The immortal’s tender leaves live very long

Being mentioned in Lu Yu (陆羽)’s Classic of Tea (茶经) is pretty much the best credential for tradition and seniority a tea production area or tea variety can get. Yuyao (余姚) has the honour of being mentioned three times.

In the Classic of Tea, the tea from the mountain area around Yuyao is described as being of highest quality. Its name is Pubu Xianming (瀑布仙茗), which literally means “waterfall immortal’s tender leaves”. This colourful name comes from the legend that says that it was a Daoist immortal that found the place near Yuyao next to a waterfall where tea bushes were growing.

Tracing a Daoist immortal is not an easy thing. So the best way to prove that tea has been growing around Yuyao since a long time and corroborate the written sources, is to find an old tea bush. Recently (November 08) experts have identified a tea bush that was 500 to 800 years old. This doesn’t make it a contemporary of Lu Yu who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907); but it proves that tea has been growing there for a very long time. As for the immortal, he is said to have passed on his secret even earlier, during the Jin Dynasty (265- 420).

Nowadays Yuyao has the status of a county-level city under the jurisdiction of the city of Ningbo (宁波) in Zhejiang (浙江) province. It is quite a big tea producing centre. In 2008 it produced around 6000 tons of tea. Pubu Xianming is still its most famous and prestigious variety.

Chinese sources: 专家初步断定：古茶树龄在500年至800年之间; 浙江余姚茶文化研讨会今日召开