Classification of Chinese Chunmee Tea

What Is Chunmee Tea？

 

Chunmee tea, also known as Zhen Mei or Precious Eyebrows tea, is a type of green tea that originates from China. It is named after the shape of its leaves, which are rolled by hand into thin curved strands that resemble eyebrows. Chunmee tea is mostly produced in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, but it can also be found in other regions of China.

 

Chunmee tea is divided into four major categories based on the quality and appearance of the leaves: Zhen Mei, Yu Cha, Xiu Mei and Gong Xi. These categories are further subdivided into grades with numbers, such as 41022, 4011, 9371, etc. 

 

Chunmee tea is one of the most classical Chinese green teas that offers a unique perspective on the diversity of green tea flavors. It is suitable for both hot and cold brewing, and can be enjoyed at any time of the day.

 

What determines the grade of tea?

 

The most important factor is picking

 

Tea Plucking Season：

The picking time of chunmee tea is divided into spring, summer and autumn seasons, among which spring tea has the best quality, followed by summer tea, and autumn tea is the worst. This is because the buds and leaves of spring tea are the most tender, containing rich amino acids, vitamins, aromatic oils and other effective ingredients, with a mellow and delicious taste, and a lasting and high fragrance. In the spring tea picking time, the tea picked before Qingming Festival is the best.

 

The part that was picked：

 

	Bud	Mature leaf
Aroma	light	strong
Taste	the aftertaste, but bitter and astringency	sweet, no aftertaste

 

Screening of tea：

 

 

Tea screening refers to the process of classifying, removing impurities and purifying tea during tea processing.Tea can be screened to meet specific needs. The characteristics of tea involved in mechanical screening are shape, color, weight, dry and wet, and so on.

 

Four Categories Of Chunmee Tea

 

珍眉（Zhen Mei） translates to Chun Mee in English. Chun Mee is a type of green tea that has a dusty appearance and is generally more acidic and less sweet than other green teas. It is also known as precious eyebrows because of its shape. Chun Mee is a high-quality tea that is exported to more than 50 countries and regions in the world.

 

It is divided into 9 levels from high to low:

 

Super (41022)                Special Class 1 (9371)             Special Class II (9370) 

Level 1 (9369)                Level 2 (9368)                         Level 3 (9367)                             Level 4 (9366)                       Level 5 (3008)

34403 (not listed)

 

雨茶(Yu Cha) translates to Rain Tea in English. But this name is not common, in the trade people usually only referred to its number 8147. The shape of rain tea is short and tight, which is somewhat different from other chunmee tea

 

It is divided into 2 levels from high to low:

 

Yucha Level I (8147)

Yucha Level II (8167)

 

Gongxi(贡熙） and Xiumei（秀眉） are two other types of brow tea that are less exported.

                                     

Gongxi

Gongxi  Special 1 (9277)            Gongxi  Special II (9377)               Gongxi  Level 1 (9389)                 Gongxi  Level 2 (9417)

Gongxi  Level 3 (9500)

 

Xiumei

Xiumei Special (8117)              Xiumei Level 1(9400)                        Xiumei Level 2 (9376)                  Xiumei Level 3 (9380)