En Shi Yu Lu
En Shi Yu Lu (Enshi jade dew) is one of the very few steamed green teas still made in China, a country that otherwise overwhelmingly pan-fires its greens. Steaming fixes the leaf with a bright, marine-leaning freshness closer in spirit to Japanese sencha, then a distinctive hand-shaping produces tight, glossy pine-needle leaves. The variable that matters most is recognizing it as a steamed tea, which sets its whole character apart from its pan-fired Chinese cousins.
Look for tight, straight, glossy pine-needle leaves in a deep, vivid jade green, the result of the labor-intensive hand-shaping on a heated surface that defines the style. The aroma should be fresh and steamed-vegetal with a clean marine edge, and the liquor a bright green rather than the yellow-green of pan-fired teas. Dull color, broken or loosely twisted leaf, or a flat hay-like smell all point to careless work or age. Because the shaping is so demanding, well-made En Shi Yu Lu is comparatively scarce and priced accordingly. Spring leaf carries the freshest, sweetest character.
En Shi Yu Lu comes from Enshi in western Hubei, a humid, mountainous prefecture famous as one of the most selenium-rich growing regions in the world. The defining processing choice is steaming to fix the leaf, an old Chinese technique that mostly gave way to pan-firing centuries ago but survived here, which is why the tea is often discussed alongside the steaming methods that traveled to Japan. The needle shaping, done by repeatedly pressing and rolling the leaf by hand on a heated trough, is the labor-intensive signature of the style.
Western: 75-80°C, 3 g per 200 ml, 1-2 minutes, in a glass so you can watch the needles stand and sink, 2-3 infusions. Gongfu: 80°C, 4 g per 120 ml, 20-30 seconds, increasing each steep, 4-5 infusions. Like other steamed greens it releases quickly, so keep the first steep short and do not let boiling water near it.
€20-50 (about $22-54) per 100 g for good spring En Shi Yu Lu, with top hand-shaped lots reaching higher. The demanding needle shaping keeps it pricier than ordinary Chinese daily greens.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Sencha
The Japanese steamed green it most resembles; the two share the steaming lineage and a bright, vegetal freshness.
Longjing (Dragon Well)
The benchmark pan-fired Chinese green, the direct processing contrast that explains En Shi Yu Lu's brighter, more marine character.
Zhu Ye Qing (Bamboo Tips)
Another tight needle-shaped Chinese green, but pan-fired and from Sichuan, showing how shape can survive a change of firing method.
En Shi Yu Lu is one of the last survivors of China's old steamed-green tradition, the same family of techniques that crossed to Japan centuries ago and became sencha; tasting it next to a sencha makes the shared ancestry obvious.