Chinese Teas

China is the grandfather country of tea. While tea grew wild all throughout Asia, the first documentation of cultivation was in China. In some places, the quality of tea is based off of the standards set in China. Balled oolongs like Tieguanyin made their way into the aesthetic of Taiwan, Silver needles are very commonly reproduced in Sri Lanka and Kenya. 

Many teas of China are named after famous legends well known throughout the culture.

For example, Da Hong Pao is the famous Wuyi rock tea commonly known as Big Red Robe in the West. The story of Da Hong Pao goes a little like this: When the Ming emperor's mother fell ill, there was nothing their doctors could do for her. When The Emperor became desperate for his mother's condition, he tried everything he could, including giving her tea from a farmer in the Wuyi mountains. Her health returned almost immediately because of the teas. In order to protect the tea bushes that saved his mother, the emperor covered the bushes with a large robe made of massive swathes of scarlet fabric.