How to Brew Long Jing Tea

It is nice to brew Long Jing in long glass. It is suitable as you can observe tea leaves and enjoy how they move up and down.

Water for Brewing
Please use soft water. Usually TDS: below 130mg/liter makes taste smooth and sweet. It is suitable to effectively extract most of the substances from tea leaves.Hard water is not suitable because it contains a higher level of mineral ions which suppress extraction of substances from leaf, subsequently, the taste become very flat and thin.

Temperature
Water must be boiled once in order to reduce the softness of the water. Let water cool down until 75-80 degree C and use it for brewing.

Brewing Method
The most suitable way to serve Longjing is using a long glass. The Long glass is often used for serving exclusive Chinese green or yellow tea. The glass used should be clear without any decorative design, transparent, rounded and smooth, with this glass, it is best to observe and enjoy the beauty of Longjing when being brewed.

Use fresh water which has not been boiled before. Bring the cold water to boil and cool down until required temperature. This is to evaporate some chlorine from the water.

Beforehand, it is important to warm the glass well by rinsing it out with boiled water. This should be done just before adding the tea leaves, so that leaves benefit from a gentle humid heat which will maximize the extraction from the tea leaves.

It is important to maintain the water temperature when brewing for efficacious extraction of substances from leaf.

The method of brewing Longjing is named as 'Down-Tossing Infiltration Brewing'. The leaf of Longjing is in flat shape and therefore difficult to sink when brewed. With this brewing method, the leaf is brewed 'twice': firstly, the leaf is moistened with a small quantity of water and to let it unfold followed-by the addition of water to make up a cup of tea.

The details of preparing Longjing following Down-Tossing Infiltration

1) Prepare 3 g of tea leaves for 150ml of water.

2) Place the tea leaves into a warmed glass. One could take precedence to smell the orchid fragrance of leaf liberated by the heat from the warmed glass.

3) Let the boiled water to cool down to 75-80 degree C.
Green tea leaves prefer a slightly cooler temperature as compared to black tea in order to minimize the extraction of polyphenol.
The optimum extraction temperature of polyphenol is at around 90-95 degree C, while amino acid can be extracted at much lower temperature.

4) Gently pour water onto the leaves. The quantity of water should be 1/3 of glass (about 50 ml), or merely enough to cover all the leaves.

5) Sway the glass in a gentle movement to let all leaves moisten and infiltrate. It is time to briefly enjoy the fragrance but not to drink it yet.

6) After one minute, pour in another 100 ml of water. When pouring the water, raise the hot water pot upward and downward for three times to pour in the water, to allow the tea leaves to agitate with upward and downward movements.
This helps the extraction and induces even liquor in the glass.

7) Brew for 2 minutes and serve.

8) If the taste is too strong, add boiled water to the glass.

This tea can be brewed for 3 times.
In general, enjoy the pleasure of the fresh green note with refreshing taste when firstly brewed; for second brewing, enjoy the mellow taste. The following brewing is milder and has a thinner taste, yet gives a brisk and refreshing mouth feel.

There is another way to enjoy Longjing.

When the liquor of previous brewing is left only 1/3 in the glass, pour in another 100 ml of boiled water (at 85-90 degree C). Brew for 3 minutes and it is ready.
In such a way, the taste is not diluted too much for subsequent brewing up to 3 times.