Yunnan Kung Fu Black Tea

The exceptional quality of Yunnan tea makes a gorgeous black tea similar to Darjeeling tea.

Yunnan province, like Darjeeling, is at a high altitude, so tea produced in ordinary tea plantations is very similar in quality to Darjeeling tea.

However, when it comes to tea leaves harvested from old trees in abandoned naturally farmed tea plantations, such as those used to make high-quality raw Pu-erh tea, the quality is incredibly high, and although it is a shame for the people of Darjeeling, high-quality old tree tea from Yunnan Province is in a different league.

However, as mentioned above, black tea from Yunnan Province has a short withering period as standard and is deeply fermented, making it similar in characteristics to Assam tea.

For this reason, it has a mild aroma and goes very well with milk. On the other hand, I have wanted to make a gorgeous black tea like Darjeeling black tea using the finest ingredients from Yunnan for many years.

Yunnan Kung Fu black tea is made using more mature tea leaves with one stem and two to three leaves for withering.

Why is it called Kung Fu Black Tea?

In Japanese, kung fu means "effort." In recent years, the word kung fu (effort) has been overused in the Chinese tea industry.

However, the word Kung Fu originally referred to Teochew Phoenix Dancong Oolong tea and the Wuyi Oolong which was influenced by it, and it is assumed that it is influenced by the methods of making these oolong teas.

The characteristics of these teas are that the tea leaves are semi-fermented through withering, which brings out the aroma of fruits and flowers. Another important point is that the tea is finally roasted at a low temperature to enhance the aroma.

The most representative tea that has been strongly influenced by the manufacturing method of Phoenix Dancong Oolong tea is Zheng Shangzhong. Keemun black tea, which was made by imitating that manufacturing method, and Darjeeling tea, which also imitates Keemun black tea, can also be considered as Kung Fu black teas.

On the other hand, since typical Yunnan black tea (Dianhong) has a short withering time and does not involve the semi-fermentation process, I personally think it is inappropriate to call it "Kung Fu black tea."

However, in reality, as mentioned above, the word kung fu has a nice ring to it, so it is abused and used to refer to all kinds of black tea.

By using innovative withering methods, black tea with a rich aroma is produced.

In order to carry out this plan, the key is to focus on withering and enhance the floral aroma through semi-fermentation.

During development, we devised various methods for withering. Because there is no facility in Yunnan, we first considered a withering method of spreading the berries on bamboo strainers indoors, but the results were not very good, so withering layers were designed with the producers' consent, and by blowing air into them in the same way as Darjeeling, we were able to wither the berries more efficiently.

As a result of the long withering process, we have created a tea with a gorgeous aroma similar to Darjeeling Autumnal. Looking at the tea leaves, you can see that they have a reddish color because the withering process has been completed properly.

However, the tea used is the very highest quality spring tea, so in terms of its deep flavor, strong aftertaste, and profound aroma, I believe it is in a different league to Darjeeling Autumnal.

In the future, I would like to further review the withering method and continue developing the tea to create an even more unique character, but I feel that this year's tea was made very well and I am personally pleased with the result.

Most of the Yunnan black tea comes from tea gardens managed by Fengqing County.

Yunnan black tea is also known as "Dianhong".

Dian means Yunnan province, and Hong means black tea. In other words, Dianhong means black tea produced in Yunnan province. Most Yunnan black tea (Dianhong) is produced in an area called Fengqing County in Lincang City.

If you receive a souvenir black tea labeled Yunnan black tea or Dianhong, or if you purchase black tea made in Yunnan Province that is normally sold at a Chinese tea specialty store, you can be sure that most of it is made in Fengqing.

Fengqing County is an area with a large Han population, which is the opposite of other areas where ethnic minorities are the majority. In Yunnan Province, tea plantations with long histories, such as old tea trees, generally belong to ethnic minorities.

On the other hand, most of the tea plantations owned by the Han Chinese are newly developed. The black tea plantations in Fengqing are cultivated in the conventional columnar style, like those in Japan, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka, and the tea trees are not very old.

The altitude is mainly between 1500-1600m, but since the altitude is significantly higher than other tea producing regions, the quality is said to be average to above average.

Tea trees grow amongst the shrub areas.

Black tea made from the finest ingredients, such as those used to make raw Pu-erh tea.

In our search for high-quality raw tea leaves, we chose a naturally cultivated tea garden at an altitude of 2,100-2,200 meters in Zhenkang County, rather than the well-managed tea gardens in Fengqing.

The tea plantations are owned by the Yi ethnic minority, and all of the tea trees are over 100 years old and semi-wild. The higher the altitude, the older the trees, and the less fertilizer they use, the higher the quality of the tea.

What these three elements have in common is that they grow slowly. Slowly grown tea leaves are rich in polyphenols and minerals, and have a strong, lingering aftertaste and a rich flavor that seeps down your throat.

These high-quality tea leaves are usually processed into raw Pu-erh tea, because in Yunnan, high-quality raw materials can be sold at a higher price by being processed into raw Pu-erh tea, which adds value to the tea.

However, we were able to keep our purchase prices low by purchasing directly from farmers.

The wonder of tea: how it produces fragrance when attacked by insects!

In wild tea plantations, tea leaves exist alongside a variety of other plants and insects, so it is unavoidable for insects such as planthoppers to suck the juice from the tea leaves.

However, tea leaves that have been attacked by insects produce a defensive substance called terpene to resist the insects. Curiously, these tea leaves turn into a substance that gives off a sweet, honey-like scent through fermentation.