Let’s start, perhaps, with the Sun, because thanks to it all living things receive healing warmth and light. The Sun is associated with brightness, visibility, joy, vitality and optimism, embodies the fiery active principle of YANG and realizes the creative principle. That is, teas that have the energy of the Sun are necessarily recognizable, bright, and include red teas that have a lot of fire – for example, Dian Hong from the southern province of Yunnan and Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (known worldwide as Lapsang Souchong), whose smoked notes have won the hearts of so many people around the world. His homeland is the Wu Yi Shan Mountains, located in the north of Fujian Province. It is known as the first smoked tea.
Dian Hong became famous thanks to the aristocrats from England who brought it to the imperial palace and with the easy hand of Elizabeth II, it gained fame and good name. The moon, the night luminary, combines peace, the coolness of the stars and gives a deep insight into the depths of the soul. Melodious and refreshing notes of Lun Jing green tea perfectly match the characteristic of the night luminary – the same depth and shade of night coolness. As great and mysterious as the moon is, Lun Jing plunges us into the depths of our nature, allowing us to spend a tea party alone with our inner world, opening a dragon’s well into which we want to dive again and again.
Another bright representative of the Moon Sonata is the cool Te Guan Yin, an Oolong from the southern latitudes of Fujian Province. It embodies the beauty and peacefulness of the soul of the divine patroness of the feminine and the element of Yin. Next in our symphony runs Mercury – because it is associated with the flight of thought and activity of the mind. To this successor of Hermes’ traditions we can refer the yellow tea Jun Shan Shan Yin Zhen (Silver Needles from the mountain Jun), so favorite in its time by the Chinese emperors, which tunes to concentration and discussion.
Its homeland is the island of Junshan, located in the Dongtinghu Lake – it is in Hunan province. Also bright representatives of this planet are the so-called Gaba Oolongs, which are actively positioned for business negotiations and scientific research, thanks to the active component GABA, which tunes the active activity of the brain and focus on intellectual pursuits. The origin of these teas is Taiwan, but the component itself was discovered by specialists from Japan, which brings to mind the traditional Japanese Matcha tea, which undoubtedly emphasizes the brightness and depth of oriental thought.
Harmony and beauty of the female planet Venus, a bright representative of the beginning of Yin, embodied in the exquisite and delicate white tea, to fully enjoy the taste and aroma of which will allow Bai Hao Yin Zhen – silver needles with white pile – a beautiful drink, the birthplace of which is the province of Fujian. Both in its appearance and in its effect on the body, white tea is able to soothe and bring comfort to any environment, and its positive properties of skin rejuvenation and removal of toxins will help the figure to acquire slimness and refinement of forms.
The patron saint of all athletes and businessmen, the planet Mars, the favorite of active and assertive people, representing the beginning of YANG, immediately points to an analogy in the world of tea: surely many of you have recognized it as invigorating Puer – it gives a kind of impulse, allowing you to cheer up in the morning, filled with will and energy, giving perseverance, vigor, activity – like a burst and awakening of morning rays, carry you the energy of Puer tea into the day, allowing a powerful impulse to awaken the mind and set you up for dynamism in your endeavors, and even to call fatigue into the arena, and in a fair fight to defeat it, being filled with confidence and desire to act with each brew.
The venerable and universally respected Jupiter has been called the planet of great happiness and the star of kings since ancient times, the wisest of the masculine YANG. Everything associated with him must necessarily spread throughout the world as reverence and authority, knowing no boundaries. And here the Da Hong Pao family is an undoubted example – after all, even among people only indirectly familiar with the tea traditions of China Big Red Coat has a great weight and will always be on the ears of those who seek to learn the truth of the tea way, and the legendary bushes of its ancestor at auction confirm the luxury that can afford the real kings of success and great opportunities. The abundance of legends about Da Hong Pao only confirms its weight in the tea community. The birthplace of this tea is the legendary cliffs of the Wu Yi Shan Nature Reserve.
A wise and stern mentor, Saturn is associated with freezing and testing stamina, concentration and determination. And who else can match the description of these qualities than the high-altitude Dong Ding (translated as “Ulun from the Frosty Peak”) – a striking representative of Taiwan’s Oolongs – in the very name combining the frost and coolness of mountain ranges with tea plantations soaring high above the valleys. From these heights it is able to transmit the energies of this planet. It is the most mature representative of the female energy YIN, allowing to achieve high goals and the highest peaks of skill, endures difficult conditions for survival, only hardening and becoming stronger! It can be compared to a mountaineer who has set himself the goal of climbing thousands of meters above the ground, rising to the peak of endurance and passing the test of time …
And since Saturn is associated with maturity and wisdom, this is a direct reference to Lao Cha – aged teas that, with years of fermentation and special treatment, absorb all the wisdom of centuries of tea art. What kind of tea do you prefer? Are you more Sun or Saturn? Or maybe Mars?
Share in the comments. And enjoy your tea parties!
