The young monk held a tightly rolled little ball pu-erh tea – “dragon pearl” – in his palm
– Sifu, why dragon pearls?
– The mountain is called Qinglong – “Green Dragon”. And a dragon shares its pearls one afternoon at a time.
Dragon pearls (龙珠 – Long Zhu) is pu-erh in single-session form: rather than a 357g cake or a 200g brick, the leaves are hand-rolled into compact pu-erh dragon balls of roughly 6g each – one Gong Fu session per pearl. This is the tea you reach for when you want to brew outdoors without packing a scale, or when you'd rather not chisel tea off a cake and try to get the perfect weight. – This weight is already perfect:)
These dragon pearls are rolled from early spring 2024 leaves picked at the Qinglong Mountain Tea Garden (青龙山茶园) – an organic-certified garden in Mangpan, in the Linxiang District of Lincang, Yunnan. Lincang is one of the three classical pu-erh regions of Yunnan. The garden lies at around 1,500 meters, planted with trees of the native Yunnan large-leaf cultivar (云南大叶种), now around eighty years old – old enough for depth and structure to show in the cup. Leaves were picked at the one-bud-two-leaves standard and rolled by hand.
Drop a pu-erh pearl into a heated gaiwan, and the cup fills with a rich, bright orchid aroma. With the first infusion, the cup carries baked green apple and honey, with a floral note. Later steepings shift toward green plum and orchid, sharper and brighter than the opening. A small bitterness rides the front of the palate but fades almost immediately into sweetness. Hui Gan (回甘 — "returning sweetness") follows fast, and a clear coolness opens in the throat – hallmarks of good Lincang material.
One pearl, one session. Tuck a few into your backpack, and you are set for the trip.
Brewing guidelines:
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212℉ / 100℃
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1 g per 70-100 ml
3-5 min -
1 g per 20 ml10 sec + 5 sec for each subsequent infusion