Zhejiang (and Guizhou) Green Teas

Yesterday I had a great tea day. I went to my friend's shop because he had some tea merchants from Lishui (a prefecture level division of Zhejiang province) at his shop.  They brought Anji Baicha, Xihu Longjing and Wuniuzao in large boxes and bags, altogether there must have about 200 pounds of tea. I took a blurry picture of all the boxes of tea which I won't post. (Below is a photo of some tea samples. The larger green leaves[upper left] are 'Anji baicha,' the other two are 'Wuniuzao.')

I really liked the white tea that they brought, although I thought it tasted a lot like green tea. Finally I realized that what they meant by 'baicha' was actually 'Anji baicha,' which is just a green tea from Anji in Zhejiang that is called white tea.  (Pictured below)

I drank about 4 different varieties of tea, and they were all enjoyable as green tea always is when it is new. (Pictured below is one of their 'wuniuzao' teas)

Of course, none of the teas were actually grown in the areas they were supposed to have been grown in. All were grown and processed in Lishui. It is very hard to sell green tea for a good price in many places in China if it is not a famous name. I don't drink enough green tea to really be able to tell just by looking that these teas were not real, and they still tasted good. I did notice that the tea they were calling 'Wuniuzao' did not have the dark fat 'posterior' which is common to first flush teas of that varietal.

On Friday I looked in on a new tea shop opening up near my friends, they sell only green tea from Guizhou. I tried some of their most expensive tea which was called Cuiya (翠芽, emerald buds or emerald shoots.) It was a very well made green using only very short buds, no leaves. The firing was also done well as the buds almost all stood upright at the bottom of the glass. I usually like to drink a lower end green tea with leaf/bud sets as they have a more robust flavor, but this tea had a rather full flavor. It was slightly hard to enjoy as they were still remodelling and the whole place stank of paint.

The Guizhou shop also used a lot of big names like Biluochun, Zhuyeqing, etc. They said this was just a way to describe the processing method and not an attempt at tricking people. They hadn't stocked all their teas yet so I couldn't check them all out.

Tea in Winter

A heavy frost will damage the crop.

But a light frost will improve the flavour of next spring's tea.

Tea flowers have opened and wilted already.

The view over a tiny tea field down into the valley. The frost melts quickly under the direct sun, while frost it the shade lasts until late in the day

When climbing in the hills, one cannot always stop to boil water, but holding a few tender buds in the mouth refreshes the spirit as well as weary feet. Frost covered buds were sweeter and more fragrant.

Organic Tea Garden

This past weekend I visited an organic tea garden near Yantou town, Yongjia County, Wenzhou prefecture. The elevation was around 600 meters, which is high for the area. I like an organic farm at the top of a mountain because there's no chance of pesticide runoff from other farms. The second picture is of a newly planted area, therefore it is not so nice looking. The grow the wuniuzao varietal which is made into green tea.

Wuniuzao Buying Expedition

I went with my friend into the hills of Wuniu village to purchase some of the tea of the same name for sale in his shop. There are small tea gardens all over Wuniu. It is not the same as large tea producing areas in China. Wuniuzao is not a internationally or even nationally famous tea. While it is certainly far from unknown, most of it is sold locally. Because of this, you wont find the same sort of monoculture you would find in places like Anxi(where Tieguanyin is produced) or many places in Yunnan, for example. Even in other parts of Wenzhou, specifically Taishun and parts of western Yueqing where Yandang maofeng has much larger areas of concentrated tea cultivation. The second picture is a Buddhist temple with Wuniuzao in the foreground. This may or may not be grown by the monks, I did not inquire within.

After passing many beautiful sights on the road, we came upon the house of the farmer. Unfortunately the colour of the tea had turned a bit yellow. It was sweet, and still good green tea, but it is harder to sell if the colour is changed, especially when the buyer is giving it as a gift. Colour, leaf shape, entire leaves, as well as short young buds are all important.

Unfortunately, I left the house in a hurry, and neglected to change the camera batteries, so after attempting to take one picture, I had to make do with my cell phone camera.

New Tea - 午牛早

These photographs are from this past march when my friend was processing his freshly harvested Wuniuzao.


A basket of 茶青, or the green, unprocessed tea buds.



The tea dryers are from Hangzhou. They make 龙井 or Dragonwell tea. The younger one is a welder in the off season. Tea is highly seasonal (obviously) and even if your tea must be harvested four times a year, there is still a significant amount of time off. They are only here because Wuniuzao is harvested at least a month before Dragonwell. They have plenty of time to get back before it starts.



I am learning how to make green tea. I didn't do a very good job, but gave up early so as not to interrupt. My friend, Xiaoguang is convinced that its a great idea to have these guys making the tea by hand outside the shop as a sort of advert.



This is my wife and Xiaoguang's wife Xiaohong outside their larger teashop in Baixiang. Note the tea processors are staring at them.