Verdant Tea

2023 Shifeng Semi-Wild Dragonwell

2023 Shifeng Semi-Wild Dragonwell

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Rare Wild-Arbor Dragonwell
Picked from wild old-growth bushes nestled between trees and bamboo on Shi Feng Peak, overlooking Emperor Qianlong's historic inscription praising this incredible microclimate. Notes of fennel, cedar, oat milk, daffodil and pear.
March 2023 ♦ Shi Feng, Longjing
Rare Wild-Arbor Dragonwell
Picked from wild old-growth bushes nestled between trees and bamboo on Shi Feng Peak, overlooking Emperor Qianlong's historic inscription praising this incredible microclimate. Notes of fennel, cedar, oat milk, daffodil and pear.
March 2023 ♦ Shi Feng, Longjing
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Crafted By Mrs. Li

Li Xiaoping is an award-winning, respected community leader growing true Dragonwell in the tiny coveted Shi Feng (Lion’s Peak) micro-region with over fifty years experience.
 
Her tea is fed by volcanic mountain springs, shaded by bamboo and evergreens, and grown using organic techniques, hand-picked and hand finished on a wok.
 
    • DATE OF PICKINGMarch 2023
    • Longjing VillageZhejiang Province
    • ELEVATION300 meters
    • longjing quntiTea Varietal

    This limited offering from Li Xiaoping can only be picked in years where the weather is cool and temperate and the rain is very light. At the very top of the peak of Shi Feng, there is a grove of trees that have been allowed to grow undisturbed to preserve a natural habitat for birds and increase biodiversity. Among the trees, the Li family has tea plants that have not been cut back and trimmed every year like the lower slope plants. Because these semi-wild Dragonwell bushes are not tended, they require perfect weather to yield the right flavor. Li Xiaoping was able to pick these bushes again this year and offered us the majority of her tiny yield in the interest of cultural exchange and sharing a unique side of Shi Feng’s terroir not often seen. The flavor is rich, bold and complex, sharing the lingering sweetness an aromatic subtlety of early harvest Dragonwell with the big flavor of later harvests. The tea benefits from Shi Feng’s unique quartz-heavy white sand soil and mountain spring water, as well as the cool protected microclimate that the mountains form.

  • true
    85
    fennel
    true
    85
    nutmeg, cedar
    true
    70
    oat milk
    true
    60
    daffodil
    true
    40
    Bosc pear
    true
    mineral-driven, rich

    Tasting Profile

    • vegetal - fennel
    • spice - nutmeg, cedar
    • savory - oat milk
    • floral - daffodil
    • fruit - Bosc pear
    • texture - mineral-driven, rich

Li Xiaoping also recommends:

  1. 2023 Shi Feng Dragonwell
    2023 Shi Feng Dragonwell

    This famous tea is grown using beyond organic green tea cultivation techniques for rich sweet flavor, incredible texture and notes of bamboo and jasmine. Situated on a perfectly-shaded mountainside, Li Xiaoping’s Dragonwell benefits from Shi Feng’s unique climate, rocky quartz soil and sweet mountain springs. Her craft captures a rare example of true Dragonwell- deep minerality, persistent sweetness and complex aromatics.

  2. 2023 Shi Feng Longjing #43
    2023 Shi Feng Longjing #43
    Dragonwell varietal #43 has been carefully bred and selected in the last fifty years as a new tea well suited to Shi Feng’s terroir. It buds earlier and in colder weather than classic Longjing Qunti varietal and yields yellower plumper buds that make for gorgeous steeping in glassware. While classic Dragonwell is all about rocky mineral texture, the new #43 is a crisp, bright focused experience centered around stronger flavor and aroma and more pronounced sweetness. Mrs. Li’s #43 varietal is true Shi Feng Dragonwell, growing on one of the highest slopes of the tiny microclimate that Emperor Qianlong declared as one of the best in the world for tea. The soil is full of quartz and white sand while the water comes from natural mountain springs, yielding a flavor that simply can’t be matched outside of Shi Feng itself.
  3. 2023 Osmanthus Scented Dragonwell
    2023 Osmanthus Scented Dragonwell

    For the second year, Li Xiaoping has set aside her beautifully-crisp textural masterpiece that is Shi Feng Dragonwell and scents it with fresh osmanthus blossoms. Her incredible plot sits on a quartz-laden rocky hillside in the tiny Shi Feng microclimate, where sweet mountain spring water, designated national treasure protection from development, and misty mornings yield sweet clean nuanced green tea that sets the standard for all green tea in China. With such famous and in demand tea, it is remarkable that Li Xiaoping is still incentivized to do such bold experiments like this osmanthus scenting, but we're so happy she did! The results are spectacular, and perfectly balanced. The osmanthus notes are light, accentuating the natural sweet juicy qualities of the Dragonwell.

  • 'This year, the weather conditions aligned just right for Mrs. Li to pick a semi-wild grove of Dragonwell that is not trimmed back each year. This tea grows alongside native trees and relies on nesting birds as natural pest control. The flavor of this uncultivated Dragonwell is a great primer into the natural terroir of Shi Feng’s perfect confluence of conditions.'

  • 4
    6-8
    175
    30 seconds
    15
    4
    6
    175
    8 seconds
    5
    4
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    4 g.6-8
    oz.
    use 175° watersteep 30 secondsresteep many times
    add 15 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    4 g.6 ozuse 175° watersteep 8 seconds
    add 5 sec. per steeping
    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

    4 g.12
    oz.
    use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
    8 hours
    add ice & enjoy

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