Longjing Tea

Note Profile

Prepared

About

Longjing Tea is the pan-fired Chinese green tea sold in the West as Dragon Well. It smells of roasted chestnut over a soft vegetal base, with a toasted sweetness from the wok. It is nuttier and less grassy than a plain green tea, which is the whole reason perfumery names the variety rather than the category.

Scent Profile

Nutty leads and is the most corroborated number here. All four sources put chestnut first, and two of them call it the identifying mark of real Longjing. Green is the vegetal base under it, described as spinach-like by Sencha Tea Bar and as fresh snap-pea by Life is Better with Tea. Both sources frame it as a base the chestnut sits on, not the lead, which is why it is well below green-tea's. Sweet_vanillic is the toasted sweetness. Silk Road Teas gives it twice, as 'naturally sweet' and 'vegetative and sweet'. Tobacco_hay is the dried-leaf tannic body every brewed tea carries. No source names it, so it is the softest number in the vector and carries the widest spread. Below sit a light lactonic tone from Sencha Tea Bar's 'rich cream', a starchy earthy trace from Tea Guardian's 'baked mung beans', a mild floral aftertaste, a grape-like fruity trace that belongs to the Qiantang grade specifically, and a faint smoky edge from the wok.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~6h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Green & Aromatic

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Longjing is made from Camellia sinensis leaves grown around West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The leaves are hand-pressed flat and fired in a hot wok, which halts oxidation and builds the roasted note. That firing step, not the leaf, is what makes the chestnut character. Tea Guardian treats it as the mark of the genuine product, and Life is Better with Tea calls the chestnut aroma an easy way to authenticate legitimate Long Jing. There is no commercial Longjing extract for perfumery, so the note is built as an accord.

Usage in Perfumery

Used as a heart note where a tea accord needs to read as roasted and nutty rather than fresh and grassy. It sits with chestnut, sesame, milky notes and light woods. Perfumers reach for it when generic green tea would be too sharp and too aquatic.