A tea red through the ages, Keemun welcomes the world.

Recently, the 2023 Keemun Tea Picking Festival was held in Qimen County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province. In the Zhihui Tea Garden of Xitang Village, Liku Town, Qimen County, the tea trees, layered and arranged in an orderly manner, bask in the bright spring sunshine, eagerly absorbing the faint fragrance emitted by the romantic mountain flowers. The tender green tea buds are full of life, quietly waiting for the tea farmers to gently pluck them...

In the first year of the Guangxu era (1875), tea farmers in Anhui created Keemun Black Tea. The fragrant tea aroma spreads worldwide. Keemun Black Tea won a gold medal at the Panama International Exposition in 1915, gaining fame ever since. Today, Keemun Black Tea is known as one of the "three great fragrant black teas in the world," alongside Indian Darjeeling and Sri Lankan Ceylon black teas, and is also one of China's top ten famous teas.

Keemun Black Tea finished product. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Shi Yalei)

A Child Raised in a Tea Basket

Wang Chang, a 57-year-old resident of Qimen, has been closely connected to Keemun Black Tea since childhood. Wang Chang's father worked in a tea factory, and his mother was a tea farmer. When his mother went to pick tea, she would carry Wang Chang in a bamboo basket to the tea garden and tie him to a tea tree with a rope. While his mother picked tea, he would play around the tea tree.

After work in the evening, his mother would carry a shoulder pole home, one end filled with tea leaves and the other end with Wang Chang sitting in the bamboo basket.

“So people say I have been dealing with tea leaves since I was two years old,” Wang Chang said. Such scenes are also childhood memories for many locals in Qimen.

Qimen is located in the golden tea-producing belt at 30 degrees north latitude, with its natural conditions of "four more and one less"—more mountains, more clouds, more fog, more rain, and less direct sunlight—providing an excellent environment for tea tree growth.

Before the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, Qimen only produced green tea and did not produce black tea, resulting in poor sales. In the first year of Guangxu, Hu Yuanlong from Guixi in southern Qimen established a tea factory, using self-produced tea leaves and inviting a master to experiment with black tea production. After continuous improvements, he finally produced high-quality black tea with excellent color, aroma, flavor, and shape, thus becoming the founder of Keemun Black Tea.

In 2008, the production technique of Keemun Black Tea was included in the national intangible cultural heritage representative project list. That same year, Wang Chang established his own tea company, engaging in tea research, planting, production, and tea culture exchange.

Wang Chang making Keemun Black Tea. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Duan

It is understood that the production of Keemun Black Tea is divided into primary processing and fine processing. The primary processing consists of four steps: withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying, and the entire process lasts from before Qingming until June. The fine processing stage is more complex, involving over ten steps, including screening, bagging, air selection, shaking, sorting, re-firing, blending, and boxing. Among these, blending is the most critical, determining the product's appearance, internal quality, soup color, and aroma.

As a representative inheritor of the Keemun Black Tea production technique, Wang Chang teaches the Keemun production skills to students without reservation. He has mentored over 40 apprentices, including many young tea enthusiasts born in the 1990s, some of whom have become skilled tea makers capable of working independently. Wang Chang also promotes intangible cultural heritage in schools, creating influential tea-related activities.

Wang Chang (center) showing two Russian businessmen around his company's tea garden. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Shi Yalei)

“Little Tea Leaves” Supporting a “Big Industry”

As spring warms and tea fragrances waft, tea picking is busy before Qingming.

“How much is fresh tea per pound today?” “Save some of this year's good tea for me.” “Recently, we plan to introduce 5G into the tea processing workshop.”... Recently, walking through the streets and alleys of Qimen County, the most common topic of discussion is tea.

39-year-old Huang Pengfei from Xitang Village has 8 acres of tea garden. At seven in the morning, Huang Pengfei and his family go up the mountain to pick fresh leaves. He usually works in Zhejiang but returns home during the tea season to pick tea with his wife.

Huang Pengfei (first from the left) picking tea with his wife. Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Fangqiang

“Fresh leaves are selling for 70 yuan per pound these days, and I can pick about 7 pounds a day,” Huang Pengfei said. During a tea season, he and his wife can increase their income by about 14,000 yuan.

