White Tea

White tea is slightly fermented, only involving adjustment and drying processes. "Three White" should be observed when picking white tea leaves. "Three White" means the one shoot and two leaves should all be covered with white hairs. Leaves made this way are white all over, which gives rise to the name of white tea. In Tang and Song dynasties, people regarded white tea as very valuable, but at that time, white tea was just a rare kind of tea tree whose leaves were white, not the white tea we know today. White Hair Silver Needle and White Peony produced in Fujian are representatives of white tea.

In addition to the above six major types of tea, there are also Tight-pressed tea and Scented tea produced by re-processing the leaves. Tight-pressed tea comes from tight pressing crude tea leaves after steaming them in high temperature. This kind of tea can be divided into tea cake, tea brick, tea roll and other groups according to their shape. Tuo tea of Yunnan outstands in this kind. Scented tea, with its history of over 1,000 years, comes from drinking edible flowers and tea leaves together. People in Qing Dynasty liked making scented tea themselves.

They spread crumbled calcium oxide at the jar bottom, cover it with two layers of bamboo leaves, and heap flowers on the bamboo leaves. The calcium oxide is highly water absorptive, so it can absorb the water contained in the flowers. Flowers that have been through this process are then cooked together with tea leaves by glass teapot. The most common scented tea-jasmine tea-is very popular in Beijing and Tianjin.

Here are the blog: introduction to white tea, you can get more information from it!

Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is also called green tea. It uses green tea's finishing technique as well as black tea's fermenting skill, so it is a semi- fermented tea between green tea and black tea. For the same reason, it keeps both green tea's and black tea's characteristics-the freshening and clearing flavor of green tea and the thick and luscious fragrance of black tea. The appearance of oolong tea also combines the features of green tea and black tea—verdant leaves with crimson edges. The leaves are in the shape of long cables, bigger and fatter than green tea or black tea after being cooked. These leaves taste strong and thick, so they can be cooked many times. Chinese oolong tea mainly comes from Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, etc. Fujian has been the hometown of tea since early time. Most tribute tea came from Fujian in Song Dynasty, including the famous Dragon & Phoenix Cake. Therefore, many people believe that Dragon & Phoenix Cake is the predecessor of oolong tea.

Tie Guanyin(Ti Kwan Yin) Tie Guanyin is produced in Anxi County of Fujian Province, so people often call it "Anxi Tie Guanyin." Anxi is located in the southeast side of the hill where over SO kinds of tea leaves are produced, with Tie Guanyin on the top. i Another name for Guanyin is Guanshiyin, the most popular female Buddha in China. Chinese folks think she is most charitable and most willing to help people, so they call her "the charitable Guanshiyin Buddha who helps the needy and relieves the distressed." The word "Guanyin" means to listen to people's miseries. It is said that there used to be an old man who devotedly believed in Guanyin. He consecrated green tea in front of Guanyin's shrine every morning and evening for dozens of years on end. One day, he dreamed of himself discovering an unusual tea tree in the crack of a rock near a stream. Just when he was trying to pick its leaves, he was woken up by a barking dog. Waking up, he went to the place he dreamed of. Sure enough, he found a tea tree there and transplanted it to his home, whose leaves gave off tremendous fragrance. What with this tea tree was discovered under the guidance of Guanyin Buddha, and with the leaves were black, moist, burly and weighing like steel, the tree was called Tie (meaning steel) Guanyin because of its sweet smell and beautiful appearance which were characteristic of Guanyin. Whether this story is true or not is beyond proof, but the fact that people used "Guanyin" to name a tea is solid proof of people's fondness of Tie Guanyin.

The tea tree that give birth to Tie Guanyin are born delicate and weak, unable lo bear difficult situations. That's why they arc said to be "good to drink but hard to plant." The trees germinate in late March every year and their leaves can be picked in early May. Picking time runs throughout spring, summer, autumn and winter, with spring leaves having the largest amount and autumn leaves being the most fragrant. It's best to pick Tie Guanyin from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Otherwise the leaves are less tasteful.

