Emei Mountain Xue Ya or Snow Bud Tea

Last night we walked over to the tourist section of Baguan Village to get some Teh Guan Yin for Sunee to take to Thailand for her family. I took some interesting pictures as we went:


The Bronze Pagoda at the base of the tourist area.


This beautiful man-made waterfalls next to the bronze pagoda is very impressive at night.


Another view of the bronze pagoda at night. I fiddled with the huge incense burner to get it to show up

As we walked to the tea seller where we buy our tea, we stopped at a fairly new tea store specializing in Emei Mountain Xue Ya or Snow Buds. We had seen this for sale at Baguan Temple during the holidays and wondered what it was. It looks like it is being marketed as a "precious Emei tea." Maybe we should check this tea out. It is not cheap.

We bought a couple of bags of Teh Guan Yin and asked about the Xue Ya tea. The lady had it so we bought a little to see what it was like. This is what we found:


Xue Ya or Snow Bud tea looks a lot like Zhuyeqing but the leaves look a little smaller and more delicate. The color is almost the same as is the smell.


Fabulous looking tea! It has the familiar greenish color of Zhuyeqing and smells similar. The taste is magnificant. It seems to have all the good qualities of Zhuyeqing but the sensation lasts a bit longer. The familiar sweet aftertaste is present as well.



We tried it also in the traditional way to serve Zhuyeqing. The leaves were much more fun to watch than Zhuyeqing. They were slower but more definitive in their movement to the bottom. We had a great time watching them dance their way to the bottom. The tea is stronger than Zhuyeqing in the same steep time. I think this is because the leaves are lighter and take longer to get to the bottom. This is truly a great green tea.

Sunee plans to return immediately to the tea seller and stock up on this tea for here and for Thailand. Welcome to Emei Mountain and its wonderful teas!

Hong Xiang Fei Tea

We picked this tea up along with our Emei Mao Feng at one of the small tea shops along the street in Baguan Village. It has the most unusual tea leaves and that, quite frankly, is why we bought it. I can find no reference to this tea anywhere on the internet. The name is in pinyin and means something to the affect of Red Fragrant Concubine. The Xiang Fei part refers to concort or concubine from Kashgar to the Emperor in Beijing. The story goes:

Although accounts vary as to some details, the basic story amongst Han Chinese recounts the discovery by the Qianlong Emperor of an Uyghur girl named Iparhan, granddaughter of Apak Khoja, a local leader in the oasis city of Kashgar. Even more remarkable than her beauty was the scent her body naturally produced; captivated, the Emperor sought her as an Imperial Consort for his harem. She was given as a gift to the Emperor and carefully escorted all the way to Beijing, washing every day along the road in camel's milk to preserve her mysterious fragrance.

Upon her arrival to the imperial palace, the Fragrant Concubine, was gifted with a garden and a luxurious room of her own as a sign of the Emperor's devotion. Homesick and distraught, she remained disconsolate as the Emperor made ever-increasing efforts to recreate her distant village, building her a mosque, miniature oasis, and bazaar outside her windows in an effort to bring her happiness. Finally she relented and came to love him when he sent messengers to Kashgar to return with an jujube tree bearing golden fruit, and the Fragrant Concubine became the emperor's cherished consort until her death. An enduring symbol of national unity and reconciliation, her body was borne back to her home of Kashgar, where she is now entombed, in a procession of 120 bearers in a journey that took over three years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrant_Concubine)


This is a panorama of the Fragrant Concubine's Tomb in Kashgar. We visited it back in 2005 on our Silk Road Adventure.


The leaves are strange looking and got our attention immediately upon seeing them.


This is definitely scented tea. It tastes strange and is quite strong. Since I, once more, had not eaten breakfast before trying this tea, I had some stomach problems with it. I have to learn not to do this in my excitement in trying new teas.

This tea might be ok later in the day when I can sit back, relax, and savor its taste. Maybe I will do that today.

On The Way To Buy Tea

It was during the National Holiday that we decided to go to Baguan Village again to pick up some tea and some tea cans for Sunee's return to Thailand. On the way we walked along the edge of Emei Mountain. These are some of the pictures I took.