In recent years, to improve tea quality, the local government has unified the procurement of biological pesticides and insect traps for tea farmers to reduce pesticide residue levels; used broadcasts and Douyin to recommend green pest control to enhance farmers' participation; strengthened agricultural technical guidance, and established a pest and disease monitoring network to improve pest control effectiveness in tea gardens.

“In the past, after picking fresh leaves, we had to process them overnight and send the raw tea (initially processed tea leaves) to sell at dawn, which was very hard work. Now, companies uniformly procure fresh leaves and process them, ensuring the quality of the tea,” Huang Pengfei said. With the increase in tea prices, his income has also risen accordingly.

The tea industry has not only enriched the local villagers but also serves as an important driver for rural revitalization. Currently, Xitang Village is vigorously developing the tea tourism industry, having established a motorhome base, riverside park, and rural homestays, adding strength to rural revitalization. According to statistics, Qimen County has a population of about 180,000, with a total tea garden area of 190,000 acres. In 2022, the county produced 7,300 tons of tea, with a comprehensive output value of 5.52 billion yuan, and the per capita tea income for tea farmers was 6,830 yuan.

“The Queen with a Golden Edge”

Keemun Black Tea has a bright red soup color, fresh and rich flavor, and a lasting and fragrant aroma, with bright red and even leaves. Keemun is particularly known for its aroma, which resembles flowers, fruits, and honey, and is referred to as "Keemun Aroma" in the tea world.

A tea artist pouring tea in a tea garden in Qimen County. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Duan

“Keemun is the best among fragrant teas, with a high reputation and unmatched aroma.” In 1915, Keemun Black Tea participated in the Panama International Exposition and won the gold medal, leaving a glorious page in the history of Chinese tea.

After that, Keemun became popular in Europe, appearing in the “afternoon tea” tradition in the British Isles. At that time, a ship loaded with Keemun Black Tea was directly named “Keemun,” and every year when the “Keemun” set sail from China, the Keemun Black Tea on board was already fully booked, indicating the British people's fascination with Keemun Black Tea.

It is said that Keemun was also favored by the British royal family and became a sought-after luxury item among European and American royalty, earning the title of “the queen of black tea” in the international market.

With the title of “Queen of Black Tea,” and the bright red color of Keemun soup poured into a white porcelain cup, a bright golden halo reflects on the cup's rim, making it highly ornamental. This phenomenon of red soup showing a golden ring is beautifully referred to as “the queen with a golden edge.”

Tea originated in China and flourished worldwide. To promote the sustainable and healthy development of the global tea industry and deepen the exchange and mutual learning of tea culture, the 2023 Dialogue Event of the Three Great Fragrant Black Teas was held in Qimen County on January 9. At the event, Sri Lankan Chargé d'Affaires in China, Hirwester Pereira, stated: “The role of tea in international trade, technological cooperation, and cultural exchange is becoming increasingly important. I hope that through the exchange of tea culture and tea industry, the relationship between Sri Lanka and China can be strengthened, contributing to the construction of the 'Belt and Road'.”

Sri Lankan friends (second from the right) tasting Keemun Black Tea at the 2023 Dialogue Event of the Three Great Fragrant Black Teas. Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Fangqiang

On November 29, 2022, the production technique of Keemun Black Tea was successfully included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a sub-item of “Traditional Chinese Tea Production Techniques and Related Customs.”

“I hope the Keemun Black Tea industry can continue to develop, bringing tea culture back into fashion and allowing ancient intangible cultural heritage to radiate new vitality in our modern society,” said Wang Qing, president of the China Tea Circulation Association and chairman of the National Tea Standardization Technical Committee.

General Planning: Zhao Danping, Gu Qianjiang

Supervised by: Min Jie

Coordinated by: Wei Tiemin

Reporters: Liu Fangqiang, Xu Xintao, Zhang Duan

Edited by: Min Jie

Xinhua News Agency Foreign Affairs Department

Xinhua News Agency Anhui Branch

Joint Production

Produced by China Story Workshop