Tea Legends - The 10 Famous Chinese Teas

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Legend has it a great drought parched the mountainous regions of China's Lion's Peak in Hangzhou in 250 AD. The tea crop for that year was thirsting for every last drop of moisture it could find. Alas the lack of a single drop of precious liquid threatened their very existence. So a monk traveled the treacherous mountain paths to summon the dragon residing in the spring that fed their well. The monk prayed to this dragon for rain pleading with him to save their precious tea crop. The dragon feeling generous, and perhaps thirsty for tea as well, granted the monk's wish with a lush soaking rain and the spring never dried out. To this day that very same spring nourishes the tea bushes near Lion's Peak granting us the finest in Dragonwell tea, and the dragon has never thirsted for his favorite first flush Long Jing.

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Centuries ago Pi Lo Chun was known by the name Xia Sha Ren Xiang, which means astounding fragrance. Legend has it tea pickers walked among the tea bushes near the garden city of Suzhou filling their baskets with a particularly good crop of tender tea. Moist with mountain mist, the tea shoots and buds were ripe with the absorbed aroma of the peach, apricot and plum trees planted among the tea bushes. The tea workers baskets soon filled to overflowing and not about to miss out on any of this fine crop of tea they stuffed as much as they could into their tunics. (some say they were stealing it for themselves)

Warmed by body heat and the warm spring sun, the fresh tea began to give off a rich bodily aroma. Many pickers exclaimed, "I was astounded" by the scent, and thus the tea's name was chosen.

Sometime in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, Emperor Kang Xi visited the Lake Taihu area in Zhejiang province. He was presented with a fine sample of this tea. The Emperor was impressed with the aroma and clarity of the tea and asked the name. "Astounding Fragrance" was his host's reply. The Emperor disdainfully replied that such a name for this treasure was vulgar and an insult not fit for the likes of such an elegant tea. He demanded the unused leaves be brought for his examination, and declared that a more fitting name would be Bi Luo Chun (Green Snail Spring) because it was harvested in the spring on Biluo Peak in Dongting and the rolled shape looked like tiny green snail shells.

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Centuries ago in the Fujian Province of China an old farmer walked the paths near his farm every day enjoying the serene sound of birds and the gentle trickle of a nearby spring. Each day his travels brought him near an ancient neglected temple. Seeing this once beautiful temple in such a run down condition saddened him deeply yet he did not have the financial means to have it repaired. One day he decided at least he could sweep and cleanse it with incense, and so twice a month he did.

In the center of this temple was a statue of Guanyin, sometimes called the Iron Goddess of Mercy, and each day the farmer swept and burned incense in the temple the statue seemed less cracked and broken. One day many years after the farmer had begun caring for the temple the Iron Goddess appeared to him in a dream. So touched by the poor farmer's devotion to her temple she told him to look in the caves behind the temple to find a treasure left for him with instructions to share the gift with others as he had shared the gift of his time with her.

The farmer searched the cave for hours before finding a small crevice far in the back, within it was a single tea shoot, which he cultivated into a splendid tea bush. The tea produced from this bush glowed with a golden brown liquid, diffused a distinct toasty aroma, and had a delicious sweet taste. Word spread of this wonderful tea and thus the Fujian Province became famous for the finest Iron Goddess oolong tea.

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The Yellow Mountains of Anhui Province China is the home of Yellow Mountain Fur Peak tea. Imagine soaring cliffs piercing into the clouds as far as the eye can see, with rich fertile soil beneath your feet, cool air sending a slight chill over your body as a fine misty rain dampens the air. The smell of orchids surround you in its magnolia-like fragrance as the sun begins to peek around the clouds. That is what you'd experience on Yellow Mountain - or Huang Shan. As with many of the surrounding mountains of China Yellow Mountain has it's own legend, based on life's tragedy of course.

A young man and a beautiful young woman from a tea plantation were in love, but the local tyrant enslaved her for his concubine. She escaped, only to learn that the landlord, in a jealous rage, had killed her lover. When she found her lover's body cast away deep in the mountains, she wept and wept, until she became the rain, while her lover's body grew into the earth turning into a tea bush. Legend has it this is why the area where this tea grows is cloudy and humid all year round, and why Yellow Mountain is gifted with the delightful Huangshan Maofeng tea.

Legend has it that Emperor Hui Tsung was so distracted with his love for Silver Needle white tea and his pursuit for the perfect cup, that he neglected his empire and lost it to the invading Mongol hoards.

There is very little information about the legends of Silver Needle white tea - I am still deep in my quest to find the source of this delicate white tea from the Fujian Province of China.

Meanwhile...Purchase a little Bai Hao Silver Needle Tea and see just why it ranks in the top ten best Chinese teas.

Pu-erh tea can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). According to legend, seeds of the tea plants used to make Pu-erh tea were left by Zhu Geliang (Zhegeliang) - Prime Minister of the Shu State during the Three Kingdoms Period. He is also known as the "Tea Forefather". Zhu Geliang taught the people of southern Yunnan the art of harvesting and making tea. It is also believed that the Six Famous Tea Mountains located north of the Lincang River were named after six items left behind by Zhugeliang. Youle (copper gong), Mangzhi (copper boa), Manzhuan (iron brick), Yi Bang (wooden clapper), Gedeng (leather stirrup), and Mansa (seed-sowing bag). As any good legend would have it the names and locations of these six famous tea mountains have shifted and changed over the years.

In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Pu-erh tea gained such great popularity that more than 100,000 people were involved in the tea growing on the puer tea mountains around Simao town. Pu-erh tea is known for its many healing properties, including the best known remedy for curing a hangover according to some. But perhaps that is just an urban legend... you may have to try it for yourself.

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