Chinese Tea: From the Past to the Future

In 2017, white tea is trending in China. Those Chinese entrepreneurs who sell white tea in the major tea markets of modern China - Malindao in Beijing and Fancong in Guangzhou - are doing well.

New for the 2017 season - high-quality white tea pressed in lime has finally appeared. In modern Russian tea culture, white tea has occupied a prominent place since the 1990s, although it is far from the current popularity of Pu-erh, Tie Guan Yin and Da Hong Pao.

The "ancestors" of modern puer were also brought to Russia. In Russia, puer (then they were the progenitors of modern sheng puer) were called "pur-cha" and "pu-er-cha". Shu puer did not exist yet; they, as a phenomenon, appeared only in the 1970s.

They also brought "Chinese tea from the Bogea Mountains" - this is what the cliff oolongs from Wuyi Shan were called in the 19th century. Nowadays, a blend of raw materials from Shui Xian and Zhou Gui has received the commercial name "Da Hong Pao" and is successfully sold in Russia. A hybrid bush has also appeared - mono-varietal Da Hong Pao.

Many consumers believe that we live in an age of tea diversity, and that there was none before.

Is this true?..

No, that's not true.

The names of teas from the past sound bright and sweet... What did your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers drink?..

Let's go through the pre-revolutionary "tea alphabet": from A to Z, leaving a few letters out of play.

But let's not oversimplify things: we will intentionally leave a few letters open for now, which we have tea for.

Let it be a riddle: choose the names of old Chinese teas for them yourself.

So, let's begin our tea word game!

A - "aromatic";
B - “bouquet”, “bouquet of Chinese roses”, “bouquet of Fuchang”;
B - "vaizan", "vanzovy";
G - "guang-kong";
D - "dail";
E -
Ж - "pearl khalushun", "zhulan";
Z - "musty";
And - "ilan", "ingen silver needles" (yes, you guessed it, it's him!);
K - "kihing", "red fragrant";
L - "hole";
M - "morning";
N - "nenchao";
O - "onfa";

P - "poudzyukon", "puercha" (yes, our "native" puer);
R -
S - “sarpeha”, “siofayun”, “singshenhu”;
T - "I tash white pearl";
Wu - "oolong" (yes, our old friend, which, at one time, was a separate product line, and not a group of teas);
F - "fanza", "fulonya";
X - "khalutun", "khison" "hunmy";
C - "royal bouquet", "floral";
Ч - "chesucha", "black eyebrow";
Sh - “ball”, “shilung”;
E -
Yu - "yunsunchoden", "yuchenhu";
I am "Yangzeqiang".

Well, what? Can't you fill in the names of the missing teas yourself?.. :0)

What is white tea so popular these days? Its technology has deep roots in the depths of centuries. The technology of white tea - withering in the sun and drying - is the simplest of all tea technologies.
White tea became popular in Russia at the end of the 18th century, and in the 19th century it gained true love and popularity among Russian consumers.

The most highly valued was the "first-harvest" white tea - tea from the first, spring harvest. The bush accumulated a large amount of useful substances over the winter, and it was the very first, spring shoots that contained the maximum amount of usefulness that the nature of the tea bush could provide.

Nowadays, the age of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, the first harvest of white tea is even more valuable: after wintering, the bush does not need to be fertilized immediately, and there are not enough pests (in early spring) to protect the bushes from them. The height of its growth also has a direct impact on the quality of white tea.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, very high-quality white tea was brought in - tip white teas, which we called "khan's", and whose cost sometimes reached 200 rubles for half a pound of white tea in an original sealed Chinese teapot.

Go back to the list of old Chinese tea names and find white! Found it? Let's move on...

White tea in pre-revolutionary Russia was the tea of the elite, respectable and wealthy citizens. It even appears in price lists as "khan's", "imperial", "mandarin".

Unlike pu-erh cha (modern "puer"), which was drunk by Russian soldiers and travelers, white tea, with its delicate taste and aroma, was the privilege of representatives of the Russian elite and merchants.

According to modern research, white tea contains a lot of useful substances (including antioxidants) and helps fight inflammatory processes in the human body.

Nowadays, white tea from Fuding (Fujian Province) is widely known among tea lovers. At the same time, white tea is also made in Yunnan Province.

As with pu-erhs, white teas (especially the leafy part) mature beautifully and change over time. Aged white teas have long been used in folk medicine in China. White tea that has been aged for 3-5 years in the right conditions becomes a real treasure in the eyes of connoisseurs of the product, an object of fetish and collecting.

A pleasant bonus of our time: unlike the overpriced pu-erhs, which are the mainstream of the tea market in China and Russia, white teas, despite their benefits and variety of flavors, remain an underrated product.

Author: Sokolov Ivan