Lobster Flower Tea
Lobster Flower Tea: Visitors touring Zhangjiajie all like to go to the 'Slowly Strong' teahouse by Pipa Stream, brew a cup of 'Lobster Flower' tea with Baisha Well water, saying it tastes good and relieves fatigue and refreshes the mind. Actually, most people don't know that this 'Lobster Flower' tea was originally a tribute designated by the Ming emperor. Legend says that during the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty, the grand eunuch Wei Zhongxian controlled the court and was cruel...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Lobster Flower Tea
All visitors to Zhangjiajie enjoy going to the "Slowly Strong" teahouse by the Pipa Stream, brewing a cup of "Lobster Flower" tea with White Sand Well water. They say it tastes good and can relieve fatigue and refresh the spirit. Actually, most people do not know that this "Lobster Flower" tea was originally a tribute designated by the Ming emperor.
According to legend, during the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, the grand eunuch Wei Zhongxian controlled the court and persecuted loyal officials. At that time, Prince Zhu Ruhui of Wuchang, just sixteen years old, was granted the title of General Who Guards the State by the emperor. He was greatly indignant at Wei's disruption of the court and secretly discussed with some old ministers to raise troops and punish Wei, to cleanse the emperor's side. Unexpectedly, word leaked out, and the traitor Wei stole an edict to exterminate the entire Wuchang Prince's household. With nowhere to turn, Zhu Ruhui fled to Longhua Temple in Hubei, took Master Tianyue as his teacher, shaved his head, and became a monk with the dharma name Hengxing, also called Monk Kaishan. When Hengxing was tonsured, thinking of his family's destruction and the Ming dynasty's precarious state, he could not help but wail loudly. But the traitor Wei did not stop; to eliminate future trouble, he sent troops to surround Longhua Temple and hunt down Zhu Ruhui. Zhu Ruhui fled by night. In the seventh year of Tianqi, he secretly fled to Mune Village in Dayong, chose Maoping as the site, and built a large temple with its gate facing north, inscribed "Great Compassion Nunnery."
While digging the foundation for the nunnery, Hengxing unearthed an ancient tomb a thousand years old. When the coffin was opened, he smelled a fragrance that penetrated the heart. It turned out the tomb contained tea leaves and tea seeds. Though of great age, the tea leaves were still fresh in taste and green in color. Hengxing planted the ancient tea seeds beside the nunnery. A year later, the seeds broke through the soil and sprouted; the following year they were lush and could be picked. During his wanderings, Hengxing had often gone without meals, which left him with a stomach ailment. One day, when his old illness flared up with no doctor or medicine available, he hastily picked a handful of tea leaves and brewed them with boiling water. As soon as the tea went down, he felt fragrance linger beneath his tongue, refreshing his intestines and lifting his spirits—the stomach pain was gone. After repeated trials, he realized this tea had benefits for clearing the mind and brightening the eyes, relieving heat and quenching thirst, reducing fat and refreshing the spirit, promoting digestion and strengthening the stomach, and promoting urination and strengthening the body. He named it "Tianchong Maojian" after Tianmen Mountain and Chong Mountain, and ordered his disciple monks to plant it widely. The surrounding common people, who had never had the habit of drinking tea, learned from Hengxing's promotion and began to plant tea as well.
At that time, Peng Kun, grandson of Peng Honghai, the Xuanwei Commissioner of the Yongshun Tusi, came specially to take Master Hengxing as his teacher out of admiration for the monk's virtue. When he learned of Hengxing's misfortunes, he secretly felt indignant on his behalf. Later, seeing that Maojian tea had such qualities, he thought to himself: why not use this precious product as tribute to the emperor, and at the same time express my master's loyalty to His Majesty? So, seizing the opportunity of going out to study, he took the tea and set off for the capital. After hearing Peng Kun's report in person, the Chongzhen Emperor immediately conferred on Hengxing the title of 'White Hut Patriarch.' Having carefully tasted the 'Tianchong Maojian,' the emperor praised it greatly, saying it was even more refreshing than ginseng soup, and designated it as tribute tea, ordering the magistrate of Yongding County to present it on schedule for the court's enjoyment.
When Hengxing learned that the Wei eunuch had been removed and Chongzhen had ascended the throne, and that 'Tianchong Maojian' had been designated tribute tea, he was overjoyed. He considered that Maoping's low-lying terrain produced tea of inferior quality and low yield, so he took his disciples, climbed Zhangjiajie, took up residence at the Longfeng Nunnery, and planted Maojian tea on Zhangjiajie. Zhangjiajie, filled with immortal vapors, has fertile soil and is shrouded in mist and clouds year-round. The tea plants, nourished morning and evening by mist and dew, and influenced by flowers, grasses, and trees, thus produced tea of even purer and more beautiful quality. Hengxing also created a complete set of techniques for making tribute tea: when picking tea, the tea workers bathed and changed clothes; the leaves were not picked by hand but cut one leaf at a time with silver scissors and placed in copper trays. When roasting the tea, the leaves were first washed clean, then roasted in a copper wok, generally requiring seven roastings and seven kneadings. Hengxing also put considerable thought into the shape of the tea leaves. One day, walking alone along the Golden Whip Stream, he saw blooming lobster flowers. These flowers, connected to a thread-like green stem, hung horizontally beneath the green leaves, in red, yellow, and purple, each vying in beauty, and when a breeze blew, they bounced about as if alive, just like real shrimp. 'A rare treasure! A rare treasure!' Suddenly the old master received his inspiration: 'Yes, I must shape the tribute tea like lobster flowers—only then will it be worthy of Zhangjiajie's fine name!' And he immediately named it 'Lobster Flower' tea. This tea has tightly rolled, wonderfully curved leaves, plump and round, with a hidden emerald green within its silvery brightness, covered all over with silvery down. When brewed in a cup, the leaves either move sideways, or leap diagonally, or rise, or fall, just like living shrimp in water.
It is said that after Hengxing's passing into nirvana, from the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty all the way to the last emperor of the Qing, Zhangjiajie's Lobster Flower tea continued to be tribute tea. Some also say that before his death, Hengxing scattered the tea seeds all over Zhangjiajie, which is why today tea plants grow in every ravine of Zhangjiajie.