Zhuangyuan Tea

Zhuangyuan Tea

　　　               In the 21st year of the Guangxu reign, in the back street of Zhongzheng Street, there was a scholar named Bian Geng, courtesy name Yuqing, who passed the imperial military examination and became a royal guard of the Qing court. He took the tea from the Banlu Bridge teahouse in his hometown, subtly scented it with borneol spices, and processed it into a delicacy resembling “Dragon Cake and Phoenix Roll,” which he presented as a tribute to Empress Dowager Cixi. After tasting it, Cixi praised, “Zhuangyuan Tea, bursting with aroma!”

　　    According to *The Imperial Incense Record*, “Empress Dowager Cixi was very particular about her tea. High-quality tea could cost fifteen to twenty taels of silver per jin, making it a kind of luxury item. Precisely because it was a luxury, the tea she drank was astonishingly expensive—no way could one buy a jin for just fifteen or twenty taels—and she always switched to a new type of tea with every session.” However, the tea from the Banlu Bridge teahouse, which Scholar-Bian-Zhuangyuan had presented, remained her long-time favorite without being replaced, thus gaining fame all over the capital and prompting tea merchants to flock to Haizhou to buy tea.

　　    With Scholar-Bian’s rise to prominence, the tea also became famous. The Banlu Bridge teahouse became the birthplace of Zhuangyuan Tea, renowned throughout the north and south, and its tea was listed as an imperial tribute.