Longjing vs Biluochun: Two Famous Green Teas Compared

Longjing (Dragon Well) and Biluochun are both famous Chinese green teas from the same spring season, and they are often compared because they occupy similar ground: expensive, hand-processed, and sold on reputation as much as on taste. The practical difference is shape and heat. Longjing is pressed flat against a hot wok, producing a broad, flat leaf with a toasted, chestnut-like sweetness. Biluochun is rolled into tight spirals and dried at a lower temperature, giving a lighter, more floral and fruity cup. If you like roasted nuts and a round finish, choose Longjing. If you like high floral aroma and a delicate body, choose Biluochun.

The processing difference that creates the taste difference

Both are pan-fired green teas, but the hand movements and the heat are not the same.

Longjing is pressed and shaped against the wall of a hot wok in a series of movements — pressing, tossing, releasing — that flatten the leaf and drive off moisture. The heat is high enough to develop Maillard-type aroma compounds, which is where the toasted, chestnut and occasionally soy-like notes come from.

Biluochun is rolled between the palms into tight spiral shapes, a labour-intensive motion that also breaks up the leaf surface slightly more. Drying is gentler, so the fresh, floral aromatics survive rather than being driven off by heat. The result is a tea that smells of fruit and flowers rather than of toast.

Side-by-side

Which is easier to buy well?

Longjing is the more famous name and therefore the more counterfeited. The West Lake area around Hangzhou produces the most prestigious version, and demand vastly exceeds supply. Tea grown elsewhere but processed in the Longjing style is sold widely and legally under regional names, and some of it is perfectly good — but buyers paying West Lake prices should expect specific provenance, not just the words “Dragon Well” on a tin.

Biluochun has a similar but smaller problem. The original growing area around Dongting in Jiangsu is limited, and tea sold as Biluochun from elsewhere is common. Because the name is less famous internationally, the counterfeiting pressure is lower and a good mid-range Biluochun is easier to find at a fair price.

How to brew each one

• Longjing: 80–85°C, 2–3 g per 150 ml, 1.5–2 minutes. It handles a second infusion well.
• Biluochun: 75–80°C, 2 g per 150 ml, 1–1.5 minutes. Hot water destroys the floral top notes quickly.
• Neither benefits from a long steep. If the cup tastes bitter, the cause is almost always water temperature.
• Biluochun is often brewed in a tall glass so you can watch the spirals unfurl. This is a genuine aid to judging freshness.

When each one is the better choice

Choose Longjing if you want a green tea that can stand up to a slightly careless brew, or if you like roasted and nutty notes. It is also the better choice if you are drinking several cups and want something that holds up.

Choose Biluochun if you want a tea to drink deliberately, in a quiet moment, and you value aroma over body. It is the more impressive tea for a first encounter and the more disappointing one if mishandled.

Buying both and tasting them side by side is the fastest way to learn what the two styles mean. The difference is clear enough that one session will settle the question for your own palate, which no description can do.

Frequently asked questions

Harvest time and what it changes

Both teas are spring-picked and both are sold on the freshness of that harvest, but the timing within spring differs and it shows in the cup.

Longjing is picked over a defined window in late March and April, with the earliest pre-Qingming pickings (ming qian) commanding the highest prices. Biluochun is picked earlier, and its finest grade is traditionally associated with the very first days of the season, before the leaf has grown large.

The practical consequence is that Biluochun peaks earlier and fades faster, because it is made from smaller, more delicate leaf. A Biluochun drunk in June is noticeably past its best; a Longjing of the same age holds slightly better. Neither is a tea to keep for autumn.

What the leaf looks like, and what that tells you

Biluochun’s white down is a genuine freshness indicator. Fresh leaf carries visible fuzz; older leaf loses it, and the spirals loosen. If you are shown a Biluochun claiming to be fresh that has no visible down, ask why.

Brewing each properly: the numbers

The three-to-five degree difference matters more than it looks. Biluochun’s aromatics are more volatile, and water at 85°C instead of 78°C will flatten them noticeably. Longjing can take slightly more heat because the pan-firing has already developed the toasted notes that survive it.

If you only own one thermometer or none at all, boil the water, pour it into a second vessel and wait two to three minutes for Longjing, three to four for Biluochun. Our guide to brewing without a thermometer goes through the methods in detail.

Buying advice for each

For Longjing, the critical question is provenance. West Lake Longjing is a protected designation with a limited growing area, and demand vastly exceeds supply. Tea sold as Longjing from outside that area is legal and can be good, but it should not carry a West Lake price. Ask where it was grown, not just what it is called.

For Biluochun, the equivalent question is about the Dongting growing area, but the counterfeiting pressure is lower because the name is less internationally famous. A good mid-range Biluochun is easier to find at a fair price. See our guide on judging tea quality for what to check on the leaf before you commit.

Frequently asked questions