Tasting True Dragonwell with Mrs Li
Tasting True Dragonwell with Mrs Li
Tasting Kits
Li Xiaoping – Longjing Village
This bundle includes three 25g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 75g total (15 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell craft with Shi Feng Dragonwell #43 and the reserve 1st Picking #43 harvest, along with the new malty Dragonwell black tea, traditionally sun-oxidized to show a different side to the region.
This bundle includes three 25g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 75g total (15 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell terroir with Shi Feng Dragonwell and #43 along with the new malty Dragonwell black tea, traditionally sun-oxidized to show a different side to the region.
This bundle includes three 25g bags and ten 5g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 125g total (25 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell terroir with Shi Feng Dragonwell and #43 along with the new malty Dragonwell black tea, traditionally sun-oxidized to show a different side to the region. As limited exclusive, this kit also includes two special 2nd Picking 2022 spring harvests of Shi Feng Dragonwell and Longjing #43 (while supplies last).
This bundle includes five 25g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 125g total (25 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell terroir, with the beloved classic Dragonwell Green, finished to bring out deep minerality, the bright and aromatic #43 varietal, the reserve 1st picking harvest, and the complex, herbaceous semi-wild green, and new malty Dragonwell Black tea.
This bundle includes four 25g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 100g total (20 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell terroir, with the beloved classic Dragonwell Green, finished to bring out deep minerality, the bright and aromatic #43 varietal, an exclusive 1st picking harvest, and the new malty Dragonwell black tea.
This bundle includes four 25g bags of Shi Feng Dragonwell tea for 100g total (20 sessions).
Li Xiaoping is an award-winning multi-generational farmer dedicated to sharing true Shi Feng Dragonwell. Her high-elevation Shi Feng plot is one of the most coveted micro-climates for tea in China due to the cool misty weather, the rocky quartz-laden soil, the sweet mountain spring water and the ecological protected park designation. Her and her husband Shui Huamin hand pick and hand wok-finish every leaf, producing incredibly small annual batches, picking only before Qingming festival and allowing the plants the rest of the year undisturbed to grow deeper roots.
This tasting kit explores Shi Feng Dragonwell terroir with Shi Feng Dragonwell and #43, the complex, herbaceous semi-wild green, along with the new malty Dragonwell black tea, traditionally sun-oxidized to show a different side to the region.
Explore Dragonwell with Li Xiaoping's teas:
"The 18 famous tea trees praised by Emperor Qianlong
are here in my home, in Shi Feng.
People think those trees must have the best microclimate, but my tea plants
are on the slope above these famous trees. The higher elevation, the mist
and the mountain spring water make them
even better than Qianlong’s bushes.
Our whole region is protected from pollution –
organic farming is not just our value, it is our law.
I hand pick every leaf with my two sisters,
and my husband hand finishes each small batch.
I share my tea to fight against the fakes – against West Lake Dragonwell
and other unclean regions – and to show the world what my home is capable of producing."
- Li Xiaoping // 李小平
Our Home: Shi Feng, Longjing Village
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a ring of mountain peaks create a protected microclimate
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famous for hundreds of years as the best tea region in China
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spring-fed old-growth tea plantings that are a mountain climb from the nearest road
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quartz-heavy rocky soil for deep texture
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protected from development and pollution as a national heritage site
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beyond organic farming throughout the village
About Us: Li Xiaoping and Shui Huamin
Li Xiaoping inherited some of the finest plants on Shi Feng from her father.
Decades ago, her father was recognized by the party for his work in bringing a higher standard of craft to the village and introducing objective tasting standards for judging quality of green tea throughout Zhejiang. Mrs. Li remembers following her father around the fields and learning from him since age five.
She and her husband have a daughter and granddaughter that they hope will someday run the family farm. Both Mrs. Li and Shui Huamin consider themselves semi-retired, having put their daughter through college through their labor in tea.
At this point, their goal is to share true Shi Feng Dragonwell beyond Zhejiang and beyond China, fighting against the countless fakes out there with quality and honesty. They hope that by making real Dragonwell truly accessible, they can work to raise the standards worldwide for green tea and leave a lasting legacy.
Li Xiaoping has not only continued her father’s work with classic Dragonwell, but has pioneered onward with new #43 varietal tea bushes and even hand-finished black tea, pushing back against the weight of tradition.
Our Tea & Craft
Tea requires hardship.
You cannot follow a simple protocol and expect to make great tea. You have to be willing to put aside everything to see a batch through to the end.
Often a single batch of oolong means over 40 hours in the workshop without sleep to get it just right, and that does not count the time in the fields.
My job really starts in the field, working actively to strengthen the natural ecosystem through my farming choices and also working to research, revive and propagate rare, new or nearly lost cultivars, all to increase biodiversity and secure a better future for oolong.
I grow dozens of different cultivars, some planted by my grandparents with old, deep rootstock. Each varietal has different picking times and different “ideals” in the field and in the workshop.
Every weather condition not only changes picking times but changes the way I fluff and turn the leaves to bring out their aroma, the way I roast them, the moisture levels I aim for; this all requires flexibility, determination, and humility in the face of nature.
Despite the hardship, I love what I do.
Tea is a collaboration between the skies, the earth and us, the people, that can create humbling beauty and complexity.
Seeking this complexity has inspired me to go beyond current styles in oolong and research lost styles like Original Wulong Revival.
Hear our vision for tea
Too much of the world’s “Tieguanyin” comes from big factory farms that have bought up most of lowland Anxi. These teas are passed off as the real thing because many retailers and importers do not know better.
I want to give anyone who loves tea the education and tools necessary to tell the difference. That is why I work with importer Verdant Teato tell my story. I hope you’ll take the time to learn about the place I call home and the way I work to craft my teas.
Learn even more!
