Where in China Grows the Most Fragrant Spring Tea? (Comment to Win Free Tea)

Arriving in Gusu, you'll see houses all nestled by the river.

This spring, Xunchajun launched the "Authentic Spring Flavors: Tea Hunting in China" series. Our second stop, themed "Fragrance," takes us to China's most refined city—Suzhou, Jiangsu—in search of a cup of aromatic spring tea.

As the car leaves Suzhou's ancient city, the trickling streams around houses gradually give way to the misty expanse of Lake Tai. As early as the Tang and Song dynasties, Dongshan and Xishan on Lake Tai had already become important tea-producing areas. Later, a fragrant tea produced here was locally called "Xia Sha Ren Xiang" (Startlingly Fragrant), and during the Qing dynasty, it caught the attention of Emperor Kangxi, who renamed it:

The misty Qian Deng Ancient Town is a poetic Jiangnan scene with the sound of oars rippling.

Fragrance is the most exquisite taste of spring.

In China, perhaps no other city can rival Suzhou in refinement.

The pond in Zeng Zhao Garden mirrors the sky like a looking glass.

The 800-year-old "Paradise on Earth," the prosperous and romantic Shantang Street spanning seven li, remains the timeless essence of this city.

The midnight bell of Hanshan Temple awakens travelers from dreams spanning millennia. These incense-filled temples are Suzhou's dazzling calling cards. A cup of fragrant tea becomes a bridge between history and reality, stirring ripples of Zen in the stagnant hearts of the faithful, growing ever more transcendent amid the wafting aroma.

Today, Shuiyue Chan Temple is still embraced by tea gardens.

Suzhou's temples have long been renowned for tea production. For instance, the Huqiu tea from Jinsu Mountain Villa was praised by Su Shi as a tea masterpiece and later hailed as "the finest under heaven" in the Ming dynasty. Another example is the Shuiyue Xiaoqing tea from Shuiyue Chan Temple on Xishan Island, which was already a tribute tea in the Tang and Song dynasties—the precursor to today's Biluochun tea.

Suzhou is the ideal homeland in the hearts of countless literati, who built gardens here to retreat into nature and express their emotions through landscapes. Chinese aesthetics are understated—take windows, for example:

In the West, a window is just a window, letting in light and fresh air.

But to the Chinese, it is a picture frame, with the garden forever within it.

This subtlety and refinement permeate every aspect of life, including tea, an indispensable part of the "seven refined arts" (qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, and tea). Compared to teas with stronger, more direct aromas, Biluochun—with its delicate fragrance and fresh, mellow taste—perfectly embodies the traditional aesthetic of Jiangnan literati.

In Tongli Ancient Town, the Nanyuan Teahouse, built in 1898, still retains its century-old furnishings. Though the ancient town is inevitably swept by commercialization, the "old Suzhou" locals still habitually come here every morning for a bowl of Suzhou-style noodles, a performance of "Wang Kui Betrays Guiying," and a freshly brewed cup of Biluochun—thus begins a leisurely day.

A cup of spring tea and a Pingtan melody mark the start of a "old Suzhou" resident's unhurried day.

Suzhou people adhere to the principle of "eating seasonally," pursuing the freshest flavors of ingredients with near-fastidiousness. In Suzhou's old town, tourist-oriented dishes like Squirrel Mandarin Fish and Eel in Hot Oil are available year-round, their flavors unchanging.

Xian Du Xian, a slow-cooked dish of salted pork, spring bamboo shoots, and fresh pork, is so delicious it'll "knock your eyebrows off"!

But if you order seasonal bamboo shoots—whether in Xian Du Xian or braised with oil—the chef will never compromise on this uniquely springtime delicacy. The same goes for tea: a cup of this year's pre-Qingming Biluochun brims with the most exquisite fragrance of Suzhou's spring.

At Shuiyue Chan Temple, savor a cup of seasonal Biluochun tea

The fragrance of flowers and fruits is condensed into a single cup of tea aroma

The history of Suzhou dates back to 3,200 years ago with Taibo's journey to Wu. Taibo and Zhongyong, the elder brothers of Ji Li (father of King Wen of Zhou), voluntarily renounced the throne and brought the advanced culture and production techniques from the Zhou people's homeland to the then-untamed Jiangnan region, laying the foundation for the development of this watery land.

The intricate water network across Suzhou has brought endless prosperity and wealth to this land

Today, within Suzhou's boundaries, there are 21,454 crisscrossing rivers and 323 scattered lakes, covering a total water area of 3,768 square kilometers—44% of the city's total area (8,488.5 square kilometers). The Taihu Lake, celebrated by literati for millennia, is undoubtedly the most significant part of these waters.

