Chinese Tea Names Explained: What Dragon Well, Iron Goddess and Big Red Robe Really Mean

Chinese tea names are small descriptions. Most tell you one of four things: where the tea comes from (Longjing, "Dragon Well", a village near Hangzhou; Keemun, from Qimen county), what the leaf looks like (Bai Mu Dan, "White Peony"; Lu An Gua Pian, "melon seeds of Lu'an"), what it smells like (Rou Gui, "cinnamon"; Mi Lan Xiang, "honey orchid"), or a legend (Tieguanyin, "Iron Goddess of Mercy"; Da Hong Pao, "Big Red Robe").

Learn about 25 common words, like cha (tea), hong (red), bai (white), yin (silver), jin (gold), zhen (needle), mao (downy), feng (peak), and you can decode most tea labels.

I'll be honest: for my first few years with Chinese tea, the names were just sounds to me. "Tieguanyin", "Bai Hao Yin Zhen", "Jin Jun Mei". Then a Chinese friend translated a few over dinner, and the names came alive: the silver needles really are needle-shaped buds covered in white down; the golden eyebrows really do have golden tips. Since then, a tea name is the first thing I read on a label, and it usually tells me what to expect before I open the bag. More in the Start Here guide.

The key words#

The full list of terms is in my glossary.

Famous tea names and what they mean#

Green tea#

White and yellow tea#

Oolong#

Red (black) tea and pu-erh#

How to decode a label: three examples#

• 黄山毛峰 Huangshan Mao Feng: Yellow Mountain + downy + peak = a green tea of downy buds from Huangshan.
• 白毫银针 Bai Hao Yin Zhen: white + down + silver + needle = bud-only white tea.
• 岩茶 肉桂 Yan Cha Rou Gui: rock tea + cinnamon = a Wuyi rock oolong with a cinnamon-like aroma.

For pu-erh wrappers and recipe numbers, see how to read a pu-erh wrapper.

My favourite names#

• Shou Mei, "Longevity Eyebrow": once you see the curled old leaves, you can't unsee the eyebrows.
• Ya Shi Xiang, "Duck Shit Fragrance": a Dan Cong with a wonderful aroma and a name reportedly chosen to keep neighbours from wanting it.
• Tai Ping Hou Kui, "Monkey Chief": the name comes from a village and a legend; the tea is one of the gentlest greens there is.

Myths#

"The names are just marketing." Many are centuries old, and most describe place, shape or aroma.

"Hong cha means black tea." It means red tea, and that's what Westerners call black tea.

"All Longjing comes from the Dragon Well village." The name now covers a wider area; the original villages are the most prized.

My honest take#

Learn the 25 words in the table above. It takes an evening, and afterwards every tea shop and label becomes more readable, and more honest, because you can see when a name doesn't match the tea.

The bottom line#

Chinese tea names describe place, leaf shape, aroma or a legend. A small vocabulary (cha, hong, bai, yin, jin, zhen, mao, feng, ya, xiang) unlocks most of them. More on the teas themselves in my guide to the types of Chinese tea.

Read next: How to Taste Tea and Loose Leaf Tea vs Tea Bags.