This guy was crossing the sidewalk in front of us as we walked up toward the back gate to Southwest Jiaotong University. I took several pictures. At first, the praying mantis was a bit skittish but later he looked right at me as I tried to get a close-up.




The two pictures were taken as we made a short deter to see if I could get some pictures of the local tea plantation in back of the 2000 star hotel located near Baguan Temple. I say 2000 stars because one of the hotel's villas cost around 40,000 yuan a night or $6,000 US. The view of the tea in the surround-windows in the bedroom and living room are unbelievable! We did not get to see them this time.

A Tea Ceremony

Yesterday, September 30, my wife and I visited the local tourist street in Baguan Village at the foot of Mount Emei. Sunee wanted to get some tea cans for the several pounds of Emei Mao Feng we had bought from one of the shops. Along the way we came across the new Zhu Ye Qing Tea House. This building had been under construction for some time and we had no idea what it was going to be. We immediately went in to check out their wares.


The store front is magnificent, tasteful and professionally designed. In the window were the normal accessories one finds in top notch tea houses. We went in and asked for a tasting of several of Emei's finest. Can't resist the tea ceremonies that go along with this tasting. Spent a good hour tasting teas and looking at the tea accessories. We finally decided on four different teas to try at home. We also made a mental note of the beautiful rosewood tea tray we will probably pick up later.


This tea is Su Xiang or Emei Spring Dew.



I tried to buy some of this tea in the local market but Sunee did not think it was a good idea since we would have had to buy a lot of it, unsure if we would like it. Here the packaging was smaller to give us a taste. It is called Emei Bird Beak tea.


We tried this Jasmine tea and found it most pleasing. Normally I do not care for a scented tea but this was nice. It is Emei Hua Mao Feng or Jasmine Mao Feng.


This tea is called Clear Fried Green tea. Not sure what this means as many green teas are fried. Guess we will just have to wait to find out what it is like.

An Unknown Tea

As I sit here writing my poetry
I wonder what tea this could be
I remember where it was bought
The name of which we both forgot


Here is a close up of the leaves. The lady we got it from told us but we forgot. Sunee thinks the name had something to do with clouds or Yun. I do believe this is an Emei Yun Wu Green Tea or Clouds and Mist Green Tea. Let's try it and then when we go back to get some more of the Emei Mao Feng from the sales lady, we will ask.



We steeped this for around two minutes and it was not strong. The color, as you can see, is not very deep. The taste has a slight spice taste but is mild and mellow. This is a very smooth tea but I think it needs to seep a little longer to bring out stronger flavors and sensations. The aftertaste is very pleasant and on the sweet side. The leaves are tiny with a whiteness about them I have not seen in a green tea. I think we will have to put a lot more leaves and let it steep a bit longer to really get the taste.

Guess we will go back and get a bunch of this tea from that lady. She is a ten minute walk from the university and our apartment. We liked it a lot.

Emei Mountain Hua Mao Feng (Jasmine)

After our tea ceremony earlier, we walked to the place we normally buy our tea. Sunee wanted to buy some more tea cans to take some tea back to Thailand with her in three weeks. We could not find the lady so we looked elsewhere. On the way out, a very nice but aggressive sales lady talked us into buying the "unknown" tea I wrote about earlier. She also gave us a sampling of her Hua Mao Feng so we could compare it with the tea we had just purchased.


This Emei Jasmine tea or Hua Mao Feng is not weak. Since I had not eaten breakfast, I made the mistake of trying to drink some. It gave me heart burn almost instantly as the Jasmine easily overpowered the tea. It smelled great but . . . I have always had a hard time with scented tea or flavored coffee. My old bod just does not agree with the scent or the flavoring.

Sunee thinks she may have over done the tea by placing all the leaves into our teapot. This was strong tea for sure! We will go back to the lady for the Yun Wu, if that is what it is, but we will not get her Hua Mao Feng.

