Product Overview
Huang Shan Mao Feng, one of China's famous green teas, is noted for its long-lasting floral aroma and fresh, sweet taste. Grown at an elevation of over 800 meters, our special harvest Mao Feng is handpicked from wild trees of the Yellow Mountains. The higher mountain elevation, with more cloud cover and cooler temperatures, creates the ideal environment for a sweet, succulent leaf. Plucked very young at the stage of only a bud and a single unfolding leaf, the leaves when processed are yellowish green, flat with a very slight upturn, and covered with silvery hair. The Qingming (early April) picking is sold as a special choice grade.
While not strictly a scented tea, this variety produces an apricot-flavored beverage with the fragrance of magnolias, even though none grow nearby. Perhaps the wild peach trees blossoming all over the hills surrounding Huangshan in Anhui province make some contribution. And perhaps that is why one authority lists it among the ten best-known teas in China. Huangshan tea drinkers have a saying: the first cup is most fragrant, the second sweetest, the third, strongest.
Ranks 4th in The Ten Most famous Chinese teas.
*****The Huang Shan (literally Yellow Mountain) is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. The area is famous for its scenic beauty, which lies in the peculiar shapes of the granite peaks, in the weather-shaped pine trees, and in views of the clouds from above. The area also has hot springs and natural pools. The Huang Shan are a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature. Today, they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination.
The Huang Shan mountain range comprises many peaks, 77 of which exceed 1,000 m in altitude. The three tallest peaks are the Lotus Peak (Lian Hua Feng, 1,864 m) and the Bright Summit Peak (Guang Ming Ding, 1,840 m) and the Celestial Peak (Tian Du Feng, literally Capital of Heaven Peak, 1,829 m). The World Heritage Site covers a core area of 154 square kilometres and a buffer zone of 142 square kilometres.
Since the Qin Dynasty, the Huang Shan had been known as the Yi Shan, they got their present name in 747AD, when the poet Li Po referred to them by this name in his writing.
The vegetation of the area depends on altitude: Below 1,100 m, moist forest can be found, deciduous forest stretches from 1,100 m up to the tree line at 1,800 m, above that the vegetation consists of alpine grass-lands. The area has a diverse flora, where one-third of China's bryophyte families and more than half of its fern families are being represented.
The Huang Shan has been a UNESCO's World Heritage Site since 1990 for its exceptional natural beauty and its role as a habitat for rare and threatened species.