Tie Guanyin should be cooked with boiling water, so that its fragrance can be fully brought out. To drink Tie Guanyin involves a lot of knowledge, which can be summarized into six steps observing, listening, viewing, smelling, tasting, and appreciating.

Observing: high-quality Tie Guanyin leaves are curly, strong, and heavy, with its tip like dragonfly's head, body like a spire, and bottom like frog's leg. Good Tie Guanyin leaves are covered with a thin layer of hoar frost called "sand green." For Tie Guanyin leaves have to be wrapped up with white cloth after finished. They are kneaded and twisted In the cloth so the leaves will shrink. After baked and kneaded many times, the leaves are dried and lightly heated in slow fire. This sublimates the theine in the leaves, which gathers on the leave surface to form the hoar frost. Tie Guanyin also has to be assorted after being made. The common leaves are called crude tea while the good ones are called refined tea. The decisive difference between crude tea and refined tea is the existence of peduncle. Those without it are refined tea while those with it are crude tea.

Listening: Tie Guanyin is usually kneaded about 11 times when they are wrapped in the cloth, sometimes as many as 25 times. Therefore, the leaves are twisted, tight, heavy and massive. Dropped into the vintage teapots, those leaves that can make ringing sound an- good while the common ones can only make husky sound.

Viewing: the water of Tie Guanyin is golden, thick and clear in color. The leaves are fat and bright after cooked, with silk-like sheen on the surface. If the water takes on a dark color with a touch of red, that means the leaves are not very good.

Smelling: when cooked by vintage tea sets, top Tie Guanyin gives off fragrance like sweet-scented osmanthus/ with a remote flavor chestnut. This is the biggest difference between Tie Guanyin and other oolong teas.

Tasting: Tie Guanyin is not for gulp, but should be sipped little by little. The tongue moves slowly in the mouth to get thorough contact with tea. Then the water gradually flows down the throat to let its deliciousness be fully absorbed.

Appreciating: the most special trait of Tie Guanyin is its Guanyin charm, which refers to its unique taste as opposed to other teas. This charm includes the above five steps. It is a perfect combination of human feeling and tea ceremony and a comprehensive experience of senses and intelligence, possible to be understood by heart but not so probable to communicate with words.

Tie Guanyin contains over 30 mineral elements, of which the contents of potassium, fluorine and especially selenium are the highest. These mineral elements can stimulate the creation of immune protein and antibody, strengthen human ability of preventing disease, and have some effects on coronary heart disease. Besides, Tie Guanyin has over 70 kinds of fragrance, 10 of which are highly characteristic. These smells also have positive effects in relaxing body and heart, as well as health preservation and protection.

Wuyi Rock Tea Wuyi Rock tea is a general name for oolong tea produced in Wuyi Mountain of Fujian. It is the most well known oolong tea whose production is highly delicate, especially the reputed technique of "shaking green." After the fresh leaves are picked, they have to be sunned and slightly adjusted. Then they are thinly spread out on a dustpan and shaken with hands. The edges of the leaves nib with each other, and are oxidized by air after the edge break, so they will turn red. Red Robe is the best type of Wuyi Rock tea and has had a history of over 300 vears. Now there are only three Red Robe tea trees. They are over 1,000 years old and live on the cliffs of Wuyi Mountain. The leaf tips are a little red. See from a distance, they look like brilliant red brocade, and this gives it the name of Red Robe. Red Robe leaves are picked every spring. People have to set up scaling ladders to pick a small amount of leaves, so they are extremely precious and valuable.

Fenghuang Dancong (Phoenix Mountain Select) tea is one of the three great varieties of Oolong tea, equal in fame to two other Oolong teas, the tea from the slopes of Wuyi Mountain and Tieguanyin tea from Anxi. In terms of their distinct flavours, Wuyi tea has a rich and mellow fragrance and a long aftertaste; Anxi Tieguanyin is sweetly aromatic and has a sweet, clean flavour; Fenghuang Dancong has a strong aroma and a pronounced, rich taste. Fenghuang Dancong comes from Phoenix Mountain, near Chaozhou city in the eastern part of Guangdong province. Some o( the cultivated tea bushes there are as much as 600 years old, and there are many bushes more than 200 years old. So if Chinese who originate from the Chaozhou / Shantou region have a liking for gongfu tea (tea ceremoniously brewed and served in a particular style), this is not unrelated to the fact that their homeland produces a famous old tea, Fenghuang Dancong.

