Gounao Tribute Tea

Gounao Tribute Tea

　　   Legend has it that Emperor Yan tasted hundreds of herbs to cure diseases. Once, while passing through Zixing, he brought his beloved dog up a mountain where he spotted a tree laden with golden wild fruits. Emperor Yan casually picked one and put it in his mouth, but soon lost consciousness — the fruit was poisonous. His loyal dog bit at the hem of his robe and dragged him step by step with great difficulty, from daybreak until nightfall, yet the winding mountain path still seemed endless. Without a moment’s rest, the dog, with its last breath, dragged Emperor Yan to a tree at the foot of a mountain, then collapsed beside him. At dawn, a ray of sunlight shone on the tree, and a drop of dew slid down the leaf and into Emperor Yan’s mouth. After a while, he finally opened his hazy eyes, only to find his beloved dog had exhausted itself into a stupor. Deeply grieved, Emperor Yan later named the mountain “Gounao Mountain” (Dog Brain Mountain). It turned out the mountain was covered with tea trees, and it was the dew from those tea leaves that saved his life. Later, local farmers would gather the tea leaves from this mountain every year as tribute for the emperor, hence the name “Gounao Tribute Tea.” The emperor also had a seal carved with the tooth mark of the loyal dog, so every box of this tea bears this canine tooth imprint.