Huangshan Maofeng

Quality Characteristics: Huangshan Maofeng is divided into special grade and grades one, two, and three. Special grade Huangshan Maofeng is harvested around the Qingming Festival, picking one bud and one initial leaf, while other grades pick one bud with one or two leaves or one bud with two or three leaves. Special grade Huangshan Maofeng resembles a sparrow's tongue, with white hairs visible, a color like ivory, and golden fish leaves. After brewing, the tea soup is clear, with a fresh, rich, sweet taste, and the leaves are tender yellow, plump, and clustered. The "golden fish leaves" and "ivory-like color" are two distinctive features that set special grade Huangshan Maofeng apart from other Maofeng teas.

When drinking Huangshan Maofeng, it is best to brew it with water at around 80°C, using a glass or white porcelain teacup. Generally, it can be brewed 2-3 times. If brewed with Huangshan spring water, the tea soup will not leave stains in the cup even after sitting overnight.

Dongting Biluochun

Quality Characteristics: The tea strips are slender, curled into spirals, covered with fine hairs, silver-white with hidden green, with a light and elegant fragrance, fresh and mellow taste, and a long-lasting aftertaste. The tea soup is clear and green, and the leaves are tender green and bright. It is known for its "one tenderness (bud and leaf) and three freshness (color, aroma, and taste)." Local tea farmers describe Biluochun as: "Copper wire strips, spiral shape, covered with hairs, floral and fruity fragrance, fresh and refreshing."

When drinking, first place the tea leaves in a transparent glass cup, add a small amount of hot water to moisten the leaves, and then fill the cup after the leaves have unfolded. For a moment, the cup looks like snowflakes flying, with "white clouds rolling and snowflakes dancing." It is a delight to watch, with a refreshing fragrance. Holding it in your hands, it feels like a precious craft, making it hard to put down.

West Lake Longjing

Quality Characteristics: Longjing Tea has a flat and straight appearance, with a green and emerald color. It is famous for its "four wonders": green color, rich fragrance, sweet taste, and beautiful shape.

When brewing Longjing Tea, take a glass cup and pour in water at around 80°C. You will see the tea buds floating up gracefully, like water lilies, delicate and charming. The tea soup is green, with a high and fresh aroma, mellow and sweet taste, making it a divine tea.

Taiping Houkui

Quality Characteristics: Taiping Houkui has a unique color, aroma, taste, and shape, with the characteristics of "swords and spears gathered together, dragons flying and phoenixes dancing." Each tea consists of two leaves embracing one bud, flat and straight, not scattered, not curled, commonly known as "two knives and one spear." It is often described as "Houkui with two pointed ends, not scattered, not curled, and not bent." The leaves are dark green and evenly moist, with hidden red veins, commonly known as "red silk threads." The whole body is covered with fine hairs, hidden but not exposed. When brewed, the buds and leaves form clusters, floating or sinking in the clear and tender green tea soup, as if little monkeys are making playful gestures.

When tasting, the fragrance is overwhelming, rich and refreshing, with an endless aftertaste. You can experience the意境 of "first brew with high fragrance, second brew with strong taste, third and fourth brews with lingering fragrance," creating a unique "monkey charm."

Qimen Black Tea

Quality Characteristics: The tea strips are tight and thin, with buds showing fine hairs, and a dark and moist color. The tea has a lasting fragrance, resembling both fruit and orchid aromas, known in the international tea market as the "Qimen fragrance." The tea soup is bright red and transparent, and the leaves are bright red. The taste is mellow, with a lingering aftertaste.

Qimen Black Tea can be enjoyed alone or with milk and sugar, maintaining its fragrance. The British love Qimen Black Tea the most. In the London market, it is listed as a "hero" among teas. Whenever new Qimen Black Tea arrives, people compete to buy it, believing that "in the fragrance of Chinese tea, they find the aroma of spring." Even the British royal family takes pride in owning Qimen Black Tea and uses it to celebrate the queen's birthday, earning it the reputation of "intoxicating all fragrances."

