She County Graphite Tea

What type of tea is She County Graphite Tea? Among the six major categories of tea, it belongs to green tea. As for the tea plant variety, it is from the Huangshan Group Variety, the same as the famous Huangshan Maofeng green tea.

She County is named after Mount Yi, which is today’s Huangshan. Currently, She County is under the jurisdiction of Huangshan City. The best She County Graphite Tea is found in the areas around Taoyuan Cave and Graphite Ridge. She County Graphite Tea was already very famous during the Tang Dynasty. Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, in his book “The Classic of Tea” (the world’s first book on tea), reviewed the teas of Shezhou.

During the Tang Dynasty, She County was under the jurisdiction of Shezhou.

Fresh leaves used for producing Graphite Tea are picked between Qingming and Grain Rain each year. The leaf shape is mainly “one bud with two leaves.” It undergoes ten processing steps: manual spreading, fixation, rolling, initial drying, first frying, spreading and sieving, second frying, and final drying.

The finished Graphite Tea features tightly twisted and curled strips resembling small grains, compact and stone-like in weight, dark green in color with a glossy sheen and visible fine hairs. It has a rich and lasting aroma, a strong taste, and when brewed, the soup is clear and bright with a delicate chestnut flower fragrance. The leaves at the bottom are yellowish green.