Dark Tea

Green tea is precious for its freshness and tenderness. People usually pick the shoot tips or one-shoot-one-piece leaves as material because leaves become inferior or bad when they grow up. But this is not always the case. With Oolong tea people choose one-shoot-three-or-four-piece leaves. Dark tea is even more special because with it, the rough old one-shoot-five-or-six-piece leaves are selected. But dark tea has its own indispensable characteristics and is also loved by lots of people.

Dark tea is invented by accident. In history, in order to meet northwest ethnic groups' requirements for tea, leaves produced in Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, and other places have to be transported to the north by sea, and then to the northwest through the Silk Road. In ship cabins, on horse backs, the tea leaves go a very long way and are greatly influenced by weather. Since the leaves are damped and then dried, their chemical elements • undergo enormous changes and their color turns blackish brown, too. In spite of this, they still give off rare fragrance, and is quickly spread among the minor groups.

Dark tea belongs to the fermented kind. After the leaves are finished, kneaded and twisted, they have to be gathered and sprinkled with water to be fermented, and at last dried. The water of dark tea is like amber, yellow with a little red. It tastes pure and delicious. Unlike green tea, dark tea uses the rough old leaves as raw material. Also unlike green tea which can't be put aside for a long time, dark tea tastes better with the passage of time. Dark tea can be cooked for many times, which is, again, different from green tea whose taste is a lot worse after twice or three times of cooking. Pu'er tea and Six Castle tea are precious species in the field of dark tea.

Puer tea is a special kind of leaves produced in Yunnan Province, with a history of more than 2,000 years. It is a roll tea. Because of Zhu Yuan/hang's effort to promote this kind of tea in Ming Dynasty, roll tea was gradually replaced by loose tea, but with the exception of Pu'er. Not only didn't Pu'er disappear in lime, but it exerted more and more vitality as time went by. Qing Dynasty graded Pu'er as tribute tea and decreed that 33,000 kilos of Pu'er should be handed in every year. Contemporary royalties and celebrities all took pride in collecting and tasting Pu'er tea. It is very good for health care, especially in helping digestion. When spread abroad, Pu'er tea enjoyed a warm welcome and was named 'Longevity Tea." Even the great Russian writer Tolstoy has I mentioned the magical tea leaves in his War and Peace.

Pu'er tea can be roughly divided into two groups. The first group is made through simple sunning, usually known as "Raw Pu'er." The other kind is made with the technique of "heating pile"(to sprinkle water over a pile of leaves and make them ferment), I usually known as "Ripe Pu'er." The greatest fascination of Pu'er tea is that the longer it is preserved, the better it tastes. Generally Pu'er tastes best after about ten years of preservation, while ripe Pu'er best exerts its fragrance after two or three years of preservation. This feature of Pu’er is similar to that of wine. A bar of 3-gram Pu'er tea which has been preserved for over 60 years was once auctioned as high as more than 10,000 RMB. Pu'er tea is better to be preserved long, but long-year Pu'er costs too much so many people choose to buy new Pu'er, preserve them, and drink them after many years. Some people evm start doing business on Pu'er tea because of this. They purchase tom of Pu'er tea. preserve them, and wait for them to increase in value years later This i% almost the same as those Europeans who invest in grape wine.

Pu'er tea differs sharply in price because of their difference in age. So how to differentiate them becomes a key question. Pu’er leaves are strip-shaped, each leaf having orderly lines. If the lines are irregular, then it is inferior in quality. Standard Pu’er has the color of pork liver, with bit red in its blackness and with bright luster. The leaves are full and soft. The bottom of ripe leaves is usually the color of dark chestnut because of fermenting. If fermenting goes a littler further, the leaves will be dry, thin, old and hard, with obvious carbonization as if it has been burned in raging fire. Ripe Pu'er smells like ripe tea, while raw Pu'er of over 10 years has a thick fragrance. The tea water is supposed to be clear and bright after leaves are cooked, with oil-like membrane floating on the surface and the bottom of leaves complete and soft. Low- quality Pu'er will be blackish after cooked while good-quality Pu'er is supposed to have lush fragrance when tasted.