Ku Ding Cha

Sunee and I have been drinking Kuding Cha now for about a year. Had no idea what it was until recently. We bought it shortly after moving here last year, tried it and found it bitter but very refreshing. Not long ago we found that it was not actually a tea from the tea plant but from the Kuding bush which grows wild in these mountains. It is supposed to be good for balancing one's yin and yang or some such thing. We were told that we should only drink it once every two or so weeks. We have been doing that for a long time now. The people of Sichuan have been drinking it for over three centuries.

Since we were turned on to tea and tea culture on our trip to Ya'an, I have been doing internet research to find out all I can about all the teas we have come into contact with. Kuding cha is no exception.


This is a close-up of the kuding sticks. "Ku" means bitter and the "ding" refers to the shape of the product and how it resembles the Chinese character "ding" (丁)


As you can see, the kuding cha looks like sticks. One is plenty for around eight to ten steepings (is this what one does to teas?).

Recently we bought some different kuding cha. The first was heavily twisted making them look like curly macaroni. The second was called Qing Shan Lu Sui or Clear Mountain Green Water. The curly kuding tastes exactly like the sticks. The Clear Mountain stuff is nice. It is not as bitter and very light with a beautiful green liquid. The stick kuding might be too bitter for many people but the Clear Mountain kuding is probably ok for most.



Curly kuding cha. This is actually more bitter than the sticks so one takes about a third of one of these curly thing for their tea



This is a close up of the Clear Mountain Green Water kuding cha. It is a very green dried product


Clear Mountain Green Water kuding cha loose leaf


The leaves open up and look exactly as they were picked. These are young leaves whereas the other kuding are mature leaves


And the liquid that results from the first steeping is absolutely beautiful

Emei Mountain Mao Feng

This is a review of the Emei Mountain Mao Feng we bought recently at one of the many tea shops along the tourist section of Baguan Village. It is light. It is very light, especially compared to the Mengding Shan Mao Feng. They taste very similar but the Mengding Mao Feng is at least twice as strong as the Mao Feng from Emei with the same steeping times.


You can easily see the difference with the Emei tea coming out rather pale. In fact, to get it to look as beautiful as the Mengding tea, we had to steep it almost three times as long. Now, is this because we bought inferior tea or does Emei produce a milder form of the Mao Feng. Heck if I know.


The dried tea is much lighter than the Mengding Mao Feng. There seems to be about 10% - 15% lighter leaves among the dark in the Emei tea. The leaves themselves even felt a bit lighter.


One can easily see the difference between the Mengding Mountain and Emei Mountain Mao Fengs. Can you pick the tea from the two different sources?

Meng Ding Mao Feng

In Shangli, the ancient city in the Mengding Mountains, we bought about a kilo of Mao Feng from the tea lady on one of the streets. Here are my assessments of it.


The Mengding Mao Feng makes a beautiful cup of tea and it did not take long for it to get this beautiful. The taste is strong and hardy, smooth with a slight lingering bitterish (is this a word?) aftertaste. This tends to be our daily tea as we drink several cups of it a day. In fact, I bought the glass cup and saucer to show just how nice the tea looked. As we processed more and more tea, I realized that I was having to work too hard to get the tea to look like it really did in this glass cup. Too much background tended to screw up the picture. I traded the glass for a more traditional china one we also bought specifically for taking pictures. This shows off the teas much better than the glass. The glass cup was very cute.


Here you have a good look at Mengding Mao Feng tea in its dried state. It is a dark tea with only a few tea with some lighter parts. The tea overall is solid with a distinct and enjoyable flavor.


Here is the cup of Mengding Mao Feng tea along with the dried tea. The dried tea is a very dark green, heavy and compact.

Emei Mountain Green Tea

No more do I descend the stairs of time
The sun no longer sets upon the horizon
The jade green tea and I become as one
Embraced into a dance of mental rhyme

What are these thoughts that circle in my mind?
Are those birds that sing beside my ears?
What vision before me boldly appears?
Is it the tea or just my body trying to unwind?

