While the morning mist still lingers over Phoenix Mountain, the tea farmers have already filled their bamboo baskets with dewy, tender buds. In this land of tea in southern China, the legendary Dancong tea thrives, continuing the centuries-old tradition and unique aroma that make the story of these Eastern tea leaves unforgettable.
The ancient tea trees on Phoenix Mountain twist and spiral, their gnarled trunks bearing mottled patterns that seem to tell a thousand-year-old epic of tea. The story of Dancong tea begins at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, with a fabled cup that once saved an emperor. According to legend, when Wen Tianxiang passed through the Phoenix Mountains with his troops, local She people offered him wild tea to relieve his exhaustion. Emperor Zhao Bing of the Song Dynasty was so impressed after tasting it that he bestowed the name “Song Tea” upon it. Although there is no official historical record of this tale, it has been passed down orally among the people of Phoenix Mountain to this day. Remarkably, the “Song Variety Ancient Tea King” tree still exists and is over 600 years old, standing as a living witness to this history.
