Recently, Haiyan launched the public brand for tea — “Nanbeihu Tea” in the Scenic Area of South-north Lake, and meanwhile the exclusive brand logo and production standard were made public. Haiyan has formulated a set of regulations for philosophy of the brand, quality control, packaging design and marketing, providing a distinctive ID for local tea.

The quality of Haiyan’s tea lies in its 1000-year splendid culture and unique landscapes. The county boasts a profound tea culture. It is said that as early as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-979), Qian Liu, King of Wuyue Kingdom (907-978), visited Jinsu Temple in Haiyan to distribute tea to locals and encourage them to grow tea. Since then, the tradition of growing and drinking tea took root locally, and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Ganshui Annals of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), the oldest extant town annals in China, clearly documents the prosperity of growing, processing and drinking tea in Haiyan, attesting to deep-rooted tea culture here by that time. Sun Yat-sen, in his The Fundamentals of National Reconstruction, lavished praise on Nanbeihu tea, “Tea produced on Yingkeding resembles that of Wuyi Mountain. The nuns at Yunxiu Temple bake its tender leaves and brew them with Xuedou spring, yielding a strong tea aroma. The tea from Mushan is also precious.” These words describe extraordinary quality of local tea and become one of the best descriptions of local tea.

Local natural endowment of the hills and sea enhances the appeal of Haiyan’s tea. Tea plants are well nourished by the humid and foggy conditions and by the yellow-red soils with suitable acidity and rich organic matter in the hills around South-north Lake. Now, scattered tea planting has gradually developed into large-scale farming, and Haiyan’s tea has become a premium tea in the Jiangnan region.

Today, Haiyan’s tea industry has formed a full production chain. More than 123 hectares of tea gardens are distributed in Ganpu, Qinshan and Tongyuan. Its high-quality tea varieties go as follows: Longjing 43, Wuniuzao, and Jiukeng. Located at the peak of Jiaxing, Gaoyangshan Tea Garden produces premium tea. It is a premier center for mid-to-top-end tea products.