Anxi

One of the joys of travel in China is the authentic, fragrance-rich Chinese tea and profound Chinese tea culture & history. By enjoying a cup of tea, you have a glance of the haunting Chinese tea culture. In southeast China's Fujian Province, a pretty mountainous country named Anxi produces Tie Guan Yin – a superior variety of oolong tea in China. Anxi is the birthplace of Tie Guan Yin. Loacal Chinese tea farmers here began to plant this special tea in 1725 during Qing Dynasty. After that, Anxi ushered in its heyday of tea production. The “Inner Anxi” is the main producing area of tieguanyin tea, with the exceptional advantage of warm climate (the mean annual temperature is 15-18 degrees centigrade), abundant rainfall (the annual rainfall is 1700 – 1900 mm), a large area of acid red soil, and being locked with continuous hills.   Why is called Tie Guan Yin? Tie Guan Yin is not only a name for the tea but also for the tree. The tree is not plump, but a bit week, with thick and dark green leaves. The edge of each leave is a little folded resembling the folded palm of bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (known in Chinese as Guan Yin).…