The collection of Chinese teas is so diverse that it is difficult to fit into European classifications. China , the natural habitat of the indigenous tea plant, has many varieties of the plant. Some are naturally related, while others were created through centuries of crossbreeding and selection.
As a result, certain tea plant subspecies are now cultivated in China that have no relatives outside their specific regions and produce equally original tea varieties found nowhere else in the world.
Many factories in China still process tea in the same way as they did hundreds of years ago. Some techniques are known only in specific areas, and tea masters often jealously guard the secrets of tea production. Thanks to this, China’s tea selection is unprecedented in its diversity, quality, and the uniqueness of the teas themselves.
Interestingly, Chinese tea names sometimes include a harvest designation in the form of several characters placed before the name. Although this is useful only to the rare individuals who are both great tea lovers and familiar with Chinese writing, it is worth noting that the designation “before the rains” means the tea was harvested before the so-called Festival of Light, which falls in late March and early April. This is tea of the highest quality, while “after the rains” tea is lower in quality and more affordable.
