Where is tea a specialty? What are China's ten famous teas?
Chinese tea has a long history. When it comes to where tea is a specialty, every region has its own varieties of tea, a riot of colour, each vying to outshine the rest, like a garden of a hundred flowers in spring, making the vast landscape all the more enchanting. For example, Tieguanyin comes from Anxi, Fujian, and Dahongpao is from Wuyi Mountain, Fujian. Now we will introduce China's ten famous teas.
Chinese tea has a long history and a great many varieties, with both traditionally famous teas and historically famous teas, so China's “ten famous teas” have been listed in several different ways in the past:
In 1915, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition listed Biluochun, Xinyang Maojian, West Lake Longjing, Junshan Yinzhen, Huangshan Maofeng, Wuyi Rock Tea, Qimen Black Tea, Duyun Maojian, Tieguanyin and Lu'an Guapian as China's ten famous teas.
In 1959, China's “ten famous teas” appraisal meeting listed Nanjing Yuhua Tea, Dongting Biluochun, Huangshan Maofeng, Lushan Yunwu Tea, Lu'an Guapian, Junshan Yinzhen, Xinyang Maojian, Wuyi Rock Tea, Anxi Tieguanyin and Qimen Black Tea as China's ten famous teas.
In 1999, Jiefang Daily listed Jiangsu Biluochun, West Lake Longjing, Anhui Maofeng, Lu'an Guapian, Enshi Yulu, Fujian Tieguanyin, Fujian Silver Needle, Yunnan Pu'er Tea, Fujian Cloud Tea and Jiangxi Yunwu Tea as China's ten famous teas.
In 2001, the Associated Press and the New York Daily News listed Huangshan Maofeng, Dongting Biluochun, Mengding Ganlu, Xinyang Maojian, West Lake Longjing, Duyun Maojian, Lushan Yunwu, Anhui Guapian, Anxi Tieguanyin and Suzhou Jasmine as China's ten famous teas.
In 2002, Hong Kong, China's Wen Wei Po listed West Lake Longjing, Jiangsu Biluochun, Anhui Maofeng, Hunan Junshan Yinzhen, Xinyang Maojian, Anhui Qimen Black Tea, Anhui Guapian, Duyun Maojian, Wuyi Rock Tea and Fujian Tieguanyin as China's ten famous teas.
Famous teas and specialties of various regions
The Longjing tea area is spread across the beautiful peaks and ridges along the shore of West Lake. Here, beside the lake and against the hills, the climate is mild, mist and clouds linger all year round, and rainfall is abundant. Add to this a loose soil structure and fertile earth, and the tea trees grow deep roots and lush leaves, staying emerald green all year round.
Legend has it that long ago there was a desolate little village in Longjing Mountain. In the village lived an old woman who dwelt in a broken thatched hut and made her living by picking the tender leaves of the eighteen tea trees she had planted behind her house. She was kind-hearted and often brewed tea at her door for anyone who came into the mountain to pick tea to drink.
Lu'an Guapian is a nationally recognised historically famous tea and one of China's ten classic green teas. Lu'an Guapian (also called Piancha) is a special type of green tea. It is picked from a unique local variety, and after the leaves are split, the tender buds and tea stems removed, it is made through a distinctive traditional processing technique into a flat, melon-seed-shaped leaf tea.
Huangshan Maofeng tea originated during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty. The picking and processing of Huangshan tea is quite refined, with the picking period recognised as from Qingming to Lixia. After picking, the buds and fresh leaves must still be sorted and trimmed, removing the older leaves and stems so that the buds are even and uniform. In processing, the fixation temperature must be controlled according to the quality of the buds and leaves, so as not to produce red stems, red leaves, or uneven or incomplete fixation; the fire temperature should be high first and then low, gradually decreasing, so that the leaves are heated evenly and their physical and chemical changes remain consistent.
Junshan in Dongting Lake, Hunan Province, produces the famous Yinzhen tea. It is said that the first seeds of Junshan tea were sown more than four thousand years ago by Ehuang and Nüying. When Li Siyuan, Mingzong, the second emperor of the Later Tang, held his first court session, an attendant held a cup and brewed tea for him. As soon as the boiling water was poured into the cup, a mass of white mist rose into the air, and gradually a white crane appeared.
