Vicony Tea Directory

	Tan Yang Congou | Dried tea leaves

Tan Yang Congou（坦洋工夫）

Tan Yang Congou is one congou type black tea produced in Tanyang, Fujian province. Tan Yang Congou along with Zheng He Congou and Bai Lin Congou are seen as three most famous congou teas of Fujian province.

Tanyang Village is located in the south of Fuan city, Fujian province, belonging to Shekou town. Situated at the left bank of Shexi river,a branch of Changxi river,Tanyang village boasts beautiful landscape.

It is said that during earlier Ming Dynasty, there was a villager named Hu Youcai in Tanyang village who succeeded in cultivating a new tea cultivar, Tanyang Cai Cha. The tea tree of Tangyang Cai Cha is about two meters high with vigorous vitality. Its leaves can be plucked from Qing Ming to late Autumn with an average of 350KG per mu. Tanyang Cai Cha cultivar was so loved by local tea growers that it was widely planted. At first,Tanyang Cai Cha was used to make baked green tea. The baked green tea made from it features tight and even sized appearance and bright green color with delicate nice aroma.

Tan Yang Congou|Infusion

An introduction of black tea production from Chong'an by a tea maker in 1851 made a history. At that time,it was found that Tangyang Cai Cha cultivar was very suitable to produce black tea in which it thoroughly demonstrated its character. During the following years,Hu Fusi,the founder of Wan Xinglong tea firm,worked out the methods to produce Tan Yang Congou. He branded his tea as Tan Yang Congou and exported it to Western Europe and made a hit. Tan Yang Congou won popularity abroad,attracting more and more people to join in the industry. Local and non-local tea merchants all rushed to set up tea firms and shops at Tanyang. Tea producers in surrounding areas such as Chouling,Zhouling,Tuorong and Xiapu all shifted to making black tea and shipped roughly processed tea to Tanyang for further refinement processing. The finished tea were all branded as Tanyang Congou and exported worldwide. Year by year,Tan Yang Congou firmly established itself in foreign markets.

	Tan Yang Congou | Brewed Tea Leaves

Exceling in both appearance and essentials,Tan Yang Congou was listed into the three most famous congou teas of Fujian province. In 1915,Tan Yang Congou won honorary award at the Panama World Expo. According to the statistics recorded in 1937 by Fujian province,in 1934,there were tea gardens of more than 60000 mu in Fuan county, accounting for 10.3% of the total of Fujian province,with an annual production of 2550 tons,making up the 21,7% of the total of Fujian province. Among them,the majority is Tan Yang Congou.

Tan Yang Congou prospered during the 1870 to 1930. Due to the following consecutive wars and chinese political turbulence,the export port was blocked and tea industry suffered tremendously. Tanyang was gradually forgotten by people along with its fading prosperity.

Since the founding of the Republic of China,the production of Tan Yang Congou has gradually recovered. Owing to the betterment in traditional production methods,Tan Yang Congou improved in quality during this period and its output fell short of overseas demand. In the 1960s,the seeds of Tanyang Cai Cha cultivar was presented to Mali and Kenya. Following successful trial planting,the cultivar were then largely promoted in these countries. Because of the deteriorating relations between China and Russia,the export of Tan Yang Congou has declined since 1969 and Tan Yang,since then,reverted to baked green tea production and only kept a small scale of Tan Yang Congou production. Until recent years,Tan Yang Congou didn't appear to regain its footing. Now,Tan Yang Congou has exported to more than 10 countries including Russia, EU and America,with an annual output of more than 1000 tons.

A scene of Tan Yang Congou Tea production in 1950s

See Also:

• Green Tea
• Ching Wo Tea
• Tai Ping Hou Kui
• Chun Mee Tea
• Gunpowder Tea
• Da Fang Tea
• Huo Qing Tea
• Huangshan Maofeng
• Da Hong Pao Tea
• Lapsang Souchong