The cooking of Pu'er also involves a lot of skills. First, an opener made from hard wood or hard bamboo is used to strip the leaves lay by layer to avoid causing crumbles. The opened Pu'er leaves should be preserved for two weeks before cooked and drunk because then it tastes better. The cast iron teapots is better to be big to prevent heat from dissipating too quickly. Water temperature differs with different types of leaves. Cake tea, brick tea, tight tea or old tea made from crude materials are better to be cooked in boiling water, while high-level shoot tea from tenderer materials should be cooked in lower temperature. The first round is to wash tea and stir its feature, and the water must be thrown away before long. The second round can be tasted carefully. After the second round, each round should extend in time. When the color of the water becomes dear, and the taste becomes thin, new boiling water should be added. This time the tea must be drunk after half an hour. This is the last round and is also the round with the essence of Pu'er. If you are not willing to throw away the remaining leaves, boil them in a pan and they can still emit some last fragrance. Keep in mind that when you throw the tea. only 50% or 60% of the water is poured out at a time. The left water can be further used to release fragrance of the leaves more thoroughly.

Here are the blog: introduction to dark tea, you can get more information from it!

Yellow Tea

Like dark tea, yellow tea was also found by chance when making green tea. People discover that if leaves are not dried in time after being finished, kneaded and twisted, they will turn yellow in color, thus comes the name of yellow tea. At first, people took yellow tea as bad-quality green tea. Yet since people have different taste, many people prefer the savor of yellow tea, which makes yellow tea become one of the six major teas. Yellow tea belongs to fermented tea, and the fermenting process is called "annealing yellow." Junshan Silver Needle of Hunan and Mengdi Yellow Shoot of Sichuan are two representatives of yellow tea. Silver Needle leaves stand straight after being cooked by porcelain teapots and only subside to the bottom after times of floating and sinking. Being one of the ten top teas of China, Silver Needle leaves are like bamboo shoots breaking out of the soil or spears drawn out of the sheath, both beautiful and delicious.

Here are the blog: introduction to yellow tea, you can get more information from it!

Black Tea

Black tea is a kind of fermented tea, originating from green tea after it is mixed, kneaded, fermented, dried, and otherwise processed. The water of green tea is freshly green while that of black tea is orange red. But this difference is only skin-deep. What is more important is that black tea doesn't undergo the processes of steaming green or frying green, but is fermented, during which lime the tea leaves go through chemical reactions—tea phenol reduced over 90% and tea yellow element and red element being produced. If these two elements are in a right proportion, the water's color will be red and bright While green tea retains the thin and freshening flavor of the leaves, the fermented black tea gives a stronger and thicker flavor. Black tea first appeared in Qing Dynasty, much younger than green tea. But it occupied an important position in China's foreign trade at the end of Qing Dynasty, with the largest amount of all kinds of tea that were exported to Europe and America.

Black tea originated in Fujian and its vicinities, and later spread to other provinces in the south. At present, black tea is the most produced and most widely drunk tea. It can be divided into three groups: Kungfu black tea, small piece black tea, and broken black tea. Broken black tea a new type developed in India to which the black tea produced in Sri Lanka also belongs. China started to trial produce this group in the 1950s. Small piece black tea is the earliest black tea in China, produced near Fujian (southeast coast of China) and Chong'an. Gongfu black tea is a Chinese specialty developed on the basis of small piece black tea, and is also the most representative black tea of China. Considering the different origins of Chinese Gongfu black tea, they are divided into Qimen Gongfu of Anhui, Dianhong Gongfu of Yunnan, Ninghong Gongfu of Jiangxi, Minhong Gongfu of Fujian, etc.