Anxi Tieguanyin is one of China's famous oolong teas. Anxi Tieguanyin tea is produced in Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. Anxi Tieguanyin tea has a long history and has long been known as the king of teas. According to records, Anxi Tieguanyin tea originated during the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty (1725-1735). Anxi County is mountainous, with a warm climate and abundant rainfall; the tea trees grow luxuriantly, and the tea tree varieties are numerous and brilliantly colourful, unsurpassed in all the country. Anxi Tieguanyin tea can be picked four times a year, divided into spring tea, summer tea, hot-season tea and autumn tea. The quality of the processed tea is best for spring tea. The best tea is picked and made when the weather on the picking day is clear with a north wind. Therefore, local picking is mostly carried out on clear days from 10 a.m. to before 3 p.m. The production steps of Tieguanyin are basically the same as those for ordinary oolong tea, but the number of turns in the shaking-green step is greater and the cooling-green time is shorter.
The main production areas of Xinyang Maojian are in the deep mountain areas of Shihegang, Dongjiahe and Wujiadian Township in the west of Shihe District, Xinyang City, Henan Province, and in some high mountain and low mountain areas of townships such as Dongshuanghe, Liulin, Lijiazhai, Tanjiahe and Shisanliqiao in the south, as well as Pingqiao Town in Pingqiao District.
In the final years of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1903-1905), Cai Zuxian, formerly a Qing government anti-smuggling commander stationed in Xinyang and a member of the old tea trade association, proposed opening the mountains to plant tea. At the time, Gan Zhouyuan, who had served as director of the Xinyang industrial promotion office and had ample funding, responded actively. Together with Wang Zimo and the landlord Peng Qingge, he restored tea planting in 1903 at the northern foot of Zhenlei Mountain in Xinyang and founded the “Yuanzhen” tea society, inviting a tea master surnamed Yu from Anhui to help guide tea tree cultivation and production.
One of China's famous green teas. Dongting Biluochun tea is produced in Dongting Mountain by Lake Tai in Wuzhong District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Lake Tai is vast, its jade-green waters rippling, its misty waves stretching far and wide. Dongting Mountain lies on the shore of Lake Tai; East Mountain is a peninsula stretching into Lake Tai like a great ship, while West Mountain is an island standing in the lake a few kilometres away. West Mountain has a mild climate, warm winters and cool summers, fresh air and pervasive mist and clouds, an environment uniquely suited to tea tree growth. Together with fine picking and meticulous craftsmanship, this has formed its distinctive quality characteristics.
Duyun Maojian, one of China's ten famous teas. It is produced in Duyun City, Guizhou, under the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. Its appearance is tightly rolled, slender and curly, covered with downy hairs, and emerald green in colour. The aroma is fresh and high, the taste is fresh and strong, and the infused leaves are tender green, even and bright. Duyun Maojian has the characteristic of “three greens showing through yellow”: the dry tea colour is green with a hint of yellow, the liquor colour is green showing through yellow, and the infused leaves are green with a yellow cast.
Wuyi Rock Tea belongs to the oolong tea category and has the reputation of being the king of teas. It is produced in Wuyi Mountain in Fujian, “peerless in beauty in the southeast”, where the tea trees grow among the cracks in the rocks. Wuyi Rock Tea has the fresh fragrance of green tea and the sweet, mellow richness of black tea; it is the finest of China's oolong teas and one of China's ten famous teas. Wuyi Rock Tea is a semi-fermented blue tea, made by a method between that of green tea and black tea, and among these the famous Dahongpao is renowned throughout the world.
The second account: It is said that during the Qing dynasty, a scholar was travelling to the capital to take the imperial examination. When he reached Tianxin Yongle Temple at Nine Dragon Cave, he suddenly suffered from abdominal bloating and unremitting abdominal pain. Later, a monk of Tianxin Temple gave him Dahongpao tea. After drinking it, he felt his illness cured at once, was able to take the examination on time, and came first as the top scholar.
The legend of Dahongpao's origin is a fine one. It is said that in ancient times, a poor scholar was travelling to the capital for the imperial examination. Passing through Wuyi Mountain, he fell ill by the roadside. Fortunately, the old abbot of Tianxin Temple saw him and brewed him a bowl of tea to drink, and indeed he recovered. Later the scholar succeeded in the imperial examination, became the top scholar, and was even taken as the emperor's son-in-law. One spring day, the top scholar came to Wuyi Mountain to give thanks. Accompanied by the old abbot and with a great retinue, he arrived at Nine Dragon Cave, where he saw three tall tea trees growing on the cliff, their branches and leaves luxuriant and putting forth clusters of tender buds that glimmered with a purplish-red sheen in the sunlight, most lovely indeed.