Young Dragon Hyson Green Tea

A bold organic Chinese green tea with sweet lemon, gentle pine, and a remarkable place in American history—from George Washington's tea table to the teas of the Boston Tea Party.

The Experience

Young Dragon Hyson Green Tea invites you to taste a style of tea that was already deeply familiar to Americans before there was a United States of America.

Hyson was among the prized Chinese green teas consumed throughout the American colonies during the 18th century. It was enjoyed by George Washington, became entangled in colonial resistance to British tea taxation, and was among the five teas destroyed during the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

Our Young Dragon Hyson is an organic, small-batch Chinese green tea with a robust, full-bodied character. The cup opens boldly, followed by a mild sweet-lemon note and subtle hints of pine on the finish. It is history you can actually taste—and a natural part of Churchill's America250 tea collection, created to explore the teas, people, and events surrounding America's founding.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Fresh • Bright • Clean
Cup: Robust green tea • Full-flavored
Finish: Sweet lemon • Subtle pine
Body: Full

The lemon and pine are natural tasting notes of the tea. No lemon, pine, or flavoring is added.

Why You'll Love It

• A historic Chinese green-tea style enjoyed in colonial America
• Connected to the teas of the Boston Tea Party
• George Washington was a documented Hyson drinker
• Bold and full-bodied for a green tea
• Natural notes of sweet lemon and pine
• Pure tea with no added flavoring
• Traditionally processed and small-batch crafted
• Certified organic
• Part of Churchill's America250 Collection

Tea, Origin & Grade

Tea Type: Green Tea
Style/Grade: Young Hyson
Origin: China
Elevation: 500–1,000 m / approximately 1,650–3,300 ft
Processing: Non-fermented • Traditional process • Small-batch crafted
Ingredients: Organic green tea
Added Flavoring: None
Caffeine: Caffeinated
Body: Full
Classification: Purist
Organic: Certified by Pro-Cert Organic Systems, with equivalency to COR, NOP, EU and JAS standards

How to Brew

For 8 oz / 237 ml of water, use 1 heaping teaspoon of The Perfect Measure Spoon. Ideal Water Temperature: 185°F / 85°C

Mild: 1–2 minutes
Medium: 2–3 minutes
Strong: 3–5 minutes

For your first tasting, try approximately 2–3 minutes and drink it plain. Look for the transition from its robust green-tea character into the subtle sweet-lemon and pine notes on the finish.

Perfect For

Young Dragon Hyson is especially suited to history lovers, American Revolution enthusiasts, purist green-tea drinkers, educators, America250 celebrations, comparative tea tastings, or anyone curious about what Americans were actually drinking during the colonial era. It also makes a particularly meaningful tea to serve around July 4th, December 16th—the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party—or other America250 commemorations.

Tea & Revolution: Hyson at the Boston Tea Party

On the night of December 16, 1773, colonists boarded the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver in Boston Harbor and destroyed the British East India Company's tea cargo.

The event we now call the Boston Tea Party was not simply about a beverage. Tea had become entangled with questions of taxation, representation, commerce, and British authority over the colonies.

Among the teas destroyed that night was Hyson green tea. Historical records identify 70 chests of Hyson among the 340 chests of tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party.

That detail can surprise modern tea drinkers. Today, many Americans associate tea history primarily with black tea, but green tea was an important part of colonial American tea culture. Hyson was one of those teas.

George Washington Drank Hyson

The connection between Hyson and America's founding generation isn't merely symbolic. George Washington drank it. Mount Vernon's historical records show that in 1757, years before the Revolution, the young Washington requested Hyson tea. In December of that year, he placed an order to England that included: “6 lb. best Hyson Tea”

Another surviving request from the same period asks for a pound—or whatever quantity could be spared—of Hyson tea. Washington continued drinking and purchasing multiple varieties of tea throughout his life, including Bohea, Congou, Gunpowder, Hyson, Imperial, and other green teas.

So when you brew Young Dragon Hyson today, you're experiencing a style of Chinese green tea that would have been recognizable at the tea tables of America's founding generation.

What Is Young Hyson?

Hyson was historically a category of Chinese green tea exported extensively to Western markets. Young Hyson generally refers to a younger-leaf expression within the broader Hyson tradition. The leaves are rolled during processing and unfurl as they steep.

During the 18th century, Hyson was sufficiently desirable that it commanded a premium in the Western tea trade. But its historical significance goes beyond price or prestige.

Tea traveled from China through vast international trading networks into Britain and colonial America, where it became embedded in everyday social life. By 1773, that same everyday beverage had become a symbol around which questions of taxation and political authority could erupt.

A cup of Hyson therefore tells several stories at once: Chinese tea craftsmanship, global trade, colonial taste, and the birth of an American political identity.

From China to the American Revolution

The teas involved in the Boston Tea Party were Chinese teas. This is an important part of the story that can easily disappear when the event is reduced to the familiar image of colonists throwing boxes into Boston Harbor.

America did not grow the tea being consumed in the colonies. The tea had traveled thousands of miles from China through an international trading system before reaching American ports.

Young Dragon Hyson gives us an opportunity to reconnect those histories. A Chinese agricultural product became part of British commerce, an everyday pleasure in colonial American homes, an object of taxation, and eventually one of the symbols surrounding a revolution.

Tea history is global history—and American tea history begins far beyond America's shores.

A Tea for America250

Churchill's America250 Collection uses tea to explore the people, places, trade routes, and choices surrounding America's founding. Young Dragon Hyson belongs naturally in that story.

It represents both sides of tea's fascinating place in early America: the pleasure Americans found in drinking tea and the political meaning tea acquired during the struggle with Britain.

The contradiction is part of what makes the history so interesting. Americans could protest taxed tea while continuing to appreciate tea itself. After independence, tea remained part of American life.

As we commemorate 250 years of the United States, Young Dragon Hyson gives us something more meaningful than a historically themed flavor. It gives us a chance to drink a style of tea connected to the actual tea culture of America's founding generation.

Young Dragon Hyson vs. Other Historic Chinese Green Teas

Young Dragon Hyson (This Tea)
Robust • Sweet Lemon • Pine • Full
→ Best for: exploring a bold historic green-tea style with a direct connection to colonial America

Gunpowder / Zhu Cha
Vegetal • Brisk • Structured
→ Try next if: you want another Chinese green-tea style with a long history of international trade

Zhen Mei / Chun Mee
Vegetal • Fresh • Brisk
→ Try next if: you want to explore another traditional rolled Chinese green-tea style

Young Dragon Hyson stands apart because its significance extends beyond the cup. It provides a direct bridge between Chinese tea craftsmanship and early American history.

Packaging: Our loose teas are sold by the ounce and packaged in food-grade resealable bags.

Taste the Tea Behind the Revolution

Brew Young Dragon Hyson and imagine tea before the United States existed—when Chinese leaves traveled across oceans, appeared on colonial tables, and eventually became caught up in one of the defining political disputes of the 18th century.

Then explore the other historic teas in Churchill's America250 Collection and discover the Boston Tea Party not simply as a story about tea being destroyed, but as a story about the teas themselves. History becomes different when you can taste it.