Chinese Tea Culture 功夫茶 20 Kuding Tea

Kuding tea or Ligustrum purpurascens, commonly known as Chading, Fuding tea and Gaolu tea, is a particularly bitter-tasting Chinese tea produced mainly in the provinces of Guandong and Fujian. It is one of the most famous types of tea in Chinese history. According to Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu), the medicinal properties associated with Kuding tea include its ability to disperse wind-heat, clear the head and the eyes, alleviate thirst, invigorate digestion, keep up the spirits, resolve toxin, and reduce inflammation as well as lower blood pressure and blood lipids. Kuding tea contains more than 200 elements including Kuding saponins, amino acids, vitamin C, polyphenols, flavonoids, caffeine, protein, etc. The finished product features an aromatic and bitter taste at first and then a slightly sweet and cool taste, as well as many medical functions such as dispersing heat and preventing sunstroke, clearing the eyes, benefiting the brain, alleviating thirst, increasing the discharge of urine, strengthening the heart, relieving the cough, lowering blood pressure, reducing weight, preventing cancers, slowing aging, and enhancing blood circulation. Therefore it is usually dubbed as “healthy tea”, “beauty care tea”, “slimming tea”, “anti-hypertensive tea”, and “longevity tea”.

The leaves of Kuding tea are 1.5 to 2 times larger than those of ordinary tea. They are oval, thick, leather-like and hairless. The dark green fresh leaves are particularly radiant. The tea, made of tender buds, looks thick, curled and hairless. Genuine Kuding tea tastes bitter at first and then slightly sweet, but never acerb, spicy, smelly, sour or others; it can be infused several times. Otherwise, it is fake and shoddy. One kilo of Kuding tea made of tender leaves can be brewed with 150 ml water. The tea tastes strongly fragrant even after it has been brewed for 8 to 10 times, which far outshines the ordinary tea.