Fujian

Fujian (福建) is a coastal province of south-eastern China — mountainous, humid and green. If Yunnan is the birthplace of the tea tree, Fujian is the birthplace of tea craft: more ways of working the leaf were invented here than anywhere else.

What it is famous for

Fujian’s record is unmatched: the Anxi oolongs led by Tieguanyin, the Wuyi rock oolongs with the legendary Da Hong Pao, the white teas of Fuding, history’s first red tea Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong — and, of course, jasmine tea: the Fujianese technique of overnight scenting with fresh buds became the world’s classic.

Land and climate

Subtropics, monsoons off the Taiwan Strait, the rocky gorges of Wuyishan and red cliffs that lend the tea a mineral “breath of stone” (yan yun). Mountain mists shade the leaf from the sun, making the taste finer and sweeter.

In our collection

The Fujian school is represented here by fragrant oolongs and the blends built on them — see the oolong and jasmine pages to hear how this province sounds in the cup.