Enshi Yulu(Jade Dew): China’s Only Needle Shaped Steamed Green Tea
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Enshi Yulu is the only surviving steamed green tea in China.
Its history goes back to the ancient Shennong era, when people in the region that is now western Hubei — the former land of Wuxian — were already using wild tea leaves for medicine and ritual. According to local historical records preserved in the Enshi archives and discussed in combined_part1–4, tea from this area was recognized for its purity and healing quality long before the Tang dynasty.
By the Tang period (618–907 CE), the region known as Shizhou had become an important tea area. Historical writings in the four documents note that Shizhou’s tea was part of the early tribute tea system, supplying the imperial court. It was also during this time that the steaming method — once used widely across China — became a defining feature of Enshi tea production.
1. Origins and Historical Development
Archaeological and written sources described in the documents show that the tea culture of Enshi formed under strong influences from Chu culture and early Buddhism. Temples in the mountains used tea for offerings and meditation, while local people prepared steamed leaves for daily drinking.
During the Song dynasty, Enshi’s tea entered wider trade networks and was recorded among tribute teas sent to the court. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the term Yulu — literally “jade dew” — was used to describe its fine, bright liquor. The documents emphasize that Enshi Yulu maintained the steamed method even when most other regions shifted to pan-firing.
This continuity makes Enshi Yulu a living example of the original Chinese green tea tradition.
(Internal link: [Enshi Green Teas])
2. The Steaming Process
To make Enshi Yulu, fresh leaves are picked in early spring — usually one bud and one tender leaf. They are quickly transported to the workshop before oxidation begins.
Inside a traditional bamboo steamer, hot steam gently halts enzyme activity in the leaves within seconds. This preserves their vivid green color and delicate amino acids. The steamed leaves are then cooled, rolled, and dried over low charcoal heat until they curl into fine, needle-like strands with a silky sheen.
Modern producers use stainless-steel steamers, but the philosophy remains unchanged: to preserve life within the leaf.
While roasted teas develop nutty or chestnut notes, steamed teas like Enshi Yulu express fresh grass, umami, and morning dew.
This process is remarkably similar to that of Japanese tea, yet the flavor is entirely different — softer, rounder, with the sweetness of mountain water rather than sea air.
3. A Cup That Reflects the Mountain
When brewed, Enshi Yulu reveals a luminous jade liquor. Its aroma is pure and restrained — fresh bean sprout, bamboo leaf, and a hint of orchid.
The taste begins with gentle umami, then opens into a clean, lingering sweetness that leaves the mouth cool and bright.
Local farmers say, “Our tea tastes like fog and light.” They are not being poetic. The soil here is rich in selenium, a natural antioxidant that gives the tea a crisp, clear character and subtle sweetness even after many infusions.
Every detail — the mountain mist, the limestone soil, the careful steaming — is preserved in the cup. When you drink Enshi Yulu, you drink the rhythm of a mountain that still breathes slowly.
4. From Tribute to Revival
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Enshi Yulu was known as royal tribute tea.
Its fame faded in the twentieth century when roasted teas became easier to make and sell.
By the 1970s, few people still remembered how to steam tea properly.
The revival began in the early 1980s.
Old masters and local families started searching for the lost craft.
Among them was the Lan family from Bajiao in Enshi, whose ancestors had made Yulu for generations.
The Lan family never gave up steaming.
Even when factories changed their methods, they kept using bamboo steamers and hand-rolling leaves at home.
Their knowledge became the foundation for modern Enshi Yulu.
One of the key people who helped bring this craft back was Master Yang Shengwei, a respected tea maker and teacher from Enshi.
He studied the old Lan family process, collected field notes from surviving elders, and worked with the local tea research team to rebuild the first modern steaming workshop.
Master Yang helped write the technical standards that define how Enshi Yulu is made today.
He later became an advisor to small cooperatives, including FlowInverseTea, guiding young makers on leaf selection and heat control.
He is recognized as the modern father and national repesentative of Enshi Yulu.
Our own mentor, Teacher Zhou, also continues this line of knowledge.
Her mother came from the Lan family, so the link between their traditional handwork and today’s organic farms is still alive.
The spirit of both the Lan family and Master Yang lives in every batch we make — steady, patient, and honest.
5. Taste and Character
Enshi Yulu has a light jade-green color and a gentle aroma of nori, butter and flower.
The first sip feels fresh and smooth, then slowly turns sweet and clear. It has a light jade-green color and fine, tight leaves. The liquor is clear and bright, the aroma pure and lasting, and the taste fresh with a lingering sweetness.
The steaming process keeps the amino acids and chlorophyll, giving the tea a clear color, clean aroma, and brisk taste.
The selenium-rich soil adds a soft sweetness and cool feeling in the throat.It cools the mouth and leaves a quiet freshness in the throat.
Each cup carries the calm of Enshi’s mountains and the careful hands that made it.
Tea specialists call it “pure and deep.”
It is not a loud tea but one that speaks softly and lasts long.
5. The Meaning of Steaming
Steaming is not only a way to make tea. It keeps the leaf close to its original nature.
Fire changes the leaf, but steam protects it.
Steaming reflects the old Chinese idea of purity, patience, and harmony with nature. The traditional whole process to make Enshi Yulu will keep the oven and platform at around 100 degree heat.
In a sense, Enshi Yulu teaches that perfection is not about control, but about protection — keeping something fragile from being lost.
Every cup is a memory of the time when Chinese tea first met human curiosity and fire, when steaming was both technology and ritual. To hold that cup today is to touch a thousand years of quiet continuity.