Ya-Ya’s Tea-Board

… is quite a flexible list at best. But more about that later.

Most people with an interest in tea will have heard about the Ten Famous Chinese Teas (I have made references to them occasionally on this blog in the past). While references to this list are often used to market some lower grade teas in the West, few people know much about it. I’ll shed some light on its historical roots and some problems that this list brings with it.

Let’s start with the list of the 10 Famous Chinese Teas as Wikipedia has compiled it:

1. Xi Hu Long Jing  (or West Lake Dragonwell), Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) GREEN
2. Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun (or Green Snail Spring), Suzhou (Jiangsu Province) GREEN
3. AnXi Tie Guan Yin (or Iron Goddess of Mercy), Anxi (Fujian Province) OOLONG
4. Huang Shan Mao Feng (or Fur Peak), Huangshan (Anhui Province) GREEN
5. Jun Shan Yin Zhen (or Silver Needle), Yueyang (Hunan Province) YELLOW
6. Qi Men Hong Cha (or Keemun Black Tea), Qimen (Anhui Province) BLACK
7. Wu Yi Yan Cha (or Wuyi Rock Tea), Wuyi Shan (Fujian Province) OOLONG
8. Liu An Gua Pian (or Melon Seed), Jinzhai (Anhui Province) GREEN
9. Xin Yang Mao Jian (or Xin Yang Fur Tip), Xinyang (Henan Province) GREEN
10. Du Yun Mao Jian (or Du Yun Fur Tip), Duyun (Guizhou Province) GREEN

Other versions of this list also include the following teas:

• Tai Ping Hou Kui (or Monkey King), Taiping (Anhui Province) GREEN
• Bai Hao Yin Zhen (or Silver Needle), Fuding (Fujian Province) WHITE
• Pu-erh, Simao (Yunnan Province) PU-ERH
• Fenghuan Dancong (or Phoenix oolong), Fenghuan Shan (Guangdong Province) OOLONG
• Lu Shan Yun Wu (or Cloud & Fog), Lu Shan (Jiangxi Province) GREEN
• Meng Ding Gan Lu (or Sweet Dew), Mengding (Sichuan Province) GREEN

and many more…

A few things become quite obvious when you start looking more closely at the list. First off, there’s a very strong bias towards green tea. In fact it represents fairly well the importance of green tea in China (which accounts for about 70% of total tea production). I’ve included the origin of each tea to emphasize another point about these teas that is closely related to the history of this list: each tea is produced at a different location, which is often part of the tea’s name (i.e. AnXi Tie Guan Yin).
While the list is generally referred to as the 10 Famous Chinese Teas, this is just the modern name for a range of teas that were given as a tribute to the Imperial Court until about 100 years ago. Each tea on the list caught the fancy of an emperor who declared the tea as an exclusive commodity to the Imperial Court. All have a unique character and provenance which was regarded as something worthy to the court and in fact, these teas were usually used as tax payments.

Today, most of these teas are available to consumers worldwide, bringing the exclusive flavours of Imperial China to all corners of the globe. This development has brought some drastic changes and implicit problems with it. While the original Imperial Tribute Teas were drunk by the Imperial Court and locals at the place of origin only, production was small since demand was small. Today, any tea from the 10 Famous Chinese Teas has an incredible demand which often can’t be satisfied by the production at the place of origin. Good examples are Xi Hu Longjing (the most famous of all Chinese green teas) and the recent pu-erh bubble. Both teas had fairly limited productions, but as their reputation increased, demand for these teas drove prices very high. Other areas started to produce these teas, processing them in the same way as the original. Sometimes, they are marked with their different provenance, but more often than not, they are declared to be the original. The problem is, the unique character of each of these teas is directly connected to the growing area and conditions (or terroir) of the tea, so teas produced elsewhere are never anything but cheap copies of the original.

In my opinion, the 10 Famous Chinese Teas is a useful list for people interested in learning more about Chinese tea. While all of these teas are outstanding examples of the broad range of Chinese tea, I don’t believe in using it as a Top 10 of tea since there are many other worthy teas that this list omits. But due to the popularity of the list, it is usually relatively easy to find a source to purchase any of these teas (in fact, we are offering 5 of the teas in the Wikipedia list).

Tags [ chinese famous teas | Imperial tribute tea | green tea | oolong | China ]