China’s artisan green teas are famous for their finesse, elegance, clean fresh flavors and artistically-shaped leaves. The finest of these teas are plucked, sorted and shaped by hand by experienced workers whose nimble fingers coddle and shape the tea with a series of repeating hand motions while the tea is dried slowly over gentle heat. Chinese tea workers possess hand skills practiced nowhere else on earth; and in the manufacture of green tea the appropriate handwork is paramount to the success of the batch.

China produces more distinctive varieties of green tea than any other Asian country – in fact, there are believed to be close to ten thousand distinctions of green tea alone produced across the vast expanse of China. China cultivates green tea in eighteen of its 22 provinces, but not in the Provinces and Autonomous Regions where the environment is harsh and dry.

Many of Tea Trekker’s green teas – Lung Ching, Tai Ping Hou Kui, and Lu Shan Gua Pian, for instance – are classified as being among China’s ‘Famous Teas’ - teas that were once produced exclusively for the enjoyment of the emperor. What a marvelous experience we have had sourcing these teas and bringing them back to offer on Tea Trekker, so that we are all able to enjoy these fresh and lovely teas today.