Green Tea Technique (Huangshan Maofeng)

Huangshan Maofeng was created around 1875 by the Huizhou tea merchant Xie Zheng'an of Fuxi, refined from high-mountain leaves around Mount Huangshan and carried by the Huizhou merchants and the Xin'an River to all of China, joining the ten great teas. Its technique entered the second national ICH list in 2008 and, as part of "Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China," the UNESCO list in 2022.

The craft works tender leaves picked around Qingming and Guyu through fixing, rolling and baking (a first fire and a finishing fire), prizing high-heat fixing, moderate rolling and graded baking; the leaf takes a sparrow-tongue shape clothed in white down, yielding a clear green liquor with an orchid-like fragrance.

Huangshan Maofeng is a high point of Chinese green tea, carrying the highland tea culture and tea-trade tradition of Huizhou, with significant historical, technical and cultural value for the study of Chinese tea craft and customs.