Insect tea is a unique tea species in China and is a special tea for traditional export. Insect tea is produced in green and pollution-free primitive mountainous areas, mainly including fragrant insect tea, white tea insect tea, and trilobite tea. Insect tea is produced by incense worms eating incense leaves, rice black worms eating three-leaf begonias, insect tea particles are generally small, and the color is black and brown. Fragrant insect tea is the largest production and sales, the most drunk insect tea, to Guizhou high altitude cloudy mist production is better, high-quality insect tea has a charming black and bright color, without processing, direct drinking. Fragrant insect tea and trilobite tea have a mild taste, and white tea insect tea has a heavier odor. Insect tea brewed tea, the aroma is overflowing, drink a few sips, the taste is mellow and sweet, refreshing, evocative and endless. After years of aging, insect tea has a more mellow taste and milder medicinal properties.
In the Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, there are texts such as Tea borers, the moths in this tea cage, take their, moths + indications, ear juice... and so on. In the fifth volume of the Qing Dynasty's "Chengbu County Rural Chronicles", there is "Although the tea is coarse and evil, it is placed in the old cage for one or two years or several years, and the tea is turned into worms, and the name is 'worm tea'".
Insect tea has a long history in the production and drinking of insect tea in China, which is a unique forestry insect product in The Xiangguiqian Mountains of China, and is favored by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macao, and has become a brand-name special tea for traditional export in China. Insect tea is a strange drink brewed by insects excreting insect feces after eating leaves, the entrance is cool and fragrant, the aftertaste is pleasant, the throat is beneficial, its taste is very good, and it has health care functions, which is a well-known special drinking tea at home and abroad.
In Hunan Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, people have been eating insect tea for more than a thousand years. There is a saying that during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Miao people in the southwestern Hunan City rose up because they were dissatisfied with the feudal rule, and the imperial court sent troops to suppress it, and drove the Miao people into the mountains. In this way, the Miao people can only rely on picking wild vegetables and picking tea leaves to fill their hunger. Unexpectedly, this year's wild vegetables died due to drought, and all the tea leaves were eaten by mountain insects, and all that was left was insect droppings. Hungry Miao people who did not choose to eat, they took this kind of insect to drink from the water and found that its taste was not bad. So in the future, he "changed his course", simply drank this so-called "tea", and ordered it to be named "insect tea". Later, the officials of Chang'an City knew that in order to offer flattery to the emperor and compete for favors, they ordered the local people to make insect tea on a large scale, make exquisite and beautiful packaging boxes with tree bark, frame red paper, and pay tribute to the imperial court every year as a treasure, and insect tea became "tribute tea". Insect tea is widely consumed locally, and the villagers are healthy and long-lived, and their bodies are strong.
Since the summer of 2009, CCTV has visited Hunan Chengbu, and the fame of Chengbu Insect Tea has increased greatly. Here is the birthplace of the world's best insect tea, is a tribute place as a tribute tea, and is also the only insect tea with historical and scientific records, the price is often tens of thousands, and the market is rare. Insect tea in other parts of Hunan, the raw materials and sources of tea production are different from those of Chengbu insect tea. In addition, the raw materials for tea production in insect tea across the country are different from tea-producing insects, and there is a lack of comparability.
Guizhou insect tea Because of the special geographical location of Guizhou, many Guizhou insect teas are sold to Yunnan and Guangdong very early. There are many tourists who are also willing to bring some insect tea as a souvenir, so the sales of insect tea in Guizhou have been good.
Guizhou insect tea production is larger, there are not many varieties, the leaves picked are slightly different from other regions, the price is moderate, the quality is also medium, the insect tea sales are good, and because Guizhou and Guizhou have the habit of drinking herbal tea, the recognition of insect tea is relatively high, and the market is relatively mature. CCTV has filmed an introduction program of herbal tea, which is based on the formula of Guizhou tea, which shows the influence of Guizhou insect tea in the country.
Guilin is also an important production area for insect tea.