China's Top Tea Ranking: Which Teas Have You Tasted?

China's Top Tea Ranking: Which Teas Have You Tasted?

China has a wide distribution of tea-growing regions, a rich variety of tea tree species, and constantly innovating tea-making techniques, resulting in a colorful range of teas.

The diverse types and varieties of tea, like a garden of blooming flowers in spring, make the vast landscapes especially charming. China's dozens of famous teas are treasures among the countless tea varieties.

West Lake Longjing Tea

In The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu (the "Tea Sage"), there is a record that "tea is produced in Tianzhu and Lingyin temples in Hangzhou and Qiantang", indicating that Longjing tea has been produced since the Tang Dynasty. It began to be called "Longjing" in the Song Dynasty and was officially named in the Qing Dynasty.

When Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty made southern inspection tours, he visited the Longjing tea area four times to taste Longjing tea and praised it highly. He designated the 18 tea trees in front of Hujia Temple as "Imperial Tea".

Since then, Longjing tea has become even more prestigious and world-famous, known as "Golden Buds" and "Unparalleled Product". Historically, it was classified by production area into five grades: Lion, Dragon, Cloud, Tiger, and Plum. Among them, the tea produced in the Old Well of Shifeng is widely regarded as the highest quality.

Longjing belongs to pan-fried green tea. As the saying goes, "Longjing is the most beautiful among teas" - it is renowned worldwide for its emerald color, elegant shape, rich aroma, and mellow taste. Its unique "light yet distant, fragrant yet pure" charm and exceptional quality set it apart from other famous teas, ranking first among China's Top Ten Famous Teas.

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a record: "All teas in the capital are not as good as Longjing's products, especially the fine buds picked before the Grain Rain, with one flag and one gun (a bud with a young leaf), which are treasures."

Dongting Biluochun Tea

Biluochun is produced in the areas of East Dongting Mountain and West Dongting Mountain (now Wuzhong District, Suzhou) on Taihu Lake in Wuxian County, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, so it is also called "Dongting Biluochun".

This tea also has an alias: "Scare-the-People Fragrance". Legend has it that a nun went hiking in the mountains, picked a few tea leaves casually, and when she brewed them, the aroma was so strong that she exclaimed, "The fragrance scares people!" Since then, the local people have called this tea "Scare-the-People Fragrance".

Biluochun became a finished tea as early as the Tang Dynasty. Its production area is a famous tea-fruit intercropping area in China: tea trees and fruit trees are connected by branches and roots, so the tea absorbs the fragrance of fruits, and the flowers blend with the tea flavor, nurturing Biluochun's natural quality of floral and fruity aroma.

Pre-Grain Rain Biluochun is as precious as gold - 70,000 tender buds are needed to make one jin of Biluochun, so it is also called "Kung Fu Tea" or "Fresh Blood Tea".

After frying, the dry tea strips are tight, covered with white down, silver-green and 诱人 (alluring) in color, curled into a snail shape. When Biluochun is put into a cup, the tea sinks to the bottom immediately; in an instant, "white clouds roll, snowflakes dance" - its shape is tender green and bright, like snow waves splashing pearls, spring dyeing the cup bottom, green filling the crystal palace. When tasting: the first infusion is light in color, with faint fragrance and fresh elegance; the second infusion is green, fragrant, and mellow; the third infusion is clear, rich, and sweet aftertaste. It is truly as precious as a treasure, like a high-end handicraft, rare to obtain.

People praise it: "Copper silk strips, snail shape, full of fuzz, floral and fruity flavor, fresh and refreshing."

Huangshan Maofeng Tea

Huangshan Maofeng is produced in the Huangshan (Huizhou) area of Anhui Province, so it is also called Huizhou Tea. It was created by Xie Yuda Tea House during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.

Every year around the Qingming and Grain Rain festivals, tender and fat buds of high-quality tea tree varieties such as "Huangshan Zhong" and "Huangshan Dayezhong" are picked and hand-fried. The tea leaves are slightly curled, shaped like sparrow tongues, green with yellow tints, covered with silver down, and have golden leaves (commonly called "Golden Flakes").

When brewed, the tea mist rises to the top of the cup; the soup color is clear and slightly yellow; the leaf base is yellow-green and vibrant; the taste is mellow and sweet; the aroma is like orchid, with a long lingering charm.

Because the newly made tea is covered with white down, the buds are sharp, and the fresh leaves are picked from the peaks of Huangshan, it is named Huangshan Maofeng. "Golden Flakes" and "Ivory Color" are the two major characteristics of Huangshan Maofeng.

 Junshan Yinzhen Tea

As early as 2,000 years ago, Hunan was already a well-known tea-producing area in the country. Shennong (the "Yan Emperor") is said to have "tasted 72 poisons in a day and detoxified them with tea".

Hunan has a long history of tea production and a collection of famous teas, among which Junshan Yinzhen is the most renowned.

Junshan Yinzhen belongs to yellow tea. Its finished tea buds are stout, uniform in length and size; the inside of the buds is golden yellow, and the outer layer is covered with complete white down, tightly wrapped. The shape of the tea buds resembles silver needles, so it is also called "Gold-Wrapped Silver".

A poem praises it: "The gold-wrapped silver color removes the dust of the world; the clear moon rises over the rivers and valleys."

Junshan Yinzhen originated in the Tang Dynasty and was listed as "Tribute Tea" in the Qing Dynasty. According to Baling County Records: "Junshan tea is as tender and green as lotus hearts." "Junshan tribute tea has been offered since the Qing Dynasty, with 18 jin paid every year."

Junshan Yinzhen has a high and clear aroma, a mellow and sweet taste, a bright yellow soup color, stout and downy buds, uniform and neat strips, white down like feathers, golden and shiny buds, light yellow tea leaves, and a thick, uniform, and bright leaf base. Its taste is sweet, mellow, and refreshing, and it does not change flavor even when left for a long time.

When brewed, the buds stand upright in the soup, rush to the surface, slowly sink, then rise and sink again - like mushrooms emerging from the ground, or silver knives standing upright, rising and falling three times, creating a spectacular scene.

Xinyang Maojian Tea

Su Dongpo once said: "Among the teas in Huainan, Xinyang's is the best." Xinyang Maojian, also called Yu Maofeng, is one of China's Top Ten Famous Teas and a famous specialty of Henan Province.

It is named "Maojian" (fine tip) because its strips are slender and delicate, straight with sharp tips, and covered with white down; it is called "Xinyang Maojian" because it is produced in Xinyang. It has long been renowned at home and abroad for its unique style of "slender, round, tight, straight, abundant white down, high aroma, strong taste, and green color".

In 1915, Xinyang Maojian won the gold medal together with Guizhou Moutai at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and is known as the "King of Green Teas" - one of the finest premium green teas.

Xinyang Maojian has unique characteristics in color, aroma, taste, and shape: its color is fresh and clean, free of impurities; its aroma is elegant and fresh; its taste is fresh, mellow, and sweet; its shape is neat, fresh green, and shiny, with obvious white down.

After brewing, the aroma lasts long, the taste is rich and mellow, the sweetness lingers, and the soup color is bright and clear.

Super-grade Maojian consists of over 85% buds with one newly unfolded leaf; first-grade Maojian is mainly buds with one leaf, with over 80% normal leaves. It is required to pick without stems or fresh leaves.

Boil a pot of clean water, brew a cup of this year's new tea: watch the tender green leaves slowly bloom in the cup - first like lotus flowers waking up after sleeping for a hundred years, then like celestial maidens floating gracefully on a high palace wall. Until the tea fragrance curls up, the faint scent calms the composed heart.