China's Famous Teas
West Lake Longjing
West Lake Longjing is produced in the mountains surrounding West Lake in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is not only famous for its West Lake both at home and abroad, but its West Lake Longjing tea is also renowned globally.
Dongting Biluochun
Dongting Biluochun tea is produced on Dongting Mountain in Taihu Lake, Wu County, Jiangsu Province. Biluochun tea has slender, curled, snail-like strands covered in fine down, with a vibrant green color.
Huangshan Maofeng
Huangshan Maofeng tea is produced on Huangshan Mountain, between Taiping County and She County in Anhui Province. The tea buds are exceptionally plump, soft, and tender, with thick leaves. It is known for its rich aroma, mellow and sweet taste, and its ability to infuse multiple times, making it a premium tea.
Lushan Yunwu Tea
Lushan Yunwu tea is produced on Lushan Mountain in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. It has a vibrant green color, an orchid-like fragrance, a rich, mellow, and fresh taste, and its buds and leaves are plump, tender, and show a silvery-white sheen.
Anxi Tieguanyin
Anxi Tieguanyin tea is produced in Anxi County, Fujian Province. With a long history, it has long been known as the "King of Teas." The "sandy green with a white frost" appearance is a sign of its high quality, earning it the reputation of "green leaves with a red border, and fragrance remaining after seven infusions."
Junshan Silver Needle
One of China's famous yellow teas. Junshan is an island in Dongting Lake, Yueyang County, Hunan. During the Qing Dynasty, Junshan tea was divided into two types: "尖茶" (sharp tea) and "茸茶" (downy tea). The "sharp tea," resembling a sword with a white down, was selected as a tribute tea, known as "Gongjian."
Lu'an Guapian
Lu'an Guapian (also called Pian Cha) is a special type of green tea. It is made from a unique local variety, with the buds and stems removed, and processed through a unique traditional method to create a flake-shaped tea resembling melon seeds.
Xinyang Maofeng
A famous Chinese Maofeng tea and one of Henan's renowned specialties, produced in the mountains of Xinyang, Henan. Xinyang is the watershed between northern and southern China, surrounded by the Tongbo, Jigong, and Dabie mountain ranges. Xinyang Maofeng is celebrated for its unique style of "fine, round, smooth, straight, abundant white down, high fragrance, strong flavor, and green liquor color," winning acclaim both at home and abroad.
Wuyi Rock Tea
Wuyi Rock Tea is produced from Chong'an County, Fujian. It has a plump, tight, and even strip shape with a twisted form, commonly known as "dragonfly head." The back of the leaf has a toad-sandy texture, commonly known as "toad's back."
Qimen Black Tea
A famous premium black tea, abbreviated as Qihong, produced in the Qimen County area at the foot of the Huangshan Mountains in southwestern Anhui. Qihong has fine, tight, and even strips with a sharp and elegant appearance, and a glossy black color, commonly known as "treasure light."
Beiyuan Imperial Tea
A type of Oolong tea, it is the finest of China's famous teas and was the imperial tea for ancient emperors. Beiyuan Imperial Tea from Jian'an (Jian'ou) was established as an imperial kiln in the first year of Longqi of the Min Kingdom (933 AD) and ceased production in the 24th year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty (1391 AD), spanning four dynasties, twenty-six emperors, and 458 years of tribute to the imperial court.
Aijiao Oolong
A premium Oolong tea with a cultivation history of over a hundred years, originally from Dongfeng Town, Jian'ou City, Fujian. According to expert research, there is a 14-acre ancient tea forest in Guilin Village, Dongfeng Town, Jian'ou City, with 6,090 ancient tea trees aged 120 to 150 years. This is the birthplace of the "Xinzhong Oolong" and "Dongding Oolong" teas, which are now renowned internationally in Taiwan. In February 2009, this precious tea forest was listed by the Fujian Provincial Department of Agriculture as the first batch of "excellent tea tree germplasm resource protection areas" in Fujian. The tallest Aijiao Oolong trees are only about 120 cm high, with flat-spreading branches and leaves. The leaves are dark green, smooth and non-glossy, downward-curving with round and blunt tips. The main vein is particularly prominent.
Dry samples of the spring tea, one bud and two leaves, contain 3.1% amino acids, 19.6% tea polyphenols, 13.8% total catechins, and 5.7% caffeine. It is highly beneficial to the human body. Caffeine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant. It can invigorate the spirit, enhance thinking, reduce fatigue, relieve fever and pain, promote urination and bowel movements, and has disinfecting and antibacterial properties. Phenolic substances (mainly catechins) are currently the most effective drugs in the world for preventing and treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. They can lower blood lipids and cholesterol, prevent and treat high blood pressure, resist damage, fight cancer, inhibit the formation of carcinogens, aid in weight loss, aid digestion, fight aging, and strengthen the body and improve beauty.
