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Qi Men Red Tea

(Keemun)

Qi Men Red Tea's is the most famous of all of China's Red Teas and is included on virtually every 10 famous Chinese Teas list . The tea has many different names in English, the most well known being "Keemun". It is also known as Qi Men Hong Cha, and Qi Men Black Tea. The literal translation in English for Qi Men Hong Cha is "Great Gate Red Tea". The tea is named after the county in which it is produced. Qi Men County is located near Huang (Yellow) Mountain in China's Anhui Province. The province is famous for its Green Tea and how it began producing Red Tea is an interesting story. You can find it in the history section located on this page. Qi Men Red Tea has a distinctive fruity taste with just a hint of floweriness. The processed leaves are long and thin like small needles and have a red tint to them, as does the brewed tea. In the west, the tea is often drunk with milk and sugar, but in China it is drank without any extra ingredients.

Is it Red Tea or is it Black Tea
There is some confusion as to whether this tea is a Red Tea or a Black Tea. The reason for this is that in the west the category of this tea, which in China is called "Red Tea", is called "Black Tea". There is another category of Chinese Tea that when incorrectly translated, is translated into Black Tea. In reality, this tea's English translation is "Dark Tea". So sometimes this tea is called Qi Men Red Tea and sometimes it is called Qi Men Black Tea. In reality, they are the same tea.

The history of Qi Men Red Tea
A relatively young Chinese Tea, the tea was first produced in 1875. A scholar by the name of Yu Qianchen traveled to Fujian Province, known for its Red Tea, and studied the production methods there. When he returned to Anhui, he put what he had learned to practice. He used the local trees that had formally only been used to make Bi Luo Chun Tea, a Green Tea, to make this new type of tea. During processing he rolled the tea into thin needle shapes, like many Green Teas and a new tea was born. The new tea quickly became very popular in the west and became the key ingredient in English Breakfast Tea.