Qimen Gongfu Qimen Gongfu tea has a history of over 100 years. In late Qing Dynasty, a retired officer from Fujian brought the making method of black tea hack to his hometown Anhui. He set up a Qimen Teahouse, improved small piece black tea, and created a unique Qimen Gongfu black tea. Leaves of this kind of tea should be picked around Gear and Bright and should go through two major processes of primary making and refining. After primary making, newly picked leaves become crude tea, which should be assorted according to their weight, color and shape. This assortment is the refining process. Qimen Gongfu black tea requires a very particular making process—baked in a sealed room and heated with low temperature to bring out the fragrance of the leaves. The color of this tea is jet black with a bit gray praised as "precious light." Cooked by Japanese tea sets, the water is bright, red and fragrant with a lingering aftertaste. With different processes, there are different flavors such as honey flavor, flower flavor and fruit flavor, known as "Qimen flavor."

Here are the blog: introduction to balck tea, you can get more information from it!

West Lake Longjing Tea

West Lake lies in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is one of the most beautiful cities of China, enjoying a high fame since ancient times. It is, together with Suzhou of Jiangsu Province, regarded as the paradise under sky and heaven on earth. West Lake is the most celebrated scenic spot of Hangzhou. It makes a big contribution to bring Hangzhou its enormous fame and it is also why West Lake Longjing Tea gets its name. Hangzhou is surrounded by mountains in three sides. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Tianzhu Temple and Lingyin Temple in the West Lake area already made tea. Longjing was called Longhong in early times. In the Ming Dynasty, local people found a dragon-shaped rock when digging a well, so the name of Longjing came into being (Jing means a well in Chinese). After its appearance, Longjing tea rose to fame quickly and soon became one of the fame teas. Known for being fresh and tender, the best Longjing leaves should be picked and processed before Pure Brightness (a day around April 5th or 6th), called before­-brightness tea. Leaves picked and processed after Pure Brightness and before Grain Rain were a little worse in quality, called before-rain tea. According to the various shapes of the leaves, people gave them different fancy names. The carefully selected leave shoots were Lotus Heart. One-shoot-one-piece leaves were Banner Spear. One-shoot-two-piece leaves were Sparrow Tongue. West Lake Longjing has always been known for four typical features—green in color, strong in fragrance, sweet in taste, and beautiful in shape. After being made, the leaves stretched out, straightened themselves and swam up and down in the water, displaying a lively picture. The tea was clear and dean, and left a pleasant and long aftertaste.

There is an interesting tale about West Lake Longjing. When Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty went to the south, he went to the West Lake district to have a drink of local Longjing tea. Seeing the skillfulness of the tea-picking girls, he couldn't help getting interested and started learning to pick. Just then, some attendants hurried along to announce that the Queen Mother was ill. Carelessly putting the newly picked leaves in his sleeve, Qianlong hurried back to Beijing. The Queen Mother had nothing serious, just a little indigestion, plus missing her son. With the son's coming back, the Queen Mother got half well. She noticed that gusts of fragrance came out of Qianlong and asked why. Only then did the emperor remember the leaves in his sleeve. He took them out and made tea with them. The tea was sweet, strong and tasteful, curing the Queen Mother's ailment at once. Qianlong was so pleased with this that he gave orders that the 18 tea trees in front of Longjing Temple be named "Royal Tea," which made Longjing tea even more famous. Because the leaves that Qianlong took back to Beijing were pressed flat in his sleeve, the later leaves were all made into that shape.

Picking Longjing involves a lot of knowledge and skill. Tea picking is closely related to seasons. Farmers in tea areas often say that, "three days earlier, it's a treasure. Three days later, it's trash." Generally speaking, the annual picking period lasts 190 to 200 days. Leaves on a tea tree need 22 times of picking a year. Spring tea leaves are picked around late March, when little buds start to pop out. They want 8 to 9 times of picking because if it's good weather, new leaves will come out in less than 3 days after the previous picking. Only after 8 to 9 times of picking do the leaves come to dormancy. However, in early summer, they wake up and give birth to new leaves again, which are called "Second Tea." Picked leaves must be no longer than 2 centimeters. Two things need to be noticed in picking. First, avoid broken leaves. Second, keep the young leaves, because they will germinate again, and then one young leaf will become two new leaves, and two become four. While picking, both hands and eyes are busily engaged. Leaves on protruding branches will be picked from bottom up alternatively. When picking clumps of different height, you have to stand nl one time and squat at another. On sunny days, the newly picked, fresh, tender leaves will have to be put in the basket in time. Seen in a distance, the quick and deft hands of the tea-picking girls are like pain of butterflies flying among the green leaves. What a wonderful scene!