The thoughts I have come from the jade-like brew
And the birds are singing of this green tea I hold
The vision is one of calm and gentle, not so bold
As the tea teases me by telling me it is all true
(Cecil Hill, September 2008)



Emei Mountain famous Zhu Ye Qing green tea

I can think of no better way to continue this tea travel blog than to write about the locally produced bamboo-leaf green tea or Zhu Ye Qing in Chinese. From what I have read on the internet and the information provided by the tea museum (a topic of a later post), Emei Mountain has been producing a fine green tea for thousands of years. It was always known for its pure and mellow light taste. In April 1964, when the government sent its team inspectors to check out the local tea production, the Foreign Minister, Chen Yi, was among the group. As he sat and played chess while drinking tea with the old monk in Wannian Temple, he wondered what kind of tea he was drinking. The old monk told him that it was a product of Emei Mountain but had not been given a name yet. The old guy requested that the Foreign Minister give it a name. The minister thought the tea leaves looked like young bamboo leaves so he called it zhu ye qing or bamboo leaf tea.

This tea can be found all over the place here at the foot of Emei Mountain and in Chengdu. In fact, we found a store specializing in it in Chongqing next to the Great Hall of the People and Three Gorges Museum. Every tea shop has it for sales and occasionally one can buy it from a local producer as we did this week.


A local grower selling her tea on the street in downtown Emei City

The tea leaves float on the top until they are saturated with the hot water, become heavier than the water and then slowly float to the bottom. The leaves look just like the bamboo leaves of Emei Shan. The experience of the tea involves the watching of the floating tea leaves gradually "float" down to the bottom as well as drinking the green tea. The taste is sweet and slightly bitter, unique aroma and has a sweet after taste depending on how strong the tea is. It is a very relaxing tea and, thus, I penned the above poem while drinking the very glass you see in the above photograph. The tea pictured above was very strong as the tea leaves were very light and took a while to start their journey to the bottom.


The Zhu Ye Qing we bought from the local grower above



Our new tea pot set from the local department store. Soon we will be on the road again looking for tea and teapots from their sources

The Chinese Tea Adventure Begins

This from the internet:

As legend has it, one day in 2737 B.C. the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was boiling drinking water over an open fire, believing that those who drank boiled water were healthier. Some leaves from a nearby Camellia sinensis plant floated into the pot. The emperor drank the mixture and declared it gave one "vigor of body, contentment of mind, and determination of purpose."
(http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-tea-history.html)

Of all the legends told about where tea comes from, I like this one the best. Supposedly this guy began to drink the tea leaves in their wild state. Later the first tea plants were cultivated:

"But what people drank then was not cultivated but wild tea. Not until Wu Lizhen, a native of Mingshan County, grew seven tea trees on top of Mengshan Mountain around 53 BC in the Han Dynasty did tea planting begin in human history," said Yang, also an expert on tea cultivation.

Mengshan Mountain is located near Ya'an and is a three-hour bus trip from Emei Mountain where we live. What a great way to start learning about tea by traveling to the location it was first cultivated!

Welcome to Ya'an and the beginning of our Chinese Tea Travels.




The famous Wuwei Flying Horse - symbol for Chinese tourism

Drum and Bell Towers of Ya'an

As one enters the city of Ya'an, one will see the above "symbol of Chinese tourism" with a huge drum and bell towers behind it. These towers are an exciting introduction to the city. Although the bus traveled on into the city for another twenty or so minutes, we caught a taxi back out to these structures to take pictures. They were not well maintained but still impressive.







Misty mountains surrounding Ya'an




A typical tea plantation found in the mountains around Ya'an

The tea plantations are at 580-750 metres above sea level, with more than 70 per cent of the soil featuring acidity desirable for tea growth. The average annual temperature is 15.5 C; the annual rainfall is 1,520 mm; the annual sunshine is 1,035 hours; and the annual frost-free period is 298 days. "These are all favourable conditions for the cultivation of quality tea. "The name of Mengshan itself means 'misty mountain' in Chinese." This according to a local tea expert.


