Loose leaf green tea in the UAE

Most people in the UAE who drink green tea daily have only ever had it from a teabag. That is not a criticism; it is simply how green tea is most commonly sold and consumed here. But loose leaf green tea, particularly something as carefully made as a genuine West Lake Longjing, is a different category entirely, and the difference is not subtle once you have tried both side by side. This guide covers why loose leaf matters, what makes West Lake Longjing specifically one of the better entry points into this category, and how to brew the 2025 harvest from Jade and Sakura properly at home.

Why loose leaf actually matters

The difference between loose leaf and bagged tea comes down to what is physically inside each format. Teabags are almost universally filled with broken leaves, dust, or fannings, the smallest fragments left over after better-quality whole leaves have been sorted and separated out for loose leaf sale. These fragments have a much larger surface area exposed to air, which means they oxidize faster during storage on a shelf and lose their aromatic compounds more quickly, even before the box is opened.

Loose leaf tea uses whole or near-whole leaves that retain their essential oils, amino acids, and natural sugars in a far more intact state. When these leaves are given room to expand fully in hot water, something a confined teabag cannot allow, they release their flavor gradually and far more completely than crushed fragments ever could. This is especially true for a tea like Longjing, where the leaves are hand-pressed into a specific flat shape during processing. Compressing that leaf into a teabag would destroy the very structure that makes the tea what it is.

There is also a practical multiple-infusion benefit. A good loose leaf green tea can be steeped two to three times, sometimes more, with the flavor shifting slightly across each round. A teabag is essentially a single-use product. Once steeped, there is very little left to give.

What makes West Lake Longjing the right starting point

If you are moving from teabags to loose leaf tea for the first time, West Lake Longjing is one of the more forgiving and rewarding teas to start with, and there is a clear reason for that.

2025 Jasmine Longjing (Dragonwell) Green Tea

From 45 AED

West Lake Longjing is the only green tea in China with a protected designation of origin, meaning authentic Xihu Longjing can only come from the villages around West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. This is not marketing language. It is a legal and agricultural designation tied to a specific microclimate: low rolling hills, persistent mist, and a lake that actively moderates temperature throughout the year, keeping the area cooler in summer and warmer in winter than the surrounding region. This slows the growth of the tea plants and allows the leaves to develop a fuller concentration of flavor than faster-growing tea elsewhere produces.

What also sets Longjing apart is its processing. After picking, the leaves are pressed and shaped by hand in a hot wok, a technique called sha qing or kill-green. This step halts oxidation while simultaneously giving the leaves their signature flat, spear-like shape and a distinctive roasted warmth that grassy, steamed green teas simply do not carry. None of this comes through properly in a crushed teabag format. The leaf shape, the slow unfurling in water, and the layered flavor all depend on the leaf staying whole.

The 2025 spring harvest

The 2025 West Lake Longjing from Jade and Sakura was picked before the Qingming Festival in early April, a window known in Chinese tea culture as Mingqian, when the leaves are at their youngest and most flavorful. Tea picked during this narrow spring window carries the highest concentration of amino acids and natural sugars accumulated over the winter, which translates directly into a noticeably sweeter and more refined cup than later harvests.

In the cup, the liquor is pale and clear. The taste brings fresh vegetal notes alongside a roasted chestnut character and a soft, slightly buttery quality through the middle of each sip. The finish carries a clean, lingering sweetness rather than fading abruptly. This is exactly the kind of layered, evolving flavor that loose leaf format is built to deliver, and that a teabag, regardless of the tea inside it, generally cannot replicate.

Sourcing and origin

The tea is sourced directly from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, grown from the West Lake cultivar at an elevation of around 300 meters. The protected villages that can legally carry the Xihu Longjing name include Shifeng, Meijiawu, Yunxi, Hupao, and Longjing village itself. A significant amount of tea sold globally as Longjing comes from outside this protected zone, grown in provinces as far away as Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guangdong, and while some of that tea is decent, it is a different product from genuine Xihu Longjing.

For anyone in the UAE buying loose leaf green tea specifically to move away from generic teabags, this distinction is worth paying attention to. Confirmed origin, a named cultivar, and a stated harvest year are the markers of a tea that has actually been sourced with care, rather than one simply labeled Longjing because the name sells.

How to brew it properly

Brewing loose leaf Longjing correctly is straightforward but does require slightly more attention than tearing open a teabag and pouring boiling water over it. The reward for that attention is considerable.

Use 3 to 5 grams of leaf per 200ml of water, at a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius. This is notably cooler than boiling, and the temperature matters significantly here. Water that is too hot will scald the tender spring leaves and push the cup toward bitterness, burying the delicate sweetness that the early harvest is specifically prized for.

No rinse is needed before the first infusion. Steep for 30 seconds on the first round, adding 5 seconds for each subsequent infusion. The tea gives up to four infusions, with the chestnut warmth and vegetal sweetness both present from the first steep and softening gradually across the session. This is the kind of multi-round experience that loose leaf tea makes possible and that a single-use teabag simply cannot offer.

2025 West Lake Longjing (Dragon Well) Green Tea

From 45 AED

A glass cup or glass teapot is genuinely worth using for this tea. Watching the flat, jade-green leaves slowly sink and unfurl in the pale liquor is part of what makes loose leaf tea a different experience from start to finish, not just in the cup but in the process of making it. Dubai's heavily treated tap water will noticeably flatten the delicate sweetness of a fine Longjing, so filtered or still bottled water makes a real and immediately noticeable difference.

Storage matters more with loose leaf

Because loose leaf green tea is minimally processed and more exposed to its environment than a sealed teabag, proper storage genuinely affects how long it stays good. Keep it in a cool, dry, airtight container away from light and strong smells, since the leaves can absorb surrounding odors and lose their delicate chestnut aroma if left open or stored near spices, coffee, or anything else with a strong scent.

Where to find it in the UAE

The 2025 West Lake Longjing is available directly from Jade and Sakura at AED 55, sold in both 10g and 50g bag sizes, with free shipping on all orders across the UAE. For anyone ready to make the switch from teabags to genuine loose leaf green tea, this is a confirmed-origin option sourced from the one region in China legally permitted to carry the Xihu Longjing name, with the spring 2025 harvest clearly stated.

Final thoughts

The jump from teabags to loose leaf is not just about quality for its own sake. It is about experiencing what a tea like Longjing was actually designed to deliver: a leaf that unfurls fully, a flavor that develops and shifts across multiple infusions, and a cup that tastes noticeably more refined than anything a crushed fragment in a paper bag can produce.

2025 Jasmine Longjing (Dragonwell) Green Tea

From 45 AED

For anyone in the UAE looking for a genuine starting point into loose leaf green tea, the 2025 West Lake Longjing is a direct, well-sourced way to understand exactly what the format makes possible.