Picking decides the grades of the leaves, while frying decides their color, shape, and taste. In the past, wood fire or coal fire was used in frying leaves, so heating was very important. There was a saying of "70% of heating and 30% of frying." But now electric cooker is widely used in order to better control the temperature. The procedures of frying Longjing tea is very complex, including shaking, stripping, swinging, tossing, rubbing, knocking, scratching, pressing, grinding, squeezing, etc. Longjing frying is divided into two parts—primary and finishing Hie primary part is a process of pulling the leave* into a rough shape. The cooker temperature is Ant high and then low, kepi between 240°C and 300°C. The hand movement mainly involves scratching and shaking. After reducing some water, pressing, shaking and swinging procedures are used to primarily shape the leaves. The pressure changes from light to heavy, until leaves are straightened and flattened. After about 12 or 15 minutes, when leaves are 70% or 80% dry, they will be got out of the cooker. Leaves fried at a time weigh about 120 grams. The aim of the finishing part is to further shape and dry the leaves. Normally four cookers of leaves in the primary part go to one cooker in the finishing process, with the temperature around 100°C for 20 to 25 minutes. Hands gradually add force, mainly using scratching, knocking, grinding, pressing, pushing, and other procedures. Each frying process involves only a small amount of leaves but requires a long time. A skilled expert can only fry 1 kilo of dried leaves. Although presently leaves are also fried by machines, these leaves cannot be compared with the hand- fried leaves either in appearance, color or taste. Therefore, first-class West Lake Longjing tea leaves are still fried by hand. This craft usually runs in the family, handed from one generation to another. Tea frying is arduous work. Hands can't touch the cooker bottom but have to contact the leaves' surface, whose temperature is about 60°C. It's ineluctable for learners to get their hands burned. Only after a year of frying, when both hands are covered with thick callus, can they bear the heat in the cooker. Frying is also a practice that needs power of understanding and creativity. Ways of frying vary according to types of tea leaves, water content, cooker temperature, and the size and strength of hands. All these require a lot of thinking. What is more, they require constant accumulation of experiences through practice. The older generation of tea frying workers usually started their apprenticeship since teens. They began with tending the kitchen fire. After 20 or 30 years of training and practice, they finally acquire maturity in their skills. Nevertheless, whether one can become a superb master of tea frying depends on one's talent as well as diligence.

Longjing tea mainly comes from five districts near the West Lake. They used to be classified into five types because of their different producing areas—lion, dragon, cloud, tiger and plum. Now they are combined into three—lion, plum and dragon, of which the most precious are the leaves from the 18 tea trees that had been conferred by Emperor Qianlong. In an auction held in China in 2005, the trigger price for 100 grams of such royal leaves was 80,000 RMB, and the knock-down price was 145,600 RMB per 100 grams, much more valuable than gold.

It's best to use the water from tiger-running spring in Hangzhou when drinking Longjing tea. The spring water, springing from sandstone and quartz sand, is luscious and dear, with high water molecular consistency and surface tension, and low calcium carbonate content. It's also better to choose transparent glasses in order that the stretching and rolling of the leaves in water can be better observed. The rate between the amount of leaves and of water is about 1 to 50. First, pour water into the glass to 1/4 full to wet and immerse the shoots and to feed the dry leaves with water to have them unfold. When fragrance starts to pervade, pour water from a higher position to let the water drop straight into the glass. Use the power of your wrist to raise and lower the teapot three times, thus setting the leaves stirring in the water. This tea-cooking method—known as Phoenix Nods Three Times—assures that the leaves have thorough contact with water. It is also to show respect to the guest because "nodding three times" means to bow and salute. This elegant gesture demonstrates the respect for both the guest and tea ceremony. Longjing leaves can be made three times, the second-time tea tasting the best.