Ya'an is the Hometown of Giant Pandas

Forget about The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu. Ya'an is the place to come to see where the Giant Pandas really live. The first one was actually found in this area of Sichuan. If you are on a tea travel in China, Ya'an offers both tea and Giant Pandas!


Bifeng Gorge


A very wet canyon


The Ancient Town of Shangli




Waterwheel on the river next to Shangli



A scene from Shangli


Buying tea from a local vendor



A Shangli river man



Entrance area to Shangli


Typical Sichuan snack



The famous ancient bridge in Shangli




Ming Dynasty courtyard

White Horse Spring Temple (Bai Ma Chuan)








From the government website:

Just before arriving at White Horse Spring one passes some old walled graveyards that again clearly indicate that there were some substantial families in this area during the Qing dynasty. Nearby an open stone edifice surrounds a spring on the left. In this first pool, one can see the special character of this spring for which it is reknown--the periodic appearance of bubbles and a rise and fall of its waters. Proceeding a little way further on the North Road , one reaches the gate of the White Horse Spring temple area. The gate is a moon gate and has two very old stone lions to guard it. Within the gate one first sees a series of walled pools with stone bridges and many stone tablets. An old x, likely Ming dynasty, has seens from the journey to the West. Stone carvings include a variety of animals on the bridges and dragons overlooking the pools. Of particular note is the stone dragon in the main pool which is carved out of a natural outcrop in the pool. Stairs lead down to the waters and people gather here to watch the bubbles and the rise and fall. Some years ago (1991) there was a rare Wawa fish in this pool, a very primaeval species, that is endgangered. It was thought to have been stolen to eat and there has been no return sightings here since then.

Deeper into the compound, there are several sights of note including a small stone roofed open pavillion which houses an old brass bell. A stone courtyard fronts the main temple building which was built around a large stone outcrop. Out of this outcrop has been carved a godess of mercy. Inside the building there is also a dug well covered by a stone top from which pilgrims and others can dip and drink the healing waters of the spring. On the hillside beside the temple are many old stone stuppas as well as secular qing dynasty tombs.

This is one of my favorite temples. It is old, definitely old. The reason why I like it so much is because of its mountain setting. The lush green of the mountain side lends a relaxed and cool environment for the temple. This would be a great place to sit and relax with some of the local Mengding Mao Feng Green Tea.


Night Fall In Ya'an City





One of the most beautiful bridges I have ever seen. Highly commercial but really magnificent, especially at night. It has a pedestrian walkway down the center with the cars on the side. The covered area has two floors with all kinds of items sold including a few local tea vendors. We did our shopping and them wondered along the river waiting for the lights to come on so I could get my pictures. The lights were turned on at a little after 8 PM.



Buying tea from a tea shop is always interesting and enjoyable. The tea lady or man puts on a show as he or she explains the essence of the tea tasted. It is always fun and relaxing. Here a lady tea seller on the Ya'an Bridge does her thing.




No foreigner ever arrives in China without bringing in interested "others." Here are young lady joins us as we sample the local tea poducts. Actually she was a seller from the shoe store next door. We ended up buying some Mengding Mao Feng from the sales lady.







How about some Tibetan Tea, I asked Sunee? In a great and well lit shop that was obviously well supported by the government we found this TIbetan Tea shop. Tibetan Tea? I thought that the old Tea Horse Trail from Ya'an to Tibet was to transport the local tea to Tibet which did not have its own tea. In fact, from what I have seen, the Tibetan Tea was actually compressed tea similar to Pu'er and transported in brick form.

We bought some of this Tibetan Tea to try a little later. Me thinks it is probably local tea fermented in the Tibetan style. Now where can I get some of that Yak butter the Tibetans put in their tea.

And as a side, I read somewhere on the internet about a Taiwan doctor researching why the Tibetans had such white teeth. Seems he found that at least 50% of Tibets suffered from a disease caused by flouride. Too much flouride caused bones to become calcified. Calcified teeth are super white. Not good though as they tend to fall out all at once or break off. The Tibetan Tea bricks were really heavy in flouride. We shall see. We shall see.