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Shifeng (Lion Peak)

The highest and most expensive of the West Lake Longjing sub-areas, on the slope above Longjing village. Growers explain the premium by the ground: thinner, stonier, more freely drained weathered soil than the flats below, which slows the bush and delays bud break by several days — so Shifeng leaf is smaller, denser and picked later than lakeside tea sold under the same name. The finished cup is the toasted-chestnut, thick-bodied reading of Longjing rather than the grassy one. The eighteen bushes below Hugong temple, which tourist accounts credit to a Qing emperor’s visit, are a shrine rather than a source: the story is repeated everywhere and evidenced nowhere.

獅峰China100–400 metresAlso called Lion PeakAlso called Shi Feng Longjing

History on this page: Widely repeated legend

Repeated very widely and not evidenced. Recorded because the story is itself part of the culture, not because it happened.

This district’s description dates something — a founding, a first planting, a period of expansion. The label above says on what basis, and it applies to the historical statements rather than to the elevation, climate or soil claims below, which carry their own confidence separately.

Protected designation

Shifeng lies inside the West Lake Longjing protected area, so its tea may carry that name. The internal ranking of the sub-villages is a market convention on top of the designation, not part of it.

A protected designation governs who may use the name, and in which jurisdictions. It is not a quality mark and it does not certify how any particular lot was made — it settles what the word on the packet is allowed to mean.

Elevation

Recorded at 100–400 metres.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. A hill, not a mountain. The relevant differences within West Lake are aspect, soil depth and drainage over a range of a couple of hundred metres.

Soil

Thin, stony, weathered sandstone and shale on a steep slope — poorer and faster-draining than the deeper soils on the valley floor, which is the explanation growers themselves give for the price difference.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it. A grower and trade account rather than a measured relationship.

When it is picked

Bud break several days later than the lakeside gardens, which growers attribute to the thinner, stonier, better-drained soil and the altitude of the slope. Later bud break inside a market that pays for earliness is an awkward position, and Shifeng's answer is that its leaf is denser rather than earlier.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

How the name is written

Also transliterated as shi feng, shifeng, lion peak. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.

Teas this region is known for

  • Longjing — Nutty and sweet with a soft body and very little grip. Where Japanese greens go marine and savoury, Longjing goes toasted and sweet — the clearest single illustration of what pan-firing does that steaming does not.

Other growing regions in China

The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.

Sources

  • TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ

This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No external document stands behind the elevation band, the climate note or the character described above, which is why each carries its confidence in the open.

How TeaHQ handles sources