Green mountains rise and fall, creating waves of greenery.
Rows of Tea bushes outline the spring scenery.
When the warm spring breeze dances among the tea plants, new sprouts accompanied by a light fragrance spread through the mountains.
In the mountains, tea pickers are busy at work, and the sound of machinery in the Tea processing factory can be heard; outside the mountains, those who have claimed their exclusive tea fields—the “tea field owners”—are already looking forward to tasting the first taste of spring, while tourists who enjoy the spring scenery of the tea fields are making their way for a spring rendezvous.
To attend a spring tea appointment, to raise a cup when the spring is just right. In spring, Danzhai County, with its 121,900 mu (about 8,126 hectares) of tea fields, offers a unique taste.
Fine Tea Born in High Mountains Amid Clouds and Mist
In the human world's April, high mountain tea fills the air with its fragrance.
In the Mazhai tea field of Longquan Town, Danzhai County, rows of tea bushes follow the undulating terrain, drawing arcs.
Tea picker Lu Rongmei moves through the rows of tea bushes, her fingertips turning as one by one, fresh buds fly from the branches into her basket.
“There is a technique to picking tea; you must use your thumb and index finger to gently pinch the tip of the bud and lift it up, not squeeze it,” explains Lu Rongmei. For tea pickers, picking tea is both a ‘slow' process and a technical task. Only by picking the freshest tea buds intact can consumers truly taste the flavor of spring.
Freshly picked spring tea. Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Committee of Danzhai County
The fingertips of the tea pickers carry the scent of tea, and inside the tea processing factory, the air is also filled with the aroma of tea.
Withering, fixing, rolling, drying… in the tea processing factory of Huayang Tea Industry Co., Ltd. in Danzhai County, the production of spring tea proceeds in an orderly manner.
“Current orders have reached around 10 million yuan, and workers are working in two shifts to meet the demand of these orders,” says Yang Mei, general manager of Huayang Tea Industry Co., Ltd. in Danzhai County. The quality of Danzhai tea has been well received in the market, and this year, the price of tea has increased by about 10% compared to last year.
A good cup of tea cannot be made without the craftsmanship of tea pickers and tea makers. The growth of fine tea leaves requires the careful nurturing of the ecological environment.
Fine tea is born in high mountains amid clouds and mist. Since ancient times, many famous teas and tribute teas, such as Mengding Yellow Bud, Wuyi Dahongpao, Emei Snow Bud, and Lushan Cloud and Mist Tea, have come from high mountains. Throughout the ages, literati have composed many poems praising the excellent taste of mountain tea, with lines like “Collected in the mountains in spring, fragrant when boiled in bamboo,” “I suspect that the rich flavor of thousands of years is quietly scattered on the branches of mountain tea,” and “The higher the mountain, the fatter the tea leaves; the lower the mountain, the thinner the tea leaves.” These verses show how much literati and poets adore the rich flavor and fragrant aroma of high mountain tea.
Tea plantation base in Mazhai Village, Longquan Town, Danzhai County. Photo by Miao Ximing
Danzhai County, located between 26 degrees 05 minutes and 26 degrees 26 minutes north latitude, with a forest coverage rate of 70.68%, possesses a unique ecological environment for developing organic tea.
The geographical environment and climate conditions characterized by low latitude, high altitude, scarce sunlight, and abundant cloud cover, with an annual air quality excellence rate of 99.7%, endow Danzhai tea with superior quality and a fresh, vibrant high mountain character.
The soil, rich in Selenium and zinc microelements, gives the tea trees growing here a natural “aura,” and the title of “China's Selenium-Zinc Tea Homeland” spread far and wide as early as 2007.
Capitalizing on its advantages, in recent years, Danzhai County has persisted in considering the tea industry as a critical means to increase farmers' income and consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation. It has adhered to government guidance, corporate leadership, participation by cooperatives and households, actively explored new paths, continuously improved the comprehensive benefits of the tea industry, and promoted the full-chain development of the tea industry. Through the construction of 5G smart tea fields, the promotion of the Wanda-assisted tea fields, and the transformation of low-yielding and inefficient tea fields, it has promoted the transformation and upgrading of the tea industry, improving its quality and efficiency, and created “ecological, clean, and reassuring” tea.
The unique natural resource conditions, coupled with the philosophy of ecological planting and standardized production, have allowed Danzhai tea to secure a place in the market with its “ecological, clean, and reassuring” quality.
So far, the area of tea fields in Danzhai County has reached 121,900 mu, covering 69 villages in 6 towns, benefiting 9,600 households and 38,000 people.
A Whiff of Tea Fragrance Goes Out of the Mountains
Another year brings good spring light, climbing up the mountain of the Wanda Danzhai tea field, one can see in the distance, amidst the clouds and mist, row upon row of tea plants like winding green waves, forming tier upon tier of “tea terraces,” a spectacular sight that displays the spirit of ecological and Green Tea mountains.
Thousands of miles away, Mr. Wu, a tea lover in Chengdu, is overjoyed; the fresh tea from his claimed tea field will soon be delivered to him. “Not only is the quality good, but I can drink it with complete peace of mind,” he says.
Mr. Wu is one of the “tea field owners” of the Danzhai tea field. From 2025 to the end of 2025, more than 12,000 people like him have claimed tea fields in Danzhai.
Tea farmers picking summer tea in the Mazhai tea field of Longquan Town, Danzhai County. Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Committee of Danzhai County
Fine tea is born in high mountains amid clouds and mist, and a whiff of tea fragrance goes out of the mountains.
The Wanda Danzhai tea field in Mazhai Village, Longquan Town, Danzhai County, launched the “Claim One Mu of Tea Field, Assist in Rural Revitalization” public claiming activity in 2025, where each person claims one mu (about 0.067 hectares) of tea field for 4,900 yuan per year (or 490 yuan for one ridge), and in the following spring, they can harvest high-quality tea from Danzhai: claimants of one mu have exclusive tea trees and receive 10 catties (about 5 kilograms) each of Danzhai Yunxie black and green tea; claimants of one ridge receive 1 catty (about 0.5 kilograms) each of Danzhai Yunxie black and green tea, also contributing to the income of Danzhai tea farmers.
By the end of 2025, the county had completed a total of 7,791 mu of tea field claims, with a claiming amount of 38.17 million yuan, involving 36,506 person-times of labor, and paid 35.6656 million yuan in labor rem