Region: ZhangPing, Fujian Province
Categoy: Oolong Tea
Shape: Square Compressed Tea
Color of dried tea: green, brown, yellow
Color of the soup: golden bright
Smell: A very unique orchid-flower smell
Flavor: Very quickly to go from bitterness to sweetness
Color of leftover: yellow leaf with red trim
Narcissus Tea is one kind of Oolong tea in Fujian province. It originated from the Northern part of Fujian（JianYang 建阳，JianOu建瓯). People believe that the narcissus tree was first found in a cave called "Zhu Xian(祝仙洞）". In the Fujian dialect, "Zhu" is the same pronunciation as "Shui", so local people call it "Shuixian", which means narcissus in Chinese.Also, the tea has a very special orchid and narcissus flavor, and that's the origin of the narcissus tea's name.
It is until the Qing dynasty (1857), a guy called Zheng Shibao from YongChun (Southern FuJian) brought the narcissus tree to Southern Fujian and then YongChun became into the origin of Southern Fujian narcissus tea. Based on different origins, narcissus tea is categorized into: Northern Fujian Narcissus, Southern Fujian Narcissus.
Narcissus tea has a very unique orchild smell and usually lasts for more than 7 pours. It is not strong so it's ok to finish the whole 7+ pour. There's also narcissus flavor in the soup. Southern Fujian is also famous for its narcissus flower. It is really fun to drink the narcissus tea in winter with flourished narcissus flowers. The leftover leaf has a very unique "green leaf with red trim" feature.
ZhangPing Narcissus
ZhangPing Narcissus is from Southern Fujian. The packaging of ZhangPing Narcissus is very special, which is called "mini compressed tea". It is seal-size pack wrapped with delicate cotton paper. When you open it up, it is square-shape tea pack with compressed thread-like tea leaves.
Compared to other narcissus tea, ZhangPing Narcissus is famous for its "light baked, light fermentation". Drinking the light-baked tea is like eating steamed vegetables, while well-baked is like braise in soy sauce. Chinese tea connoisseur like to tell which tea is more well-baked by tasting the flavor of the fire. The color of the dried-tea is different: light-baked tea is more bright while the well-baked is more dark. For the tea soup, it is the same: the light-baked one is more bright, and that is why ZhangPing narcissus's soup is so bright. Also, light-fermented tea is more green, while well-fermented is more red.
Tea Meditation
ZhangPing narcissus tea is a very good example of the doctrine of mean in traditional Chinese culture. Different from other kinds of tea, it is very well packed and you can only see and smell its dried leaves when you open it up. Also, it takes time to know it. After 3 to 4 pours,the leaves could finally open up. But it lasts much longer than most of the other kinds of tea (seven pours on average). Wuyi narcissus (the most famous Northern Fujian narcissus) is more heavily baked and fermentation, which makes its soup more dark and thick-flavored,but it also covers the orchid-flower flavor.However, the ZhangPing narcissus is more balanced with both the bittersweetness of tea and the orchid flower, just like traditional Chinese people's "a little bit of everything"
Categoy: Oolong Tea
Shape: Square Compressed Tea
Color of dried tea: green, brown, yellow
Color of the soup: golden bright
Smell: A very unique orchid-flower smell
Flavor: Very quickly to go from bitterness to sweetness
Color of leftover: yellow leaf with red trim
Narcissus Tea is one kind of Oolong tea in Fujian province. It originated from the Northern part of Fujian（JianYang 建阳，JianOu建瓯). People believe that the narcissus tree was first found in a cave called "Zhu Xian(祝仙洞）". In the Fujian dialect, "Zhu" is the same pronunciation as "Shui", so local people call it "Shuixian", which means narcissus in Chinese.Also, the tea has a very special orchid and narcissus flavor, and that's the origin of the narcissus tea's name.
It is until the Qing dynasty (1857), a guy called Zheng Shibao from YongChun (Southern FuJian) brought the narcissus tree to Southern Fujian and then YongChun became into the origin of Southern Fujian narcissus tea. Based on different origins, narcissus tea is categorized into: Northern Fujian Narcissus, Southern Fujian Narcissus.
Red A is Jianyang; C is Jianou; Green A is FuZhou, the capital of Fujian province
Green A is YongChun, Red A is FuZhou
Narcissus tea has a very unique orchild smell and usually lasts for more than 7 pours. It is not strong so it's ok to finish the whole 7+ pour. There's also narcissus flavor in the soup. Southern Fujian is also famous for its narcissus flower. It is really fun to drink the narcissus tea in winter with flourished narcissus flowers. The leftover leaf has a very unique "green leaf with red trim" feature.
The leftover leaf with red trim. The cotton paper is very delicate with the seal of the manual workshop.
ZhangPing Narcissus
ZhangPing Narcissus is from Southern Fujian. The packaging of ZhangPing Narcissus is very special, which is called "mini compressed tea". It is seal-size pack wrapped with delicate cotton paper. When you open it up, it is square-shape tea pack with compressed thread-like tea leaves.
Picture A: My own tea cup with very delicate narcissus tea packs.
Picture B: Mini pack narcissus tea with yellow, green, brown colored thread-like tea leaves.
Compared to other narcissus tea, ZhangPing Narcissus is famous for its "light baked, light fermentation". Drinking the light-baked tea is like eating steamed vegetables, while well-baked is like braise in soy sauce. Chinese tea connoisseur like to tell which tea is more well-baked by tasting the flavor of the fire. The color of the dried-tea is different: light-baked tea is more bright while the well-baked is more dark. For the tea soup, it is the same: the light-baked one is more bright, and that is why ZhangPing narcissus's soup is so bright. Also, light-fermented tea is more green, while well-fermented is more red.
Picture A: First pour.The tea pack is still very condensed.It is not surprising why it usually lasts for 10 pours.
Picture B: Golden bright tea soup.
Tea Meditation
ZhangPing narcissus tea is a very good example of the doctrine of mean in traditional Chinese culture. Different from other kinds of tea, it is very well packed and you can only see and smell its dried leaves when you open it up. Also, it takes time to know it. After 3 to 4 pours,the leaves could finally open up. But it lasts much longer than most of the other kinds of tea (seven pours on average). Wuyi narcissus (the most famous Northern Fujian narcissus) is more heavily baked and fermentation, which makes its soup more dark and thick-flavored,but it also covers the orchid-flower flavor.However, the ZhangPing narcissus is more balanced with both the bittersweetness of tea and the orchid flower, just like traditional Chinese people's "a little bit of everything"
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