Mt.Mengshan stands in the territory of Yaan City of Sichuan Province. It is a famous tourist resort. It is also the birthplace of world tea culture and the first place for artificial planting of tea trees. Since the Tang(618-907) and the Song(960-1279) dynasties, many Buddhist temples and Taoist monasteries have been built in Mt.Mengshan, including the Qianfo Temple, Jingju Temple, Yongxing Temple, and Tangai Temple. There are 5 peaks in the mountain, namely Shangqing Peak, Lingjiao Peak, Piluo Peak, Jiangquan Peak, and Ganlu Peak. They are like 5 petals of lotus in full blossom. Mt.Mengshan is covered with drizzle all the year round. Its cloudy and foggy weather and fertile soil provide tea trees with favorable growth conditions. In addition to ordinary tea gardens, there is an ancient royal tea garden in the mountain.
As the tea from Mt.Mengshan grows mainly on the top of the mountain, it is called the Mengding Tea (Ding:summit) in general. The Mengding Tea from Mt.Mengshan served as a tribute tea for over 1000 years from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. It was a rare case in tea culture history. In the Tang Dynasty, tea drinkers took 2 things seriously- the tea from the top of Mt.Mengshan and the water from the center of Yangtze River. The tea from the top of Mt.Mengshan certainly referred to the Mengding Tea. The water from the center of the Yangtze River referred to the water of the Zhongling Spring in Zhenjiang of Jiangsu, which was evaluated as the No.1 Spring in the World by Liu Bochu, a spring taster in the Tang Dynasty. The drinkers in the Tang Dynasty put these 2 things together because they believed that the best tea should be brewed with the best water. A poet in the Song Dynasty once wrote a poem to praise the tea from the top of Mt.Mengshan as a drinker better than the best wine.
Among many Mengding Teas, the most famous are Mingding Ganlu and Mengding Huangya. The Mengding Ganlu is a stir fixation green tea. It is twisted and tippy and has a tender, green, and moist appearance and a strong and fresh aroma. The tea soup is clear with a yellowish tint. The brewed tea leaves are even, tender, and elegant. The Mengding Huangya is a top-grade product among yellow teas. It has a flat contour, a greenish yellow appearance, and apparent buds and tips, the tea soup is sweet, fragrant, and brightly yellow, and tastes sweet and mellow. The brewed tea leaves are tenderly yellow and even. It is indeed the best of all the teas from Mt.Mengshan.
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