Styles of Qimen Black Tea

The name Qimen (祁门) (“Keemun” being a westernized transliteration of the name) derives from this tea’s place of origin which is Qimen County (祁门县). The tea is also referred to as Qihong (祁红), a short version of “Qimen Hongcha” (祁门红茶), which translates literally to “Qimen Red Tea” (black tea is called “red” tea in China). 

The name Qihong is also particularly associated with three styles of Qimen called Qimen Hao Ya (祁门毫芽), Qimen Mao Feng (祁门毛峰), and Qimen Xin Ya (祁门新芽). The tea cultivar that is used is called Zhu Ye Zhong (槠叶种). Qimen Hao Ya is the most common style and comes in grades A and B. The A grade tea has more tips than the B grade. This style of Qimen is rolled on a rolling table which breaks the leaves up into small pieces of uniform size (roughly 1 cm in length). Qimen Mao Feng is made from one bud and two leaves, is hand-processed, and consists of full leaves that are slightly twisted and black in color with golden tips. The Qimen Mao Feng style is considered the highest quality. Qimen Xin Ya is an early bud variety that is said to have less bitterness. Another notable style of Qimen black tea is Qimen Gong Fu (祁门工夫) which is tailored towards the Gong Fu tea style of tea drinking. Qimen is the only black tea that made it into the well-known “China’s Top Ten Famous Teas” list.

Qimen Place of Origin

Qimen County is located at the western foot of the Huangshan (黄山) Mountains in Anhui (安徽) Province. Qimen County is a mountainous county and is described in China as “nine mountains, half water and half fields'' (九山半水半分田). Qimen has a long history of tea production reaching back to the Tang Dynasty in which it had a very prosperous tea market and was later named as a “hometown of Chinese black tea” (中国红茶之乡). In addition to mountain forests, the area is warm and humid with deep soil, abundant rainfall, and is often covered in cloud and mist, making it suitable for the growth of tea trees. 

Qimen black tea will vary depending on where in Qimen county it comes from. The core production area can be divided into three regions:

Region one: this area is between Rongkou (溶口), Houtan (侯潭), and Likou(历口). In this area, Guixi (贵溪), Huangjialing (黄家岭), and Shijiyuan (石迹源) are among the places considered to have the best tea.

Region two: an area immediately to the north of region one; notable locations in this region are Ruokeng (箬坑), Shenli (闪里) and Gaotang (高塘).

Region three: this area is to the south of region one and is between Tafang (塔坊), Qihong (祁红), and Daohu (倒湖). The tea from this area is best represented by Tangkengtou (塘坑头), Quanchenghong (泉城红), Quanchenglu (泉城绿), Zongli (棕里), Luxi (芦溪), and Daohu (倒湖).

The tea farm environments in the Likou (历口), Guxi (古溪), Shanli (闪里), and Pingli (平里) are said to be particularly good with tea trees in these areas yielding large amounts of high-quality tea leaf due to the fertile red-yellow soil, mild climate, moderate sunshine, and ample rainfall. 

Qimen Tea Craftsmanship

Qimen tea processing can be divided into three stages: picking, primary processing, and refining. The lengthy processing results in a nuanced aroma, with some of the characteristic floral notes being attributed to a greater proportion of geraniol in the finished tea. 

Picking: Qimen tea leaves are carefully picked, generally pickers select one bud and one leaf, or one bud and two leaves. The tea leaves are picked in batches with six or seven separate batches picked in spring, six picked in summer, and sometimes a few batches also picked in autumn depending on conditions. 

Primary processing: The first stage of processing includes the steps of withering, rolling, oxidizing, and drying. The tea leaves will turn from green to a copper-red color and will be formed into strips. The tea is baked using a low fire until dry. Oxidation takes place at room temperature which is kept below 30 C. After this stage the resulting product is referred to as hongmao cha (红毛茶).

Refining: The refining process for Qimen is time-consuming and complicated. The tea leaves from the previous stage are put through a long series of processes including sifting, shaking, “refreshing,” blending, etc. in which the best leaves are selected, impurities removed, and the leaves are refined into their final state in which they are dark, slender, and shaped like eyebrows.

Qimen History

Qimen tea was created in the year 1875, although Qimen County was known for its tea as far back as the Tang Dynasty, with the area referenced in Lu Yu’s (陆羽) famous “Classic of Tea” (茶经). However, prior to 1875 this area only produced green tea. 

The origin of Qimen is traced back to either Hu Yuanlong (胡元龙) or Yu Ganchen (余干臣). It is not clear which of the two was the actual original founder. Hu Yuanlong was a person from Qimen County who studied black tea processing methods from other provinces and took them back to Qimen in Anhui Province. After creating his own style of black tea he introduced it to Tong Sheng Xiang Teahouse (同盛祥) in Peiping (北平) where the tea became popular among tea drinkers. Hu Yuanlong then built Rishun Tea Factory (日顺茶厂) in Peiguishan Fang (培桂山房). Using the tea leaves that he grew, he collaborated with the tea master Shuji (舒基) from Ningzhou (宁州) to produce black tea. 

Yu Ganchen is also sometimes credited as the founder of Qimen black tea. He was an official who was dismissed from office in Fujian and returned to his hometown in Anhui, bringing knowledge of black tea processing with him. He saw that black tea had been selling well in other areas and decided to set up a tea house to sell black tea on Yaodu Street (尧渡街) in Zhide County (至德县). Yu Ganchen encouraged tea farmers to imitate the “Ning Hongcha” (宁红茶) of nearby Ningzhou (宁州) which had been doing well on the market. Yu Ganchen had several apprentices including Chen Shanghao (陈尚好) who studied with him since he was a child.