A Unique Tea Brand of China

Waterfall Deity Tea (瀑布仙茗) is a unique tea in China, because it is the only tea brand mentioned in three-volume Book of Tea written in 765-775 by Lu Yu (733-804), the world’s first professional canon on the soft beverage. It is because of this tea that Yuyao City in eastern Zhejiang Province was honored “Home of Chinese Tea Culture” on January 8, 2010 by China International Tea Culture Research Institute. At the same ceremony, Waterfall Deity Tea was also designated as “Famed Tea Brand of Chinese Culture”.

The elements of this special tea can trace back to the Hemudu Culture which flourished in Yuyao about 7,000 years ago and is proclaimed as a cradle of Chinese civilization. Archaeologists have found 6,000-year-old roots of tea bushes in Yuyao. Tea was a beverage in China thousands of years ago. It is believed that many places across China produced tea and probably had their own tea brands. “The Way of Tea”, another classic canon of tea, says that there were 46 tea brands in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) including some produced in Zhejiang. Lu Yu must have known the names. Lu Yu visited more than 900 counties and cities across China in his lifetime before he wrote “Book of Tea” in rural Huzhou, a city in northern Zhejiang. In the book, Lu Yu discusses the quality of tea produced in eight areas of China and classifies products into a few categories. In doing all this, he is very cautious about naming names of the best teas across the country.

The only name mentioned in the book is in this description: “Yuyao County produces Deity Tea in Waterfall Spring Mountain”. Why didn’t he mention other tea brands in his historical book?

Some scholars point to the Confucius’ tradition as a possible explanation: in Confucius’ practice of history writing, a historian makes records faithfully and is not supposed to write nothing of his own. Waterfall Deity Tea as a tea brand must have existed long before the Tang Dynasty, as testified by a legend Lu Yu recorded in his famous book.

As the legend goes, on his tea-picking journey into mountains, Yu Hong from Yuyao ran into a Taoist with three buffalos in Siming Mountains. The Taoist led Yu Hong to Waterfall Mountain and pointed out tea trees to him. The Taoist said he knew Yu Hong was good at making tea beverage and asked Yu Hong for sacrifices in future in exchange of tea. Yu agreed and later built a tea temple for the Taoist and offered regular sacrifices to the deity. He sent his family to pick tea leaves in the mountain.

Lu Yu mentions this story three times in his book. The original story was written by Wang Fu, a Taoist of the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316).

Another textual clue came up in the research: “Annals of Yuyao County” made in the years of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) also mentioned Lu Yu’s description but in a different wording: “Yuyao County produces Tea in Waterfall Spring Mountain, which has long since been known as Deity Tea.” This description is believed to be from some versions of “The Book of Tea”, which has more than 70 versions featuring slight differences that occurred in a period of many centuries. It is believed the description in the annals points to the existence of the brand before the book came into being.

Moreover, it was not until the Tang Dynasty that word 茶 was used to refer to tea. Before the Tang, it was written as 荼 pronounced tu in the northern parts of China and referred to as茗 pronounced ming in southern parts of China such as Zhejiang.

Experts did field studies twice in the summer of 2008 before they confirmed that Yuyao is the right place where the Deity tea mentioned by the Tang scholar originated. Waterfall Spring Mountain is located in Yuyao, which has a micro ecology especially good for tea growth. Wild tea trees can still be seen in the mountain area.

Despite all the enthusiasm and accolades of today, the tea was little known about 30 years ago.

In the 1970s, a Japanese delegation visited Hangzhou. They were treated with Dragon Well Tea, the best green tea of China. The Japanese praised the tea produced in Hangzhou and then they cautiously asked if they could have Waterfall Deity Tea. Puzzled by the request for such an unheard-of tea, the Chinese host explained that they hadn’t prepared the special tea this time. After the Japanese delegation left, the issue was discussed. It was believed that the Japanese guests knew what they were requesting. During these years, rural cooperatives in the province were in charge of purchasing teas from tea farmers. The cooperatives were requested to make inquiries and information soon came back. Siming Mountain in Yuyao was the place where Waterfall Deity Tea was produced.

Production of the Waterfall Deity Tea was resumed 30 years ago. The brand did not fare well at first due to fierce but disorderly competition between different producers. Chaotic practices and poor quality dragged the brand down. In the 1990s, the local government took the matter into its hand. New rules were made and quality control measures introduced. Since then the brand has been flourishing. Yuyao has also waged legal battles against outside competitors trying to usurp the brand. The key evidence that helped Yuyao win lawsuits was that Waterfall is also a geographic name.

In April, 2009, Waterfall Deity won a top honor at Chinese Elements-Tea Exposition in Shanghai. In 2009, Yuyao produced 655 tons of tea under various names of Waterfall Deity.