There are a myriad of Chinese tea varieties and a human brain can only remember so much information. This is where a list of the “best”, the “rarest” or, in this case, the “most famous” comes in handy. It is not clear when the first list of the “Ten Famous Chinese Teas” was compiled; but it seems to be a product of modern rationalism and its urge for classification. Of course it is impossible to create the ultimate list and many competing lists exist. The following teas are the ones that are mentioned most often. They are more than ten, since this article is meant as a synthesis rather than another new list:
If you are living in the northern hemisphere, you might be going through a heat wave. Reports are saying, that “cooling tea” (防暑降温茶) sales are surging in places like Beijing (北京) and Shandong (山东) province, where the temperature has recently reached forty degrees centigrade. Companies are distributing the teas to their employees.
In recent years, Wuyi Yancha (武夷岩茶) has enjoyed a rise in popularity. It has been playing catch-up with other famous wulong tea (乌龙茶) variety from Fujian (福建) province, Tie Guanyin (铁观音). A lot of this popularity boost has to do with the consolidation of the “Wuyi Yancha” brand. Efforts have been especially put into Da Hongpao (大红袍), which refers to the finest quality of Wuyi Yancha, both in terms of tea leaves and processing skills.
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Source: 叹为观止 战旗文工团杂技演绎中国茶文化
The Chengdu Junqu Zhanqi Art Troup (成都军区战旗文工团) just finished its series of four daily representations of its “CHA” show on the site of the Shanghai World Expo during two months. “Cha” is the pinyin romanisation of the Chinese character for tea (茶). The playwright of the show says that both tea and acrobatics require specific skills and have their own culture. Showcasing China’s tea culture through acrobatics has always been her dream. The show is scheduled to travel to Japan and Germany.
Watch a video excerpt of the show:
On Mount Mengding (蒙顶山) in central Sichuan (四川) province, tea has been cultivated since the Western Han (西汉) period (202 BC-9 AD). This makes it one of the first place, where tea plants were actively selected, planted and looked after. According to tradition, it all started with a medicinal herbs grower called Wu Lizhen (吴理真), who took seven wild bushes and replanted them in a favourably foggy valley.
This zisha (紫砂) teapot was recently sold for 12,32 million Yuan at an auction in Beijing. It is a Shipiao (石瓢) style teapot made in 1948 by teapot artist Gu Jingzhou (顾景舟). The calligraphy on it is by Wu Hufan (吴湖帆).
Source: 北京紫砂壶拍卖创出1232万世界纪录(图)
Teapots made out of zisha (紫砂) clay are reputed ideal for brewing wulong teas (乌龙茶) or Chinese black teas (黑茶). They get even better over time, if you “raise” them by only brewing one type of tea per pot. If you are looking to buy a zisha teapot, here are some tricks to distinguish between zisha teapots and ordinary clay teapots:
In 2007, the city of Simao (思茅) changed its name to Pu’er city (普洱市). By doing so, it asserted the fact that it is the heart of the Pu’er (普洱) tea production.
Pu’er city, since it is its name now, used to be an important station on the ancient Tea Horse Road (茶马古道). Located in the south of Yunnan (云南) province in south-western China, it has a population of nearly two and a half million and an area of about forty five thousand square kilometres. This territory encompasses one urban district and nine counties. Its altitude ranges between three hundred and three thousand meters and the climate is subtropical.
This compressed tea was on display at this year’s Huazhong Tea Expo (华中茶博览会) in Wuhan (武汉). The Chuan (川) character is a trademark of Hubei Zhaoliqiao Tea Factory (湖北省赵李桥茶厂).
Source: 第三届茶博会开幕 国内外近300家茶业企业参展
Most tea producing regions in China are either located on the eastern coast (Zhejiang, Fujian, etc.) or in the country’s southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan, etc.). Central China isn’t usually considered as a tea growing ground. However, Xinyang Maojian (信阳毛尖), a green tea variety often mentioned as one of China’s “Ten Famous Teas” comes from central China’s Henan (河南) province.
The city of Xinyang (信阳), the administrative region, where Xinyang Maojian is produced, has big ambitions for its tea industry. It plans to become China’s biggest green tea production centre. To reach this objective, the local authorities plan to increase the size of tea plantations by fifteen to twenty mu (亩) each year until the whole production reaches 1.5 million mu.
Mount Wuyi (武夷山) is located in northern Fujian (福建) province at the border with Jiangxi (江西) province. It is famous for many reasons: its unique landscape, its historical sites, and the famous tea varieties produced there. Both Wuyi Yancha (武夷岩茶) and Zhengshan Xiaozhong (正山小种) originate from there. The mountain is the pride of Fujian, which is a big tea producing province
