Kai Hua Long Ding Green Tea Review
Kai Hua Long Ding Green Tea is a green tea produced from the famous tea-producing region of Zhejiang. This is where some of China's most high quality and high grade tea is grown, and Kai Hua Long Ding is up there with the most popular of them. It has won some prestigious awards in China (the birthplace of tea, where all matters pertaining to tea are taken very seriously!), including being listed in the “Top 10 Most Preferred Green Tea” and “Zhejiang 10 Famous Tea” categories. There are even those who are strongly pushing for it to be put on to the all important “China's 10 Famous Tea” list – a strong indication of its quality and popularity.
Most of China's highest grade green tea is made from very young tea leaves, harvested early in the year. The earlier the harvest, the better quality (and therefore more expensive) the tea, generally speaking. Kai Hua Long Ding Green Tea is one of these higher quality teas, and is made from a handpicked selection of young tea leaves and buds grown in the Kaihua County's “Golden Tea Triangle” area. This is a celebrated tea-growing area where seven counties meet, at the mouth of the Qiantangjiang River – all tea from this region is highly sought after, and of exceptionally good quality.
As it is the birthplace of green tea, and has a long, proud, history of traditions surrounding tea, China treats its national product with careful, devoted diligence. In Japan, green tea is mostly treated and processed using machinery. Not so in China! There, producers of green tea do practically everything they can by hand. Tea-making is something of an art in China, and the experts who pick, pan fire, roll and dry the leaves are more like artists or craftsmen than anything else!
Kai Hua Long Ding Green Tea is an example of one of the unique and exceptionally fine green teas produced like this. The mountainous terrain where it is grown is shrouded in clouds, giving the plants the humidity and moisture they need to flourish. As a result, the tea leaves contain a higher than average level of chlorophyll, giving them a rich, dark green coloring and a refreshing, fresh “green” taste – making Kai Hua Long Ding Green Tea a soothing and cooling beverage to drink throughout the day, one of the better varieties for quenching the thirst.
The flavor is sweet and almost floral, with overtones of a slightly nutty taste. The interesting thing about this variety is that different aspects of the flavor can be drawn out and emphasized depending on the brewing method – so, for example, steeping the leaves for slightly less time will bring out a rather peach-like fruity flavor, or using cooler water will draw out a smooth, minty fresh taste. Longer steeping times are, as with all green teas, best avoided, as this can ruin the complex flavors and cause the tea to taste somewhat bitter and spinach-like. This is a good, high quality tea, as you can see even before you taste it – the large leaves stand upright in the water, which is a sign of true quality!
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