China
China is the origin of tea.
The origin of every tea culture is China. As Luk Yu wrote in his "Chaijing" opening; "Tea is a useful plant from the south", the home of the tea plant is considered to be southern Yunnan Province. It was first used as an edible wild plant and evolved into the present form through solid and powdered tea.
China's tea-producing areas
Mt.Huangshan in Anhui Province is a famous tea-producing mountain in China.
Green tea plantation in Xishuangbanna, Yunan Province.
Green tea producing area
Approximately 2/3 of the total amount of green tea produced in China comes from around the Changjiang River. The southern area of the river which covers the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, is the primary area for producing well-known fine green tea. Also Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan Provinces have been producing the most well-known varieties of green tea.
Oolong tea producing area
The major areas of oolong tea on the China mainland are Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Guangdong, the home of oolong tea, has a long history of famous high-quality tea, especially around the mt.Fenghuang area. Fujian Province features the famous mt.Wuyi and the well-known Anxi, which are the present
centers for oolong tea production. It also produces high-grade Jasmine tea as well as green, black, white, and smoked teas.
Other famous tea producing areas
Yunan Province located on the border of Vietnam and Laos and Guangxi have their own unique culture and have been producing a variety of teas such as puer, green and solid teas.
Green Tea
Tea production scene at Xihu Longjing, a leading tea-production area in Zhejiang Province.
Being able to drink many cups by simply adding hot water, is one of the attractive aspects of Chinese green tea.
When picked and rubbed tealeaves are left as they are, they start to ferment due to oxidation. Controlling this process creates various kinds of tea. Compared to Japanese green tea which uses a steaming method, Chinese green tea made by roasting tealeaves to stop fermentation, has a more transparent water color, is more aromatic and has a stronger taste to produce more cups when leaving leaves in hot water. Especially Spring's first tea picked in early April is regarded as very precious.
Major brands
- Ming Mei (Jiangxi)
- Bi Luo Chun (Jiangsu)
- Meng Ding Gan Lu (Sichuan)
- Gao Chao Yin Feng (Hunan)
- Huang Shan Mao Feng (Anhui)
- Xi Hu Long Jing (Zhejiang)
Oolong Tea
Anxi District, southern Fujian Province is home of Tie Guan Yin.
Tea trees at Wuyi Mountain used to produce rock tea Da Hong Pao.
When a farmer's long hours on a mountain road with new leaf shoots naturally shaking in his bamboo basket began to ferment, the resulting tea from those leaves had a surprisingly new aroma . Such is the legendary origin of oolong tea. Sunlight withering, fermenting by shaking in bamboo basket, controlling fermentation, rolling and drying, are all complicated processes requiring a skilled tea maker.
Major brands
- Feng Huang Dan Cong (Guangdong)
- Gui Hua Xiang (Guangdong)
- Bai Ye Dan Cong (Guangdong)
- Tie Luo Han (Fujian)
- Rou Gui (Fujian)
- Shui Xian (Fujian)
- Huang Jin Gui (Fujian)
- Tie Guan Yin (Fujian)
- Se Zhong (Fujian)
- Da Hong Pao (Fujian)
White Tea & Yellow Tea
Main producing area of white tea is Fujian Province. Picked tealeaves are naturally fermented for finishing by hot air drying. For Yellow tea, picked leaves are heated to arrest fermentation and the tea juice squeezed out by rubbing leaves and then weakly-fermented.
Major brands
- Bai Mu Dan (Fujian)
- Junshan Yinzhen (Hunan)
- Huoshan Huangya (Anhui)
- Ruo Xiang Huang Cha (Anhui)
Flower Flavored Tea
Making Jasmine flowers open in the tealeaves to transfer the scent.
Flower flavored tea has a fairly long history going back about 1000years. In the court of Sung dynasty, flower-scented green tea was drunk. Traditional method for flower flavored tea is to repeatedly leave flowers such as jasmine flowers in tealeaves for several hours and then remove them.
Major brands
- Jasmin Mandarin (Fujian)
- Gui Hua Oolong (Fujian)
- Zhu Lan Huang Shan Ya (Anhui)
- Mei Gui Gua Pian (Anhui)
Fancy Tea
Simply pouring on hot water can bring out the flavor.
Fancy tea is produced by layering new shoots of Chinese green tea one by one to create one shape. Fancy tea was an improvement on solid tea which had long history, and was devised in Liuan Shi Huoshan in western Anhui Province around 1982. It then spread to mt.Huang Shan in Auhui and other places in Fujian. Newer products continue to be developed.
Please note that some of those plantations and tea brands may not be available due to harvest conditions or market circumstances etc. We will supply information regarding availability of products in our shops or on our website.
