Anxi Tieguanyin

Where does the name of "Iron Goddess of Mercy" come from? What is the so-called "Guanyin Yun"?

For all the answers, we have to go to its hometown - Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province.

Where does Anxi Tieguanyin come from?

Anxi is a small city located in the southeast of Fujian Province. In a small area, the terrain and topography divide the inner and outer Anxi.

The eastern part of Wai'anxi is mostly hilly and mountainous, with relatively gentle terrain, and has developed a string-like river valley basin together with rivers such as Xixi and Lanxi.

In the western part of Nei'anxi, the mountains are undulating, steep, and have different directions. The airflow will get lost, forming the strange phenomenon of "different winds across the mountains, and different rains at the same time".

The southern and central subtropical marine monsoon climate brings abundant rainfall, morning fog and evening mist, and an average annual temperature of 16-21℃. It can be said that there is no severe cold in winter and no scorching heat in summer. It is an attractive place to live. It has bred rich tea tree resources, and nearly 100 tea tree varieties have been collected.

Anxi is known as the "treasure house of tea tree varieties". In 1984, Anxi County accounted for 1/5 of the first batch of 30 tea tree varieties approved nationwide - Tieguanyin, Benshan, Huangjingui, Maoxie, Daye Oolong, and Meizhan, which are the six most representative and well-known tea varieties in Anxi.

And "Tieguanyin" is the most famous one among them.

The "Iron Goddess of Mercy" here refers only to the tea tree variety, which has thick, crisp, dark green and oily leaves. It is native to Xiping, Anxi, and is a superior variety suitable for making oolong tea.

Oolong tea made from this tea tree variety is also called "Iron Goddess of Mercy" by the name of the variety, which is what most people refer to when they mention "Iron Goddess of Mercy" today.

The origin of this name is also mysterious.

According to legend, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an old farmer named Wei Yin ("Yin" is homophonic to "Yin") in Anxi County who was a devout Buddhist. He worshipped Guanyin with fragrant tea every day. One day, he had a dream and found a thriving tea tree. He dug it up and cultivated it carefully in the garden.

The next year, it was harvested and processed. It was indeed very fragrant. It was recognized as a good tea tree. People competed to breed and introduce it, and it was called "Wei Yin seed". Wei Yin suspected that this tea tree was given by Guanyin, so he named it "Iron Guanyin".

Another theory is more closely related to the tea-loving Emperor Qianlong. It is said that Wang Shirang, a native of Yaoyang Village, Xiping Township, Anxi, discovered a tea tree at the foot of Nanyan Mountain in the early years of Emperor Qianlong's reign. After being picked and processed, the tea was dark and shiny, and tasted mellow and sweet.

When he was summoned to Beijing to pay a visit to Fang Bao, the Minister of Rites, he brought tea as a gift. After tasting it, Fang Bao regarded it as a treasure and presented it to Emperor Qianlong. Emperor Qianlong summoned Wang Shirang to ask him about the origin of the tea. Wang Shirang told him in detail about the origin of the tea. Emperor Qianlong saw that the shape of the tea leaves resembled Guanyin's face and was as heavy as iron, so he named it "Nanyan Tieguanyin".

Whether it was Emperor Qianlong's "like" and recognition of the name, or the mysterious origin of the dream god's enlightenment, it fully shows that Tieguanyin is a rare good tea.

Selected as a world-class cultural heritage twice

Why is Anxi Tieguanyin so popular?

"After a night of rain, the vegetables are tender, and the tea leaves are fragrant in the spring mountains." Anxi is an ancient tea-growing area in China. The wild tea trees found in Lantian, Jiandou and other places are 7 meters high and 3.2 meters high. According to research, they are more than 1,000 years old.

Although Anxi's tea production history can be traced back to the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the tea making time is also quite long, the unique semi-fermented tea making process - Oolong tea making technique, was not officially introduced until the Qing Dynasty.

Anxi is the "hometown of Oolong tea". The Oolong tea making technique (Iron Guanyin making technique) declared by Anxi County has become a national intangible cultural heritage of my country, and has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as one of the contents of "Chinese traditional tea making techniques and related customs".

A very unique step in the production of oolong tea, represented by Anxi Tieguanyin, is "shaking the green tea" - an extremely important and critical step to give Tieguanyin its color, aroma, taste and other qualities.

In the traditional manual shaking of green tea, the fresh leaves of the tea tree after sun-drying and cooling are put into the hemispherical "hanging sieve". The fresh leaves are constantly rolling and colliding in the up and down reciprocating shaking of the hanging sieve, rubbing against the sieve wall and other leaves, causing damage, volatile grass smell, and then placed in the 竅盤 for fermentation.

This "movement" and "stillness" are repeated many times, and physical and chemical changes occur alternately. When the green leaves have a strong floral fragrance, the young leaves are curled or raised, the leaves are yellow-green, the leaf edges are bright red, and the petioles are green-green, that is, "green stems, green belly, red edging", it means that the shaking step can be completed.

This is "looking at the green and making the green", which is a high-level summary of tea making experience and is also indispensable for the formation of quality.

The tea leaves that are properly made green should be fried in time to inhibit the activity of enzymes, and finally rolled and repeatedly wrapped and baked. In the alternation of baking and wrapping, the contents of the tea complete the process of non-enzymatic oxidation, and the color, aroma and taste continue to develop and brew under the action of moisture, heat and external forces, until the oil is frosted and the flower fragrance is rich, and the unique appearance of Tieguanyin is gradually shaped - the hemispherical shape of the ball package is tightly tied.

The finished Tieguanyin tea has a dragonfly-like appearance, with curly and solid tea leaves and a sandy green color, which gives it the image of "beautiful as Guanyin and heavy as iron". Its smooth taste, mellow and sweet taste, and the unique sensory experience of the natural orchid fragrance brought by the variety and craftsmanship are the most praised "Guanyin charm" in Tieguanyin appreciation.

According to the degree of fermentation and production process, Tieguanyin can be divided into three types: light fragrance type, strong fragrance type, and aged fragrance type.

The fragrance of the light-fragrant Tieguanyin is light and delicate, with a fresh and refreshing taste. The strong-fragrant Tieguanyin has a mellow taste, with a strong fruity and roasted aroma.

The aged Tieguanyin is affectionately called "Lao Tie" by tea lovers. It is made from Tieguanyin raw tea, and is made through a unique process of picking stems, screening, blending, baking, and storing for more than five years. It has a mellow and sweet taste, with a strong aged aroma.