Young Hyson is an old Chinese grading term, and this is a fine-quality example of it: a green tea grown and made in China, kept to a traditional, small-batch style of production rather than anything mass-produced. The tea is non-fermented, and in its home tradition it was meant to be brewed several times over, up to three infusions from the same leaves. There's an older custom attached to it too, from the days when the leftover leaves settled at the bottom of the cup were read for a glimpse of fortune, which is where the lucky dragon in the name comes from.
The liquor itself pours a pale yellow, closer to straw than green. Pine sits up front, there's a fermented note running underneath it that keeps the flavour from going flat, and the texture carries real thickness, more substantial than the thin, grassy body some green teas fall into.
Use about a teaspoon, roughly 5g of leaf, per cup. Bring water to the boil and let it sit for a couple of minutes before pouring, aiming for something in the 80-90 degree range rather than a full rolling boil. Two minutes of steeping is plenty; this one turns bitter quickly if left any longer. It's best drunk plain, with nothing added, so the pine comes through clearly.
Tea & Coffee packs it fresh to order in sizes from 50g up to a full kilo, using a card-and-foil pack chosen for holding onto freshness. Once opened, keep it airtight, away from heat and strong smells, and get through it within a year of buying.
