Black Keemun is a Legend Among Black Teas

04. 09. 2024

Keemun Black Tea (Qi Men Hong Cha 祁门红茶) is a famous Chinese Black Tea. It is produced in the Keemun County (Qi Men Xian 祁门县) of Anhui. It is one of the Three Most Famous Black Teas in the world, with the other two Darjeeling Black Tea and Ceylon Uva Black tea. Unlike the other two big leaf cultivar black teas which come from a tropical zone, the Keemun Black Tea originates in a subtropical zone and the cultivar is typical Chinese small leaf - Zhu Ye Zhong. It features a kind of natural gentle creamy flavor which made this tea famous. Its taste is very mild and sweet. The extraordinary terroir of Keemun District creates unique conditions for growing tea of ​​unprecedented quality. Qimen is located in the golden tea-producing belt at 30 degrees north latitude. The local natural conditions of "four mores and one less" - many mountains, many clouds, much fog, much rain, and little direct sunlight - provide an excellent environment for the growth of tea trees.

Keemun is a historical reputed black tea in China. It was produced during Qing Dynasty at the Keemun County and surrounding areas at Anhui Province (安徽省 An-hui Sheng). In the first year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1875), tea farmers in Anhui created Keemun black tea. Before that, Qimen only produced green tea, not black tea, and the market was not good at that time. Hu Yuanlong, a native of Guixi in the southern part of Qimen, planned to build a tea factory, using his own tea leaves and asking a master to try to make black tea. After continuous improvements, he finally made a high-quality black tea with excellent color, fragrance, taste and shape, and Hu Yuanlong became the founder of Qimen black tea.

 

The fragrance of the tea spread all over the world. Keemun black tea won the gold medal at the 1915 Panama World Expo and has since become famous. In the past, Keemun was mainly exported and highly appreciated by people in oversea, especially Britain and United State. During year 1939-1940, the price of Keemun at the New York trade center recorded the highest figure; it was the most expensive tea at that time and only upper class in the society could afford it. The Imperial and Noble Family used to treat it as a fashionable beverage. It was said that Keemun was presented to Queen Victoria as the Gift Tea during Her birthday. In US, it was the everyday-tea for the President of United State, Mr. Roosevelt and his spouse.