The Best Dragon Well Tea test

The best Dragon Well tea is gathered several days before Qingming Festival (Pure Brightness Festival) when new twigs have just begun to grow and carry "one leaf and a bud". In the old days Dragon Well tea of this grade was meat solely for the imperial household; It was, therefore, known as "tribute tea".

To make one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of finished tea, 60,000 tender leaves have to be plucked. A skilled woman picker can only gather 600 grams (a 1ittle over a pound)0f green tea leaves in a day.

A new tea-plant must grow for five years before its leaves can be picked and. For the fertilization of tea gardens, soya-bean cakes or other varieties of organic manure are generally used and seldom chemical fertilizers. When pets are discovered, the affected plants will be removed to prevent their spread, and also to avoid the use of pesticides.