Liuan Guapian

Quality Characteristics: The appearance resembles melon seeds, single leaves without stems, naturally flat, with slightly curled edges, a precious green color, and rich white frost. It has a fresh and high fragrance, a mellow and sweet taste, and a clear and bright tea soup. The leaves are tender green and bright. Liuan Guapian is divided into famous pieces and grades 1-4, with the famous pieces being the best.

Liuan Guapian Tea not only relieves heat and thirst but also has strong digestive and medicinal effects. Ming Dynasty's Wen Long mentioned in "Tea Notes" that Liuan tea is the most effective for medicinal purposes, making it a treasure.

Enshi Yulu

Quality Characteristics: Enshi Yulu Tea is a rare traditional steamed green tea in China. It is made from fresh leaves with one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves, dark green in color, through steam fixation. Its quality characteristics are: tight, thin, round, and straight strips, with white hairs visible, a dark green and moist color, shaped like pine needles. The tea soup is clear and bright, with a fresh fragrance, mellow and refreshing taste, and the leaves are tender green and evenly whole.

Junshan Yinzhen

Quality Characteristics: Junshan has a long history of tea production, famous since the Tang Dynasty. Because the tea is covered with fine hairs and has a golden base, it was once called "yellow feather." The finished tea buds are strong, uniform in size, orange-yellow inside, and wrapped in a layer of white hairs, earning the elegant name "gold inlaid with jade." Also, because the buds resemble silver needles, it is named Junshan Yinzhen.

After brewing, the tea leaves first rush to the top, then slowly sink, rising and falling three times, creating a spectacle. The taste is refreshing, leaving a lingering fragrance on the palate.

Tieguanyin

Quality Characteristics: High-quality Tieguanyin tea strips are curled, plump, round, and tightly knotted, heavy and evenly whole. Premium tea is tighter than ordinary tea, with heavy leaves. When a small amount is placed in a teapot, it makes a "clinking" sound, clear and crisp for the best, dull for the inferior. The finished tea is bright and moist, with a sandy green color and bright red spots, covered with white frost. After brewing, the tea soup is golden yellow, rich and clear. The expanded leaves are thick and bright (a characteristic of Tieguanyin: the back of the leaves is curved), with a silky luster, which is the best, while dark red soup is inferior. Premium Tieguanyin tea soup has a strong and unique fragrance, fragrant and lasting, intoxicating. The ancients described it as "before tasting the sweet dew, first smell the holy fragrance." Take a sip, gently roll it on the tongue, and feel the tea soup's richness and sweetness. Swallow slowly, and the charm is endless.

Xinyang Maojian

Quality Characteristics: Xinyang Maojian is of high quality, with thin, elegant, and straight strips, showing buds, a green color, and covered with white hairs. The tea soup is tender green and bright, with a fresh, high, and refreshing aroma. The leaves are tender green, bright, fine, and even. The special grade unfolds into one bud and one initial leaf.

Yunnan Pu'er

Quality Characteristics: The buds are strong, and the leaves are thick, yellow-green with red spots and stems. The strips are thick and solid, covered with dense white hairs. The fragrance is high and lasting, with the unique aroma of Yunnan large-leaf tea. The taste is strong and stimulating. It is durable, retaining fragrance after five or six brews. The tea soup is dark red, with a unique aged fragrance, pure and sweet aftertaste.

Dongding Oolong

Quality Characteristics: Dongding Oolong is a lightly semi-fermented tea. Dongding is the mountain name, and Oolong is the variety name. Dongding tea is of excellent quality, leading in the Taiwanese tea market. The premium tea has tightly curled strips, dark green and bright, with gray-white spots like frog skin. The dry tea has a strong fragrance. After brewing, the tea soup is slightly orange-yellow, with a clear fragrance resembling osmanthus. The tea soup is fresh and active, sweet and smooth in the throat, with a strong charm. The edges of the leaves are red, and the middle is light green.