The Dongshan and Xishan islands in Taihu Lake, also known as Dongting Mountain, are the core production areas of Biluochun tea.

Nowadays, Xishan Island is connected to the mainland by a bridge, making it just a 1.5-hour drive from Suzhou's ancient city to the island, which has become a popular tourist destination for admiring Taihu Lake's scenery during holidays.

The Taihu Lake Bridge links Xishan Island to the mainland

Before the bridge was built, generations of tea farmers here had to row small boats through the vast misty waters of Taihu Lake to transport their tea leaves for sale onshore.

As the saying goes, "Fine tea grows in high mountains and misty clouds." Although the hills of Xishan Island, standing at 200–300 meters above sea level, are not representative of high mountains, their location at the center of Taihu Lake creates a microclimate shrouded in moisture, shielding the tea plants from intense sunlight and forming a "paradise" ideal for tea growth. The tea gardens, enveloped in mist between the hills and waters, present a scene of "only this emerald green" in Jiangnan's spring.

Xishan is the largest island in Taihu Lake and the largest inland lake island in China

Dongshan Island, however, became connected to the mainland over 100 years ago, turning into a peninsula

In the tea gardens of Tianwangwu Tea and Fruit Farm on Dongting Xishan, fruit trees like loquats, bayberries, chestnuts, plum trees, and citrus grow alongside tea bushes, forming a unique intercropping system. This has also created small villages reminiscent of the Peach Blossom Spring, where "paths crisscross and the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard."

In spring, the blossoms of fruit trees bloom among the tea gardens

Tea plants thrive in diffused sunlight rather than direct exposure. The tall fruit trees provide shade and shelter from rain and frost, while fallen branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits serve as natural organic fertilizer for the tea bushes. The intertwined branches and interconnected roots of tea and fruit trees create the unique "tea-fruit composite system" of Dongting Mountain, which was listed as a China Important Agricultural Heritage in 2020.

The aroma is a legacy passed down through generations

What does half a kilogram of Biluochun tea represent?

In terms of price alone, costing thousands or even several thousand yuan, it is undoubtedly a luxury in the eyes of outsiders.

The dried leaves of Biluochun are slender and covered with fine hairs

But when delving into the production area, the intricate process of Biluochun tea—from picking to finishing—unfolds before us.

One jin (approximately 500 grams) of the highest-grade Biluochun tea contains 70,000 to 80,000 buds, which is roughly equivalent to the total output of a tea picker working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. over two days.

In the hands of the tea-roasting master, a 40-minute session in the wok yields less than 4 liang (approximately 200 grams) of tea. One jin of tea represents nearly two hours of uninterrupted labor, with the master bending over the wok in constant motion.

Eighty thousand buds are required to produce one jin of fine tea.

The fingers of tea pickers are stained with tea juice from harvesting the fresh leaves.

Considering this, the price of Biluochun doesn’t seem so high after all.

Indeed, if this one jin of tea is measured by the cup—using 3 grams per cup—the price per cup is only a little over ten yuan. A luxury experience at an affordable price, easily surpassing many big-brand milk teas or coffee products.

In Dongshan Town, across the water from Xishan Island, Shi Yuewen, a national-level inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Biluochun’s manual production techniques, demonstrated the traditional craftsmanship of Dongting Biluochun for us.

The traditional production process of Dongting Biluochun typically includes six steps: fresh leaf picking, leaf spreading, high-temperature fixation, hot kneading for shaping, rolling to reveal pekoe, and low-temperature drying.

High-temperature fixation is an essential step in green tea production. As the only non-fermented tea among China’s six major tea categories, it must undergo high-temperature treatment to inhibit enzyme activity and prevent enzymatic oxidation.

In a scorching iron wok reaching 300°C, the tea master disperses and evenly heats the leaves with bare hands, as if dancing through flames.

Fully manual high-temperature fixation is a tremendous challenge to the hands’ endurance of extreme heat.

After fixation comes kneading and rolling to reveal pekoe, further removing moisture while shaping Biluochun’s distinctive spiral form. Biluochun is often described as "covered in fuzz, copper-wire strands, and bee legs," with tiny, amino acid-rich tea hairs covering the surface and a tightly curled appearance resembling copper wires, giving the tea a fuzzy texture like a bee’s leg.

The pekoe-revealing rolling step cannot be effectively replicated by machines, making Biluochun a green tea that relies heavily on traditional manual craftsmanship.

