Wudang Dao Tea

Wudang Dao tea is a regional public-brand tea grown in the high-latitude tea gardens around Mount Wudang, represented by its green and organic teas—fine-tipped and green in dry leaf, bright green in the cup, high and lasting in aroma, fresh and sweet in the mouth—honoured by the Ministry of Agriculture as the "home of Chinese Daoist tea culture."

Wudang's tea planting and making reach far back; the ancient monks chose tea plants in the spirit of Shennong tasting the hundred herbs and made tea with a craft likened to Laozi's alchemy, enjoying a thousand-year reputation and once producing Ming-dynasty tribute tea. Today's Wudang Dao tea carries on the old Daoist firing craft, listed as Hubei provincial intangible heritage in 2009.

Best brewed in a gaiwan or glass cup; warm the vessel with around eighty-degree water, add the leaves, first savour the dry aroma, then watch the bright green liquor unfold its tips, sipping the fresh, sweet return—a fitting companion to Daoist quiet contemplation and wellness practice.

The fine green leaf of a high-latitude mountain garden, its high and lasting aroma, its fresh sweet return, and the deep Daoist tea culture behind it are the marks of Wudang Dao tea.