Jinkouhe Eagle Tea

Jinkouhe Eagle Tea

　　Jinkouhe Eagle Tea is a specialty of Jinkouhe District, Leshan City, Sichuan Province. On the cliffs of Shiwashan, Maokeshan, and Dawashan mountains at altitudes between 1,200 and 1,800 meters, there grows a kind of arbor tea tree. It’s said that only eagles can fly to these trees — which may be how Eagle Tea got its name.

　　The history of growing and making Eagle Tea on Dawashan Mountain in Jinkouhe goes back a long way. In the past, there was a saying: “Nothing beats a simple look, nothing beats rice soaked in tea.” The so-called tea-soaked rice refers to eating rice with Eagle Tea. Back then, people didn’t have affluent lives, so having delicious rice soaked in Eagle Tea was considered quite good, and for many local families, Eagle Tea was mainly used to quench thirst. A few years ago, tests found that besides refreshing the throat and moistening the lungs, Eagle Tea also has health benefits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The market price of Eagle Tea has risen year by year, from 30 yuan per kilogram five years ago to over 50 yuan now, with premium-grade Eagle Tea selling for more than 600 yuan per kilogram. Due to over-harvesting, the Eagle Tea industry once declined, which worried Li Fengdu, a young farmer in his 40s. After more than seven years of exploration, he successfully developed a new method of stripping bark and pressing seedlings directly on trees, as well as artificially cultivating Eagle Tea trees. In 2007, he established the Maokeshan Eagle Tea Professional Cooperative, bringing together 18 member households to plant over 300 acres of Eagle Tea. Several years later, the results began to show, with farmers earning nearly 10,000 yuan per acre from Eagle Tea cultivation.

　　Under Li Fengdu’s leadership, Yonghe Town has developed over 2,000 acres of Eagle Tea cultivation, with an annual output of about 3,000 kilograms and sales revenue exceeding 3 million yuan, offering mountain residents an increasingly prosperous path to income growth.