Basic Introduction to Fuding Dahong Tea
Fuding Dahong Tea originates from Mount Tailu in Fuding. The finished product is attractive, with prominent white downy hairs. It has a fragrant and fresh taste, with the characteristic aroma of olives. During feudal times, it was made into Dragon Whiskers tea, tied into ear-of-grain shapes with red silk thread, and presented as tribute to the imperial court, known as White Dragon Whisker Tribute Tea. Now, the method for making Dahong Tea has been changed to roasting. Around the Qingming Festival, one bud and two or three leaves are picked when they first unfold. They then undergo the processes of killing green, rolling, and drying. Dahong Tea has a long, robust shape, with shimmering silver downy hairs and an elegant appearance. Its inner quality is characterized by a rich, fresh fragrance and a mellow, sweet aftertaste. The liquor is clear, and when brewed in a glass cup, it resembles pieces of orchid tea floating in the water, evoking great interest.
Nutritional Value
White Tea Helps You Look Beautiful. The beauty and health of the human body, especially the skin, have a great deal to do with vitamin intake. Modern medicine has confirmed that a deficiency of vitamins B2 and B6 can cause many diseases, including angular cheilitis, glossitis, cheilosis, balanitis, and seborrheic dermatitis. In severe cases, it can lead to changes in the appearance of the eyes. If there is a deficiency of vitamin A, in addition to dry and irritated eyes and night blindness, it can also cause rough skin, papules, follicular keratosis, and ichthyosis. A deficiency of niacin can result in pellagra. After sun exposure, the skin may become red, itchy, and uneven, which is medically referred to as niacin deficiency. Scurvy, a well-known vitamin C deficiency, is characterized by swollen, bleeding gums and purpura on the lower limbs. Those who regularly drink tea, particularly white and green teas, are less likely to experience these symptoms. This is because white and green teas contain various vitamins essential for healthy skin. Teas are rich in vitamin B2, with 1.2 milligrams per 100 grams of tea, 4.7 milligrams of niacin, and 180 micrograms of vitamin A precursor. White tea is the ideal source of these vitamins, and regular consumption is an effective way to supplement them.
White Tea Can Help You Lose Weight. Oolong and green teas also have this effect, which has been widely accepted. This is because tea has therapeutic and protective effects on the skin, promoting health and beauty without disease.
White Tea Can Help You Detoxify Alcohol. Using tea to detoxify alcohol poisoning is a common knowledge that people are familiar with and widely used in daily life. This is recorded in many medical texts throughout Chinese history. In classical medical books such as *Bencao Gangmu Shiyi* and *Renzhai Zhizhi Fang*, it is referred to as “alcohol detoxification.” In *Bencao Beiyao* by Wang Yuyan during the Qing Dynasty, it states that “tea can detoxify food, grease, and burnt poisons, and promote urination.” However, specifically mentioning that drinking white tea can detoxify alcohol is rare.
This is because white tea contains substances like tea polyphenols, caffeine, xanthines, theobromine, saponins, flavonoids, amino acids, and vitamins that work together to make the tea like a comprehensive “hangover remedy.” Its primary functions include stimulating the central nervous system to counteract and alleviate the inhibitory effects of alcohol, dilating blood vessels to facilitate circulation, enhancing liver metabolism, promoting diuresis, and accelerating the elimination of alcohol from the body. Experiments have shown that the diuretic effect of white tea inhibits the reabsorption of alcohol in the renal tubules, strengthening local immune capacity in the kidneys and resistance to urinary tract infections.
Many renowned traditional Chinese and Western medical scholars and tea experts have explained from different perspectives why tea can detoxify alcohol without side effects. Medical experts have repeatedly demonstrated through experiments that excessive use of sedatives, hypnotics, or alcohol can be treated with strong tea. Ancient Chinese medical books also mention that white tea contains tannins, which can neutralize nicotine and alcohol toxins. The diuretic effect of white tea itself aids in sobering up and eliminating alcohol toxins, allowing their excretion through urine.
During the process of detoxifying alcohol, white tea neither suppresses the nervous system nor harms sexual function. Therefore, drinking white tea after drinking alcohol is beneficial and harmless, both theoretically and practically.
Drinking White Tea Helps Quench Thirst and Cool the Body “Quenching thirst and cooling the body” are the most basic functions of drinking white tea. Especially during hot summers when thirst is intense, drinking a cup of fragrant and refreshing hot tea will make you sweat all over, feel saliva in your mouth, and instantly feel refreshed and quenched; even drinking a cold tea is very effective at quenching thirst. Medical experts have conducted tests showing that drinking a cup of hot tea can reduce body temperature by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius after nine minutes.
The reason for thirst is a sensation caused by reduced salivation affecting the throat. Drinking tea not only replenishes the body's fluids but also reacts with the saliva in the mouth due to the presence of tea polyphenols, amino acids, vitamin C, and saponin compounds in the tea soup, producing a cool sensation and stimulating saliva production. At the same time, caffeine controls the body's core temperature from within, regulates body temperature, stimulates the kidneys, and promotes excretion, which helps dissipate heat and achieve a new physiological balance. Thus, the thirst-quenching effect of white tea (leaves) is fundamentally different from sugary beverages. Drinking white tea treats both the symptoms and the root cause, effectively cooling and quenching thirst.
According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, tea is inherently cold and can reduce heat, especially white tea, which is a cool beverage that clears heat. It is most suitable for middle-aged and elderly individuals to drink for heat clearance. Therefore, in many white tea-producing areas, it is customary to prepare some Silver Needle, White Peony, and New Process White Teas during summer, and consume them throughout the five to six months of extreme heat to enhance saliva production and thirst quenching, as well as provide heat relief.
Drinking White Tea Helps Improve Digestion
Tea aids digestion, a fact understood by ancient people. This is documented in 20 ancient texts, including *Yinshan Zhengyao* by Husi Hui in the Yuan Dynasty. In regions where the diet is primarily meat-based among China's border minorities, tea is a necessity to help digest greasy foods. “Three days without food is better than a day without tea” vividly illustrates the urgent need for tea in their daily lives. In the past, after a feast of meat during festivals, people would often drink a cup of hot tea to aid digestion. With the improvement in living standards and changes in dietary structure, with more meat being consumed, if you do not drink tea promptly after eating fatty fish, meat, chicken, and duck, your stomach will feel uncomfortable.
Product Characteristics
The Dahong Tea of Yangta is a valuable individual plant, with the largest tree having a trunk circumference of 1.22 meters, a diameter of 0.28 meters, a height of 5.8 meters, and a canopy width of 4.6 meters. There are currently over 100 ancient tea trees surviving in the area. Dahong Tea differs significantly from other teas: its buds and leaves are covered with fine down, the finished tea is plump and substantial, with prominent white downy hairs, white strips, and a fragrant aroma. The liquor is clear, the taste is mellow and sweet, and it is famous for being highly reinfusable. In the Qing Dynasty, local officials ordered tea farmers to carefully pick and make it into “White Dragon Whisker Tribute Tea,” which became a precious rarity and gained widespread fame.
History and Folk Customs
Around 1840 (Daoguang 20th year of the Qing Dynasty), Chen Liuju, a man who could eat six bowls of rice and wield a nine-and-a-half-pound hoe, went to Jiangyi (near the Lancang River) to do business. While in Chashan Dam, he discovered the white tea variety and secretly collected dozens of seeds, hiding them in his bamboo tube shoulder pole and bringing them back to Yangta. He initially planted them in Dadaozi field and, after several years of cultivation and rapid growth, expanded the