Wuzhishan Red Tea

Wuzhishan Tea

　　The Wuzhishan tea-growing region features a typical low-latitude, high-altitude tropical maritime monsoon climate, with an average elevation of over 600 meters and a maximum elevation of 1,260 meters. Here, winters are free from severe cold and summers lack intense heat. In winter and spring, the area is often shrouded in fog, while in summer and autumn, it is surrounded by clouds—there are more than 200 foggy or cloudy days annually. The region enjoys abundant rainfall, making it a prime location where “clouds and mists nurture premium tea.” The ecological environment here is uniquely favorable, featuring rich biodiversity, lush vegetation, crisscrossing streams with murmuring green waters, and fertile soil—making it an exceptionally suitable place for producing high-quality famous teas.

　　Wuzhishan tea belongs to the large-leaf variety of the Assam series. It is of excellent quality, with large leaves, thick leaf flesh, strong buds, high yield, and rich internal content. It can be blended with any type of tea and offers a unique flavor. Its characteristics include: a distinctive tea flavor, tightly twisted dark leaves, bright blackish-green color, clear greenish liquor, and a taste that is bitter with sweetness—bitter at first then sweet, with a long-lasting aftertaste that is clean, refreshing, and invigorating.

　　The Wuzhishan black tea produced and processed from it boasts a refreshing aroma and richly fragrant taste, rivaling the black teas of India and Ceylon. It enjoys a great reputation both domestically and internationally, and is sold in more than ten countries and regions around the world. It is said that when Wuzhishan tea samples were displayed at the Guangzhou Trade Fair, merchants from Ceylon and India—renowned for their branded black teas—mistook the tea for not being produced in China. To verify this, Hainan specially sent several Wuzhishan tea plants to relevant departments in Beijing for authentication. Since then, Hainan’s Wuzhishan tea has gained widespread fame, and the tea production industry in Hainan has since embarked on a path of steady development.

　　The original wild Wuzhishan tea native to Hainan Island grew sporadically and was scattered across six counties within the Wuzhishan area, covering approximately 3,000 acres. To develop tea production in Hainan, the 1960s saw the beginning of efforts to cultivate planted tea gardens. Workers trekked through mountains and rivers, collecting branches and seeds of wild Wuzhishan tea trees to carry out respectively asexual and sexual propagation. The artificial cultivation of tea proved successful. A variety of well-known brands of black and green tea have since been developed. For example, “Jinding Brand” Cloud Mist Green Tea won a Gold Quality Award at the “21st Century International Tea and Health Drink Achievements Expo” organized by the Hong Kong International Tea Association and held in Malaysia.