Longjing is also called Dragon Well. If your cup is unpleasantly bitter, first end the leaf contact if it is continuing. Then check the preparation you actually used before changing the next cup. A bitter result does not identify its cause by itself.
This guide is for troubleshooting ordinary loose Longjing. A scented or blended product may need different instructions. The checks are editorial guidance, not a TeaPlain experiment, quality test or guarantee of a sweet cup.
Deal with the cup in front of you
If the tea is unpleasantly strong or bitter and the leaves are still in it, remove the basket or strain the drink into a suitable second cup. Try adding water to a small portion and decide whether you enjoy it. Dilution changes this cup; it does not reverse what was already extracted.
A bitter cup alone does not establish a low grade, a false origin or a processing defect. First look at how you prepared it. Use the Longjing guide for the product’s scope rather than a photograph-based authenticity test.
Check the complete preparation
Write down leaf amount, actual water volume, temperature and how long the leaves remained in contact with the drink. Did you use a concentrated, fully decanted recipe but leave the leaves in a glass all morning? Did the basket remain below the surface after the timer rang?
Removing leaves or fully pouring off the infusion gives a different endpoint from leaving leaves in while sipping. A first taste check in a glass is not a completed, separated infusion.
Match the checks to your brewing method
Leaves left in a glass
Record when you first tasted it and how long the leaves stayed in afterwards. If it tasted acceptable at first but became too strong while you worked, that later contact belongs in your record too. A timer ringing does not end contact when the leaves remain in the drink.
Check the actual water added, not just the glass’s advertised capacity. Keep the dose and water procedure from the same glass method. If you stop to refill, record when and how much you added rather than treating a topped-up glass as a separate, fully decanted infusion.
Mug with a removable basket
Record the amount of water in the mug, the dry leaf amount and the time the basket was actually lifted clear. A basket with its base still sitting in the drink has not fully separated those leaves from the liquid.
Use a complete basket method for the product. Do not apply the glass proposal’s two-minute taste check as a universal basket-removal time. The ordinary-cup guide explains the handling sequence.
Gaiwan or small teapot, poured into another cup
Use directions written for that vessel and tea. Keep the actual water, leaf amount, temperature, steep and full pour-off together. Record when water first touched the leaves and when you finished pouring, especially if pouring took longer than you intended.
A short-infusion method with more leaf and less water is a different preparation from a light leaves-in-glass method. Do not leave the remainder sitting among the leaves while judging the first cup. Follow the vessel’s handling instructions; do not attempt a hot pour you cannot control comfortably.
Check these before choosing a change
- Water: did you add the specified amount, or use a cup capacity as if it were the fill volume?
- Leaf: did you measure the stated dry amount, or substitute a different spoon measure? Check measurement limits before assigning grams to an unknown spoonful.
- Contact: did you taste, remove a basket or finish pouring at the intended point? Record the action, not just the timer setting.
- Temperature and product: did you follow the temperature for this product and complete method? Check whether your tea contains other ingredients before borrowing a plain-Longjing recipe.
If a detail did not match, first repeat the complete intended method. That is different from deciding that the method itself needs a new temperature or dose.
Try a lighter glass preparation next time
For loose Longjing, our editorial glass proposal is 2 g with an actual 250 mL of 85–90°C (185–194°F) water, in an uncovered heat-safe glass of at least 300 mL capacity. Leave the leaves in and first check around 2 minutes, after it cools enough to sip. It is awaiting hands-on testing; follow your packet if it specifies another method.
Read how much Longjing to use before replacing this with a 1:50 ratio. Keep the method intact.
Change one variable
For the next cup, try less leaf while keeping the other conditions recorded, or shorten contact in a method where you remove the leaves. Check a temperature specified by your product rather than assuming hotter is always better. Do not change dose, temperature and time together and then call one of them the cause.
Choose the trial from what you recorded:
- You want a lighter cup: try less leaf with the same actual water, temperature and timing.
- A separated infusion ran longer than intended: try an earlier basket removal or complete pour-off with the other conditions unchanged. Do not describe an earlier glass taste as an earlier separation unless you actually remove the drink from the leaves.
- You want to explore temperature: choose a temperature within the product’s guidance and keep the dose, water, contact time and separation action the same. Do not also change to a different vessel and treat the result as a temperature-only comparison.
The aim is to learn what you prefer with this packet. Lowering temperature is not a guaranteed remedy for every bitter cup, and a boiling-water pour alone does not prove damage or poor quality. Published methods have different water procedures; compare complete methods rather than voting for one temperature.
If the cup starts pleasant but becomes too strong during a work interruption, separate the drink from the leaves before stepping away. Topping up is an option to taste, not a requirement to keep drinking a cup you dislike.
Record a comparison without inventing a result
Use two short notes for your own preparations. Leave unknown measurements marked unknown. This is a blank worksheet, not a completed TeaPlain test.
| Record | Write down for each preparation |
|---|---|
| Product | Packet name, ingredients or scented style if stated |
| Vessel and water | Vessel, actual water amount and any staged additions or refills |
| Leaf and temperature | Dry leaf amount and the water temperature you actually used |
| Timing and endpoint | First contact, taste time, and basket removal or full pour-off if used |
| One planned change | What you will vary next; keep the other conditions the same |
| Your impression | Bitter taste, a drying sensation, too strong, too weak, or words that fit your cup |
Bitter and weak at the same time? Check those complete conditions before simply extending the steep. Record the weak flavour and the unpleasant taste separately; do not assume that one explains the other. General first-cup troubleshooting provides the next checks.
If you ask the supplier for help, send the packet details and actual method with your note. Describe your result as a preference or observation, not proof of an origin, grade or processing fault.
When brewing changes are not the answer
An unfamiliar flavour may be a preference issue; a packet with a worrying condition needs a different decision. Do not taste it repeatedly to decide whether it is safe. See storage and uncertain condition.
Editorial notes
Reviewed 17 October 2026. Vessel and endpoint distinctions were checked against original supplier instructions and independent published cup-brewing guidance. Different complete methods were kept separate; source parameters were not combined into a new recipe. Research records are retained internally. The workflow, comparison worksheet and light glass proposal are editorial guidance awaiting hands-on testing, not a controlled bitterness experiment or a diagnosis of tea quality.