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.

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.

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?