine made Dragon Well still can't achieve the characteristic taste of traditional Dragon Well. To preserve the unique taste and the same unique manual processing technique, Hangzhou is taking proactive measures this year: including apply China intangible cultural heritage for the processing technique, organize young people to take free training sessions, and hold yearly tea making contest.
