Chinese tea is categorized into green tea, black tea, oolong tea (blue tea), yellow tea, white tea, dark tea, and reprocessed tea, each with unique appearances. The beauty of tea starts with its shape, considered the first of its five aesthetic qualities. Some teas are flat and straight, exuding a heroic and imposing aura like a warrior, while others are soft and slender, graceful and light like a lady. This article will combine tea form and charm to detail the "fresh and delicate" and "hard and strong" types of tea for tea enthusiasts.

Four "Fresh and Delicate" Teas

Enshi Yulu

This 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, characterized by dark green color, through steam fixation. Enshi Yulu wins praise for its unique quality and has been repeatedly rated as a famous tea.

Origin: Enshi, Hubei

Quality Characteristics: The strips are tight, fine, round, and straight, with visible white hairs. The color is emerald green and lustrous, shaped like pine needles. The soup color is clear and bright, the aroma is fresh, the taste is mellow and refreshing, and the brewed leaves are tender green and evenly whole.

Dongting Biluochun

Dongting Biluochun is a treasure among China's famous teas, renowned at home and abroad for its "four wonders": beautiful shape, bright color, rich fragrance, and mellow taste. It has since become a tribute tea presented annually.

Origin: Dongting Mountain, Taihu Lake, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Quality Characteristics: The strips are slender, curled into a spiral shape, covered with fine hairs, silvery-white with hints of green. The fragrance is delicate and elegant, the taste fresh, mellow, sweet, and thick with a lingering aftertaste. The soup color is jade green and clear, and the brewed leaves are tender green and bright. It is described as having "one tenderness (bud and leaf) and three freshness (color, fragrance, taste)." Local tea farmers describe Biluochun as: "Copper wire strips, spiral shape, covered with hair, floral and fruity aroma, fresh and thirst-quenching."

Jin Jun Mei

It is a branch of Wuyishan Zhengshan Xiaozhong and currently represents China's high-end, top-tier black tea. It is a rising star among Chinese tea categories.

Origin: Tongmuguan, Wuyi Mountain

Quality Characteristics: Authentic Jin Jun Mei has tightly shaped, elegant strips, slightly fuzzy, handsome, and substantial. The color is a mix of gold, yellow, and black, lustrous. When brewed, the soup color is golden yellow, clear with a golden ring. Its water, aroma, and taste resemble a complex blend of fruit, honey, and flower scents.

Que She (Sparrow's Tongue)

Named for its small, sparrow's tongue-like shape, it has an extremely unique and rich aroma. It is a premium tea roasted from tender buds. The market price for Que She is relatively high. It is one of the rare varieties among rock teas with distinctive flavor and high cost.

Origin: Yibin, Sichuan; Wuyishan, Fujian; Meitan, Guizhou; Pujiang, Sichuan; Jintan, Jiangsu; Hangzhou, Zhejiang

Quality Characteristics: The shape is cleverly like a sparrow's tongue, the color is dark brown-green, nearly black, with a strong fruity aroma. The soup color is orange-yellow and clear bright. The tea soup feels smooth upon entry, with different layers emerging through successive infusions, and a strong, lingering rock essence (Yan Yun) in the throat.

Four "Hard and Strong" Teas

Qian Liang Cha (Thousand-Tael Tea)

Also known as Hua Juan Cha (Flower Roll Tea), because one roll of tea weighs approximately one thousand taels according to the old measurement system. This tea is tamped with a rod and hammer into long cylindrical bamboo baskets, forming a cylinder. It is 147 cm high, 20 cm in diameter, and weighs about 36.25 kg. Qian Liang Cha holds the laurel of "King of World Teas."

Origin: Anhua, Hunan

Quality Characteristics: Taste: Good Qian Liang Cha has a strong, impactful entry, obvious sweet aftertaste, and leaves a fragrance between the teeth and cheeks. Poorly processed ("burnt-heart") Qian Liang Cha has a flat taste, poor astringency, no sweet aftertaste, a grassy smell, no aroma, and occasionally a faint pine smoke fragrance.

Liu Bao Cha

Liu Bao Tea is a historically famous Chinese tea and a well-known local specialty of Wuzhou, Guangxi. Liu Bao Tea is a representative of post-fermented dark tea, named after its origin in Liubao Township, Cangwu County, Wuzhou City, Guangxi. Its production history can be traced back 1500 years, and its historical value and quality are not inferior to Pu'er tea.

Origin: Wuzhou, Guangxi

Quality Characteristics: Liu Bao Tea is renowned for its "four wonders": red, strong, aged, and mellow. Its appearance is dark brown, the soup color is red, thick, and bright, the taste is mellow, refreshing, and sweet with a lingering aftertaste, the aroma is aged and mellow, with a betel nut fragrance. The quality is excellent and the flavor unique. It has various health benefits such as regulating stomach qi, relieving stagnation and bloating, clearing heat and dampness, sobering up, and lowering lipids.

Fenghuang Dancong

Classified as oolong tea, a semi-fermented tea, it is a precious, high-aroma famous tea variety resource among Chinese tea plant species, known for having the most elevated natural floral fragrance, the most diverse floral aroma types, a mellow, sweet, and refreshing taste, and a special charm.

Origin: Wudong Mountain tea area, Fenghuang Town, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province

Quality Characteristics: The strips are thick, strong, even, straight, and tidy, with a yellowish-brown color, moist and glossy, and with cinnabar-red spots. When brewed, the fragrance is lasting and clear, with a unique natural orchid aroma. The taste is rich, mellow, fresh, and refreshing, moistening the throat with a sweet aftertaste. The soup color is clear and yellowish bright. The brewed leaves have red edges and a yellowish center, famously known as "green leaves with red trim." It possesses a unique mountain charm character.

Tianzhu Jianhao

Tianzhu tea was famous far and wide during the Tang and Song dynasties but later disappeared and was lost. The reason is unverifiable. To develop the tea resources of Tianzhu Mountain and adapt to the development of tourism in the Tianzhu Mountain scenic area, after six years of research and trial production, the famous tea "Tianzhu Jianhao" was successfully created in 1985, allowing Tianzhu's famous tea to shine again.

Origin: Tianzhu Mountain area, 20 km northwest of Qianshan County, Anhui

Quality Characteristics: The shape is flat, straight, and sword-like, with an even emerald green color and visible hairs. The floral fragrance is elegant and lasting, the taste is mellow with a sweet aftertaste, the soup color is jade green and bright, and the brewed leaves are even, tender, and fresh. As soon as the new product Tianzhu Jianhao was introduced, it was officially designated as a national high-quality famous tea after participating in the 1985 National Famous Tea Appraisal in Nanjing.