West Lake Longjing Tea Full Experience Tour (From Picking to Tea Making)
Dress like a real tea farmer: Put on traditional indigo-dyed tea picking clothes to take nice photos and feel the real local tea farmer’s life.
About Host
张章节苏宁易赵芊Highlights
- ✓Dress like a real tea farmer: Put on traditional indigo-dyed tea picking clothes to take nice photos and feel the real local tea farmer’s life.
- ✓Professional tea picking teaching: Learn the standard picking rule "one bud with two leaves" from local tea masters and master the correct picking skills.
- ✓Try UNESCO traditional hand-frying tea: Use a heated iron wok to fry fresh tea leaves by hand. This traditional craft is part of world intangible cultural heritage.
- ✓Professional tea sharing: Learn the history, quality grading rules of Longjing tea and enjoy professional tea tasting guided by a tea expert.
- ✓Zen tea craft experience: You can choose either Song Dynasty style tea whisking or hand-made matcha grinding experience.
Itinerary
Costume Change & Tea Culture Introduction
We start at the foot of green tea hills. After you change into traditional tea picking outfits dyed with indigo plants, our guide who is a tea culture expert will tell you the 1200-year long history and strict quality grading standards of West Lake Longjing tea.
Hand-on Tea Picking
Walk into the organic tea garden with a tea master. Learn to tell top-grade royal tea buds apart from common leaves, and practice the gentle pinching & pulling picking method. You will understand why people call high-quality Longjing "green gold" after you finish the physical picking work.
Iron Wok Hand Frying Tea
Back to the tea house, you will see how fresh tea leaves turn into finished tea. Under professional guidance, sit in front of a hot iron wok and fry tea leaves by hand. Learn ten different hand movements to flatten and shape tea leaves. Soon you can smell the unique roasted nut fragrance of Longjing tea in the room.
Ancient Tea Craft & Tea Tasting
After tasting premium Longjing tea, you can join a hand-making workshop with two choices: Song Dynasty Tea Whisking: Use a bamboo tea whisk to create delicate tea foam following ancient Song Dynasty methods. Matcha Making: Grind dried tea leaves into fine powder and whip it into thick frothy matcha.
Tips
- •Professional English-speaking tour guide and local experienced tea master
- •Traditional tea picking costume and bamboo working tools for free use
- •Hands-on tea picking and manual iron wok frying experience
- •Full tea culture lecture and tea grading sharing session
- •One hand-making activity: Tea whisking or matcha making
- •Tasting of high-quality West Lake Longjing tea + seasonal local snacks
- •Free hotel pick-up and drop-off service in downtown Hangzhou
- •Personal meals during the trip are not covered in the price.
Tour FAQ
How long does this Longjing tea experience tour last?▼
The whole activity takes about 4 hours in total.
What is the starting price of this tour?▼
The starting price is 520 US dollars. The final price will change according to travel date, group number and optional extra activities.
Is this tour suitable for travelers who visit Hangzhou for the first time?▼
Yes. This private tour helps first-time visitors learn about local Hangzhou culture, arrange reasonable travel routes and enjoy a relaxed visiting pace.
User Reviews (11)
"Traveling between Faxi Temple and Lingyin Temple was fascinating. Shifting from a quiet tucked‑away temple to a large‑scale famous shrine gave me two completely different emotional experiences."
"This trip is far more than ordinary sightseeing. I got to witness how these ancient temples still play an important part in daily life for local people today."
"Feilai Peak took my breath away. Hundreds of ancient Buddha figures are carved directly onto mountain rock faces. Nature and ancient artistic craftsmanship merge seamlessly here."
"Faxi Temple is such a lovely hidden find. Compared to busy Lingyin, it stays wonderfully calm. Strolling through bamboo groves beside elegant Jiangnan‑style buildings was very soothing."
"The tour flows perfectly from open‑air rock sculptures into solemn temple halls. Natural mountain scenery and man‑made sacred art complement each other in such a beautiful way."
"Lingyin Temple carries an incredibly powerful vibe. Walking through old halls wrapped in curling incense smoke, you can sense the weight of more than a thousand years of history."
"I really loved the gentle atmosphere inside Faxi Temple. Many local visitors came here with soft wishes for love and luck, and that hopeful mood hung softly in the air."
"Lingyin Temple’s grand halls are breathtaking. Standing before the huge Buddha statues, I was filled with a quiet sense of awe, a feeling hard to put into simple words."
"This spiritual day trip in Hangzhou left a deep impression on me. Moving through three sacred spots, I could truly feel the long‑standing local Buddhist culture everywhere around me."
"The whole area nestles among lush green mountains. Walking through trees and beside mountain streams while visiting temples felt like wandering inside a quiet mountain sanctuary."
"Our guide brought these ancient sites to life with wonderful stories. I had no idea how much history was hidden within those stone carvings and temple buildings. It was such an eye‑opening experience."
