China

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China is where tea was born. China boasts more tea plantations than France has vineyards. China is traditionally the country of green tea, tea enjoyed for millennia. Produced in State cooperatives or more secretly in ‘holy gardens’ reserved for a privileged few, green teas from China enjoy an undisputed reputation worldwide, in particular Long Jing tea ("the Empress of green Teas”) and Gunpowder tea.

Red tea (also known as black tea) is also widely produced using one of the best known varieties from China, Yunnan Imperial from the high plateaux of the South. The name means ‘South of the Clouds’, a clear reflection of its home region.

There are many other tea-producing regions, however, such as the provinces of Fujian, Anhui and Guangdong. As a special supplier to Europe for many years, China now holds the second world rank.

Each region is the reflection of a particular area and can be identified by its own specific properties.

On the island of Formosa off Taiwan the tradition of China’s great teas from the past is returning. Although green tea has an important role, the island specialises in the great tradition of “Oolong”, a semi-fermented tea halfway between green and black tea, the best known of which is Ti Kuan Yin.