Pu'er Tea
Pu'er tea is a new tea cultivar developed from the large-leaf tea of Yunnan. Also known as Dianqing tea, it was originally transported and distributed from Pu'er County, hence its name, with a history of over 1,700 years. It is made from tea from 11 counties, including Youle, Pingdeng, and Yibang, and processed in Pu'er County. The tea trees are either arbor or arbor-form trees with exceptionally plump buds and leaves covered in dense down. They have good tenderness retention and excellent bud and leaf quality. Its production method is a semi-fermented green tea process, involving eight steps: fixation, initial rolling, initial pile fermentation, re-rolling, second pile fermentation, initial drying, re-rolling, and final drying. In ancient times, Pu'er tea was used for medicinal purposes. Its characteristics are a sharp and persistent aroma with a unique fragrance specific to Yunnan large-leaf tea, a strong and stimulating taste; it is infusible many times, retaining its flavor after five or six infusions. The liquor is orange-yellow and thick. The buds are plump and the leaves are thick, with a yellow-green color interspersed with red spots and red stems. The strips are thick and solid, covered in white down. Pu'er tea comes in two forms: loose tea and compressed tea.
Duyun Maofeng
Duyun Maofeng, also known as "Baomaojian," "Ximaojian," "Yugoucha," or "Queeshecha," is one of the three famous teas of Guizhou and one of the top ten famous teas in China. It is produced in Duyun City, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou. Duyun is located in the southern part of Guizhou, with Dongshan Mountain standing in the southeast and Mangshan Mountain opposite in the west. The main production areas of Duyun Maofeng are in Tuan Shan, Shao Jiao, and Da Cao. The area features rolling valleys, an altitude of over 1,000 meters, gorges and streams, lush forests, and clouds and mist. It has no severe winters or scorching summers, making it pleasant all year round, with an average annual temperature of 16°C and over 1,400 mm of annual precipitation. Coupled with deep, loose, moist, acidic or slightly acidic soil rich in iron and phosphates, these special natural conditions are not only suitable for tea tree growth but also form the unique style of Duyun Maofeng. In 1915, it won an award at the Panama World's Fair, and later it was praised as "North has Renhuai Maotai liquor, South has Duyun Maofeng tea."
Laoshan Green Tea
Laoshan tea enjoys a high reputation among green teas in China and is highly acclaimed by consumers as "the number one tea north of the Yangtze River." Tea cultivation in Laoshan has a long history. Legend has it that Laoming tea was transplanted from the Jiangnan region by Laoshan Taoist priests like Qiu Chuji of the Song Dynasty and Zhang Sanfeng of the Ming Dynasty, and cultivated by them personally. For centuries, it was a treasured health product for Laoshan Taoist temples. The Qing dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu praised Laoshan in his poems, and Pu Songling drank Laoming tea and wrote about it in his "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" (Liaozhai Zhiyi). The finished Laoming tea belongs to the green tea category, made from carefully selected fresh leaves processed with modern techniques. The climate in the area is warm and humid, with strong sunlight and a longer frost period than in the south. The large temperature difference between day and night slows the growth of tea trees, giving them ample time to accumulate nutrients. It is rich in beneficial components for human health, such as polyphenols, caffeine, aromatic substances, protein, amino acids, and vitamins. It has the benefits of refreshing and relieving fatigue, promoting blood circulation, softening blood vessels, and clearing the mind and improving vision. Especially high in amino acids and caffeine, the tea liquor is rich, mellow, and fresh, leaving a fragrant aftertaste in the mouth.
Liubao Tea
Liubao tea belongs to the dark tea category, named after its place of origin, Liubao Town in Cangwu County. Its production history can be traced back over 1,500 years. As early as the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, it was famous for its unique betel nut fragrance and was listed as one of the 24 famous teas in China. Liubao tea is also known as "drinkable antique." Legend has it that a long time ago, the Queen Mother came down to the mortal world to understand local customs and customs. When she passed through Heishi Village in Liubao Town, she saw the lush, green forests and clear clouds and mist on Heishi Mountain. She rested there for a while. When the Queen Mother scooped up the clear spring water from the foot of Heishi Mountain, she found it sweet and pure, and her fatigue from the long journey vanished. In her delight, she ordered a fairy to place two immortal tea seeds in a crevice on Heishi Mountain. Many years later, the two seeds grew into lush tea trees. The villagers then picked the leaves from these immortal tea trees, brewed the tea, and entertained guests from far and wide. The guests found the tea to be mellow, sweet, and refreshing, and everyone praised it. Thus, the news spread, and through the diligent villagers' propagation, cultivation, and refinement, the famous Liubao tea of today was formed. Although the myth is unverifiable, anyone who has been to Liabao Town knows that it is indeed a place of beautiful mountains and clear waters, fertile soil, abundant rainfall, and a mild climate. It is precisely this unique and superior geographical and climatic environment that nurtures the high-quality, mellow, and historic Liubao tea. Liubao tea is famous for its "four wonders": red color, thick liquor, aged character, and mellow taste. According to the "Annals of Cangwu County," "the tea is mostly produced in Liubao, Xianxiang Township; it is rich in flavor and does not change even after overnight... its color, aroma, and taste are all excellent." In recent years, Liubao tea has become renowned at home and abroad for its long history, mellow taste, unique betel nut fragrance, and unique health benefits.