Rolling to reveal pekoe shapes Biluochun’s unique "bee legs."

Throughout the roasting process, the wok’s temperature must be systematically reduced from 300°C to 40°C. Traditional Biluochun production uses wood-fired stoves, which—unlike electrically heated woks with precise temperature control—require seamless coordination between the tea master and the fire tender. As the saying goes, "Three parts tea, seven parts fire," and the first step in learning tea roasting often begins with tending the stove.

To better control tea quality, some factories use electric heating and divide the production steps into assembly-line tasks assigned to different workers. But in Shi Yuewen’s workshop, the tea masters still adhere to the most traditional methods, using wood-fired stoves and completing the entire process—from fixation to drying—in a single iron wok.

The use of wood-fired stoves represents a commitment to traditional Biluochun craftsmanship.

For Shi Yuewen, this is not only about strict quality control but also a dedication to preserving tradition.

Shi Yuewen’s grandmother, Zhou Ruijuan, was once the most renowned tea-roasting woman in Dongting Mountain, honored as a National March 8th Red Banner Holder, and her Biluochun was once presented as a state gift to foreign dignitaries.

Starting at age 8, when he learned fire-tending from his grandmother, Shi Yuewen has spent nearly 50 years making tea. His grandmother led him onto the path of tea-making and remains the role model he aspired to surpass since childhood.

Nearly sixty years old, Shi Yuewen still treats every batch of tea leaves with meticulous care.

Nowadays, it is his daughter Shi Ying who tends the fire for Shi Yuewen. As the father and daughter work in harmony to produce a batch of tea, Shi Yuewen’s two-year-old granddaughter obediently watches nearby, neither crying nor fussing. Perhaps in the near future, this little girl will also take up the enduring legacy by the stove, continuing the timeless fragrance of Biluochun.

It also stems from the hard work of countless people in the tea fields.

Just like the common crops of rice and wheat, tea is essentially an agricultural product that requires immense effort and sweat.

On the second day of arriving at Xishan Island, we woke up at 5 a.m. and set out to follow the tea pickers of Tianwang Mountain to begin a day’s labor in the tea fields.

From sunrise to sunset, the tea pickers work for over 10 hours a day.

Sister Cha, who picks tea here, told us that during the spring tea season from around the Spring Equinox to Grain Rain, the tea cooperatives on Xishan Island invite a group of 40 to 50 workers from Xuyi to handle tea picking and some tea processing tasks.

Starting at 5 a.m., Sister Cha picks fresh tea leaves from the cooperative’s own tea gardens, harvesting about 2 pounds a day. The cooperative provides food and lodging for the pickers and pays 100 yuan per pound for the fresh leaves.

Some workers, eager to earn extra income for their families, take on tea-roasting tasks after a day of picking, laboring late into the night.

The fresh leaves of Biluochun must be hand-picked by workers, making each one hard-won.

Their lunch is far from lavish—just a simple bowl of celery and dried tofu. Yet the tea-picking sisters relish it, even singing "The Big Sedan Chair" on the steep tea slopes with gradients of nearly 60 degrees.

These scenes of labor in the tea fields and by the stoves are a microcosm of the idyllic villages on Xishan Island during the spring tea season.

The fragrance of Biluochun is not just the elegant aroma we savor in our cups. From planting the tea bushes to the backbreaking work of picking under the stars, and the dance of hands over scorching woks during roasting—every unfurling leaf in hot water is steeped in the sweat of countless laborers.

Biluochun tea, condensed with the scents of spring, blooms in boiling water.

Only by exploring its origin can one truly appreciate how precious this springtime fragrance—unique to Suzhou and Biluochun—really is.

The Tea Seeker is heading to the tea mountains to bring you fine tea!

Simply follow "Authentic Tea Journey," leave a comment about spring tea—sharing your reflections, recommendations for hometown spring tea, or travel experiences—and seven days after this post, we’ll select five insightful, high-quality comments to reward with a gift of "Dongting Biluochun"!

The Dongting Biluochun we’re giving away is authentic, high-quality tea from the core origin. It’s this year’s pre-Qingming spring tea, sourced from Dongting Xishan, the heartland of Biluochun production. It takes about 70,000 to 80,000 buds to produce just one pound of dried Biluochun, with each bud hand-picked by local farmers.

Meanwhile, "Authentic Tea Journey" will soon bring you the first cups of spring’s freshest teas and captivating stories from Hangzhou, Huangshan, Yiwu, Lao Banzhang, and other spring tea regions—stay tuned!

Editors | Ou Hantian, Zhao Taofei

Planning and Review | Ou Hantian