Xikou Highland Tea

Xikou Highland Tea

　　Xikou Highland Tea is a specialty of Xikou Town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province. The town produces a series of teas under the highland tea brand, such as Taquan Yunwu, Xikou Jianya, Tianzhu Yunya, Guxue Jianya, and Xikou Lanxiang.

　　Xikou Highland Tea is a type of green tea. It passed the green food certification as early as the year 2000 and is produced in Xikou Town, Xuancheng, known as the hometown of the Four Treasures of the Study. It is a famous ecological town with an average altitude of over 1,400 meters. Because the tea is grown in Xikou Town at high elevations, locals affectionately call it Xikou Highland Tea. The tea buds are robust, and the aroma is intoxicating, making it highly favored by locals. Many out-of-town visitors also come specifically for it.

　　Guxue Jianya: This tea is flat, straight, and elegant, with uniform purity, a rich and lasting fragrance, and a bright green color with glossy tips. Professor Wang Zhenheng praised it as “benefiting from unique natural conditions and exquisite craftsmanship, it has long been renowned for its emerald color, beautiful shape, high fragrance, strong taste, and excellent brewability.” In 2001, it won the Gold Award at the China Tea Expo, and in 2002, it received the “Green Food Certificate” issued by the China Green Food Development Center.

　　Taquan Yunwu: Taquan Yunwu is a historically famous tea. Its appearance features tightly rolled, slender, plump, and solid leaves with a green and glossy color. The white fuzz covers the buds, and when brewed, the tea is clear and bright, with tender yellow-green leaves. It has a mellow taste, a fresh and rich aroma, and leaves a sweet and refreshing aftertaste that lingers. Historical records indicate that the great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai once wrote, “The water at the end of Taquan, the tea of high mountains and clouds.” Production resumed in the 1950s, and it was rated as tea for export, being sent to the British royal court. In the 1960s, it was named tea for central government use, and in the 1980s, it was awarded the title of Famous Tea by the former Ministry of Commerce.

　　Tianzhu Yunya: Tianzhu Yunya is shaped like a sparrow’s beak, with plump and tender buds and leaves. It has a jade-green color covered with white fuzz, a high and long-lasting fragrance with a hint of fresh fuzz aroma, and a light green, clear, and bright liquor. The taste is fresh and mellow. Japanese tea master Zen monk Jishan praised the tea produced in this region in his book “The Record of Tea for Health,” saying, “Tea is the immortal medicine of health and the subtle art of longevity. Treasured in the Tang lands and India, beloved in our land of Japan, it is a rare and extraordinary elixir through the ages.”

　　Xikou Jianya: Xikou Jianya was developed under the personal guidance of the renowned Chinese tea expert Chen Chuan, who visited the production area. Its leaves are slightly curled and show pointed sprouts, with a color that is green with hints of jade. It has a rich and lasting aroma reminiscent of cooked chestnuts, a light yellow-green and bright liquor, a mellow and fresh taste, and even, tender, bright green leaf bases. It has won the Provincial Quality Product (Famous Tea) award three times in a row.