Quality standards apply mainly to black teas, essentially reserved for export and produced on a very large scale, making it even easier to have a consistent quality, by blending many batches. As for green teas, especially the most prestigious ones, these are often produced in much smaller quantities, which makes them rare. It is sometimes not an easy task to reach the same quality from one year to the next.

In order to appreciate all their delicacy and freshness, these green teas should be drunk while they are still "new season", in other words in the eight to ten months following the harvest. This is why Le Palais des Thés has decided to adopt the same buying policy for these green teas denominations as the ones we use for spring Darjeelings. So every year our experts visit plantations in Anhui, Fujian, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Jiangsu or Sichuan to select the best teas of the moment and send them to France as quickly as possible.
This selection, renewed every year, is usually available from June onwards, with the exception of air freighted teas that are sold from May, just a few weeks after the leaves were plucked.
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Although rare nowadays, these teas were greatly appreciated during the Song dynasty. We can however still get some of it in small quantities in the Fujian province. The leaves have not undergone any process: they have simply been allowed to dry for almost three days. These teas have a very low tannin content and they need to be brewed for a long time. One of them, Aiguilles d'Argent, made up entirely of buds, is plucked once a year over a two to three days period. This explains why it is one of the most expensive teas in the world.
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Green tea, the daily drink of the Chinese people, accounts for 80% of the total production with a large part reserved for home consumption. It is mainly grown in the mountainous, humid regions of Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guanxi. The leaves can be folded, twisted, rolled lengthwise (needles), or made into balls or other shapes. These teas are known by their freshness, their greenness and their long lasting flavour in the mouth. As a general rule, they should be infused for three minutes.

Le Palais des Thés offers:

• about ten very prestigious teas yearly, chosen from amongst hundreds of exclusive teas produced in China in small quantities. Extremely fresh and of an exceptional delicacy they are replaced from year to year in line with new recommendations and should, for maximum enjoyment, be consumed early season, within eight to ten months of plucking.
• the teas with the constant best reputation in China.

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These also include the teas that the Chinese call blue-green. The teas, which have long, pale leaves before treatment with a low caffeine content, are processed using three types of fermentation:

• a light fermentation (12-15%) that the Chinese call "Wu-Yi" after the name of
  the mountains in the Fujian province where the teas grow,
• an intermediate fermentation (40%), which produces among others the Tie Guan Yin teas,
• a stronger fermentation (50-60%), with a resemblance to the Wu Long (oolong) teas from Taiwan.

These are low caffeine teas, perfect in the late afternoon or in the evening. They are highly regarded by traditional Chinese medicine: they are thirst quenching, calming and help the digestion of fatty foods. Wu Long (oolong) teas can be prepared in a traditional teapot, using 10 to 20 g of tea per litre of water and allowing it to infuse for 7 to 8 minutes. They can also be enjoyed using the Gong Fu Cha method in tiny teapots that are filled with leaves and allowed to infuse for 30 to 60 seconds. Very high quality semi fermented teas can be infused several times without spoiling the taste.
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The birth of black tea in China is very mysterious. No one knows exactly what lead the Chinese to start fermenting tea after having produced only green tea for centuries. One legend says that black tea was the accidental result of a cargo of green tea having fermented during an overly long sea crossing. Having arrived at its destination the tea was greatly appreciated by its recipients, who then went on to order some more… Whatever the case, black teas are essentially produced for export. They come from the Yunnan, Anhui, Fujian, Jianxi and Sichuan regions.
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Produced in the Fujian province, these teas are obtained from Souchong leaves (low, large sized leaves), which are smoked with spruce tree roots. Very low in caffeine, they are suitable for any time of day and can be drunk with meals or savoury breakfasts.
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Produced very irregularly, these are extremely rare teas which Le Palais des Thés is able to buy some years. When this happens the teas are presented under our Rare and Ephemeral Teas heading.

These teas come from Yunnan province and have being fermented in heaps under a damp cover, in order to maintain a degree of hygrometry greater than 85%. The dark teas are usually put through this process several times.
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