Basic Introduction to Daxin Bitter Tea

Daxin Bitter Tea, formerly known as “Wancheng Bitter Tea,” is a specialty of Daxin County, Guangxi Province, and a Chinese national geographical indication product. It is one of the traditional famous teas of Guangxi and has been a tribute to the imperial court since the Ming Dynasty. Daxin County has superior natural conditions that form the unique flavor and quality of bitter tea: “long peak period, stable high-quality, pleasant color and aroma with a slight bitterness.” Bitter tea is an evergreen tree species of the genus Ilex in the family Aquifoliaceae, commonly known as teading, Fuding tea, and Gaolu tea.

Nutritional Value

Bitter tea contains over 200 components, including bitter saponins, amino acids, Vitamin C, polyphenols, flavonoids, Caffeine, and proteins. Its finished tea has a clear and fragrant taste with initial bitterness followed by sweetness and coolness. It has multiple effects, such as clearing heat and quenching thirst, improving vision and intelligence, relieving thirst, promoting urination and strengthening the heart, moistening the throat and stopping coughs, lowering blood pressure and aiding weight loss, inhibiting cancer and preventing aging, and promoting blood circulation. It is often referred to as “health tea,” “beauty tea,” “weight-loss tea,” “hypotensive tea,” and “longevity tea.”

Historical Folklore

Daxin Bitter Tea, also known as “Wancheng Bitter Tea,” is one of the traditional famous teas of Guangxi, produced in Kuding Township, Wancheng County, which later became part of Kuding Village, Longmen Township, Daxin County. According to the old edition of the “Dictionary of the Sea,” “Bitter tea is a specialty of Guangxi, produced in Kuding Township, Wancheng County,” where “Kuding Township, Wancheng County” refers to Kuding Village, Longmen Township, Daxin County. An early 20th-century “Wancheng Heng signal” recorded Daxin merchants branding their bitter tea with the “butterfly” trademark for packaging and sales. The “Compendium of Materia Medica” records that bitter tea is “bitter, neutral, non-toxic. Southerners take it as tea, valuing it greatly… now widely used in Guangdong, named Kudeng… boiled and drunk, it quenches thirst, improves vision, removes irritability, keeps one awake, eliminates phlegm, promotes diuresis (i.e., treats colitis), treats dysuria, stops headaches and fever, clears the throat, and clears the lungs (i.e., clears the lungs).”

Manufacturing Method

Processing flow: tip killing – spreading – fixation – kneading – baking – screening and grading – finished product packaging.