China Tea Culture Travel

Start a China Tea Culture Travel with China Dragon Tours, you will have the opportunity to dive into the ancient Chinese tea culture. From Museums to natural scenery where some of the rarest tea plantations are still grown. Major tea plantations and famous tea gardens are on the top of our China Tea Tour plan, such as  Longjing’s tea villages and plantations,  Royal Tea Garden in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian and Fujian Fuding Diantou Tea Garden, as well as  Top Ancient Puer Tea Mountains in Yunnan.

Famous Tea in China

There are several opinions of the best Chinese teas, or the title China’s Famous Teas (中国名茶) or Ten Great Chinese Teas (中国十大名茶), depending on current trends in Chinese tea, as well as the region and tastes of the person. China’s top ten most famous teas are mostly green teas, including: Dragon Well also known as Longjing, Dongting Bi Luo Chun, Huangshan Maofeng, Liuan Guapian (Melon Seed tea), Xinyang Maojian and Duyun Maojian, which are all very delicious green teas. The rest of the list includes Anxi Tie Guan Yin which is an Oolong tea, Wuyi Rock tea which is another delicious Oolong Tea, Keemun which is a strong black tea and Junshan Yinzhen which is actually a sort of yellow tea. Pu’er tea from Yunnan also gains increasing fame in recent years.

Top 10 Famous Chinese Teas

Chinese English Region Type
西湖龙井 Longjing tea (also spelled Lungching; ‘Dragonwell’) Hangzhou, Zhejiang Green tea
洞庭碧螺春 Biluochun tea (also spelled Pi lou chun, ‘Green snail spring’) Suzhou, Jiangsu Green tea
安溪铁观音 Anxi Tieguanyin tea Anxi, Quanzhou, Fujian Oolong tea
黄山毛峰 Huangshan Maofeng tea Huangshan, Anhui Green tea
武夷岩茶-大红袍 Wuyi tea, Da Hong pao (‘Big red robe’) Wuyi Mountains, Fujian Oolong tea
君山银针 Junshan Yinzhen (‘Jun Mountain silver needle’) Yueyang, Hunan Yellow tea
祁门红茶 Keemun Black tea Qimen, Huangshan, Anhui Black tea
六安瓜片 Lu’an Melon Seed tea Jinzhai, Lu’an, Anhui Green tea
云南普洱 Yunnan Pu’er Pu’er City, Yunnan Post-fermented tea or “dark” tea
白毫银针 Baihao Yinzhen (‘White tip silver needle’) Fuding, Ningde, Fujian White tea

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Tea Plantations in China

Tea tends to be produced mostly in the provinces towards the south and east of China, where the climate is humid and ranges from tropical to subtropical, although teas are grown commercially from Hainan Island down in the extreme south to Shandong Province in the north, from Tibet in the southwest to Taiwan across the Straits. Because of varying geographic location and climate, different regions grow various kinds of tea. 

Tea -producing Regions in China

Top 10 Most Beautiful Tea Gardens in China

Chinese tea gardens are must-visit sites for your China Tea Culture Travel. The tea plantations in China are generally in mountains and hills in south China. Some of the tea gradens provide interactive activities like tea-making, tea ceremony, and tea processing display. Top 10 most beautiful tea gardens in China are as follows:

Read more about Top Tea Plantations in China

Best China Tea Culture Tours

Join our Tea Culture Tours 2020 to visit the tea plantations in China, particularlty the King of the Tea Tree in Yunnan, experience tea picking and tea making, learn to brew a cup of tea, as well as tasting the tea and listenning to the tea masters to know more about Chinese tea culture.

China Tea Culture Tours by Region

Read More: How to Plan a Tea Culture Tour in Yunnan?

Best Places/Time for China Tea Culture Travel

For those interested in taking a tea tour, below are three starting points, corresponding to three of China’s most well known teas, each different in climate, geography and taste.

Hangzhou: Longjing (Dragon Well) Green Tea

Located just south of Hangzhou province’s beautiful West Lake, Longjing is home to China’s most celebrated green tea, which is the color of jade and has the fresh aroma of chestnuts and cut grass.

  • Best Time to Visit: During China’s Qing Ming Festival (usually April) when most picking and roasting take place.
  • Where to Visit: Longjing’s tea villages and plantations — many are open to the public — are connected by a cycle pathway and bus route. China National Tea Museum, 88 Longjing Road, West Lake, Hangzhou; +86 571 8796 4221; open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., May-October 7; 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., October 8-April 30. Among the temples, pagodas and gardens lining the shores of nearby West Lake sit many small tea houses where longjing tea can be enjoyed in a relaxed atmosphere.
  • Transportation: Hangzhou is reached by high-speed train from Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station. Trains run every 30 minutes and take one hour.

Fujian: Wuyi Mountain Oolong Tea

Oolong tea, a fragrant partially oxidized tea midway between green teas like longjing and black teas like pu’er, has its origins in southern China’s Fujian province. The most famous of Fujian’s Oolongs,  Da Hong pao or “big red robe” tea comes from Wuyi Mountain, a UNESCO-protected natural heritage site rich with rare and animal life, centered around the pristine Nine Twists River. 
  • Best Time to Visit: Spring the right time for Tea Culture tour in Fujian, March for Green Tea, April and May are good time for rock tea.
  • Where to Visit: Wuyi Shan UNESCO World Heritage Site: daily from 7:30 a.m.; admission RMB 235 ($38) for a two-day pass. Royal Tea Garden in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian and Fujian Fuding Diantou Tea Garden  are also best places to experience Fujian tea culture. 
  • Transportation:  Wuyi Shan has its own airport with daily flights to and from major Chinese cities.

Southern Yunnan: Pu’er tea

Pu’er, a fermented and aged black tea with a complex, earthy taste, is considered the pinnacle of all Chinese teas. Usually pressed into cakes, it’s allowed to age so that its complexity and depth of flavor increase over time (as does the price), again drawing comparisons to wine.

Read More: Yunnan Tea Culture Travel

Things to Know before China Tea Culture Travel

To learn some Chinese tea facts before you start the China Tea Culture tours is helpful to the tea tour plan and will make you feel at easy when tasting the tea with the Chinese, as you have already kept some tea facts and tea drinking customs in mind.

  • Tea is the second most consumed beverage in china.
  • Tea grown in different areas has different flavors.
  • The longer some teas are stored the more expensive they are.
  • Serving tea to elders or guests is a sign of respect.
  • Chinese people believe tea is good for weight loss.
  • Tea is a great social media.
  • Chinese people think a tea set is very important for a good cup of tea.
  • The planet’s most ancient grown tea tree is over 3,200 years old and is located in Fengqing County, south-west China’s Yunnan province.
  • China produces the most tea in the world and supplies around 30 percent of total tea demands to the world. India is the close second producer.
  • The world’s most high-priced tea can be found in the mountain ranges of Ya’An in China’s southwest Sichuan province. 

Read More:  Chinese Tea Facts

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