Maojian of Mount Huangshan Mount Huangshan is situated in Anhui Province, China. It has topped other famous mountains since ancient times. The great tourist Xu Xiake (1586-1641) of Ming Dynasty, after visiting Mount Huangshan, exclaimed, “there's nothing like Mount Huangshan of Anhui in the whole world. Compared to Mount Huangshan, no other mountain is great enough." Mount Huangshan is made up of a lot of peaks and ridges, 77 of which are over 1,000 meters high. The four most celebrated sights are: rare pines, strange rocks, hot spring, and Cloud Sea, known as 'Four Specialties of Mount Huangshan" The tea leaf of Maojian of Mount Huangshan has a light yellow in its verdure. The leaf is covered with white hairs, and the shoot tip is shaped like a mount peak. That's how the name comes into being. After being cooked, the water is dear and bright with a touch of apricot yellow. It tastes strong and fresh and pure. The best Maojian tea leaves an aftertaste even after being cooked five or six times.

Pilochun Pilochun comes from Mount Dongting of Wu County in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, so it is also called "Dongting Pilochun." Its special feature is its luscious fragrance, so the tea is once called by the local citizens as "frightening fragrance." In Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qianlong visited south China, local officers treated him with this kind of tea. When Qianlong lifted porcelain tea cups, a strong fragrance flew into his nose even before he drank the tea. After drinking it Qianlong said that it sure deserved its reputation. But finding its name not elegant enough, Qianlong personally gave it the beautiful name of Pilochun. Pilochun looks verdant and like a trumpet shell, with fine and dense flosses around the circumference. It's best to use glasses when drinking Pilochun. because the tea leaves unfold themselves slowly after absorbing water. When they sink and float in the water, their white hairs can be observed vividly, like mow flying in the wind. Pilochun not only gives people pleasure in smell and taste, but gives visual enjoyment at well.

Sweet Dew of Mengding (meaning the top of Mount Mengshan) Sichuan Province is where tea culture is in its height Many well-known teas stem there, and Sweet Dew of Mengding is one of them. Mount Mengshan lies across Mingshan county and Ya'an county of Sichuan Province. Its five peaks huddle together like a lotus. The mid-peak, which is the highest, has a piece of flat ground on its top, and Sweet Dew of Mengding originates here. As the legend goes, an eminent monk called Ganlu (meaning sweet dew) in Western Han. for the welfare of all, planted tea trees on the mount top with his own hands. That's how Sweet Dew of Mengding got its name. It is one of the most time-honored well- known teas in China, and was honored as the head of tribute teas as early as Tang Dynasty. As the tea is associated with Buddhism, it has been regarded as celestial tea. It is said that once a monk got sick, he met another old monk who told him to pick as many as tea leaves of Mengding within three days around vernal equinox when spring thunders started in action. One Lung (a unit of measurement, about 1/20 kilo) can cure chronic disease, two Liang can keep him healthy forever, three Liang can remold him thoroughly, and four Liang can elevate him to be immortal. The sick monk followed the old monk's instruction. He picked one Liang of leaves and his illness went immediately. Even his appearance changed young. Sweet Dew of Mengding is tenderly green and moist tasting better with second cooking. It is recommended and loved by a great many people.

Green Tea

Green tea is the oldest type of tea in China. It is also the tea with the largest output in China. Many Provinces and cities are renowned for their production of green tea, the most eminent ones being Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui. Green tea leaves haven't been fermented, so they largely retain the original flavor of tea, which is simple, elegant and lasting. On first sip, green tea tastes a little thin. But on appreciating it, you will find its fragrance flowing in your mouth and reluctant to leave. To make green tea, we mainly use the methods of steaming green, frying green and sunning green, respectively using steaming, thing and sunning to get rid of the moisture in fresh tea leaves and bring out their fragrance. The water shouldn't be too hot when making green tea, favorably 80°C. First soak the leaves in a little warm water, then fill the cup full. Only put on the lid for one or two minutes, otherwise the taste would be affected. Or you can first prepare a glass of warm water and then put leaves into it.

Here are the blog: introduction to green tea, you can get more information from it!