Anxi in central Fujian Province is one of the best tea-planting areas with its warm temperature, plenty rainfall and fertile soil. Tieguanyin tea produced here is widely known for its good quality and sweet fragrance.

Tieguanyin is not only a name for the tea but also for the tree. The tree is not plump, and the branches hang down loosely. The leaves are thick and dark green, with their edges a little folded like the folded palms of Kwan-yin (the Buddhist priestess). It is because its color is dark green, its heaviness can be compared to iron, and its posture like that of Kwan-yin that it is named Tieguanyin (Iron Kwan-yin).

Tieguanyin has four types -- spring tea, summer tea, sunstroke prevention tea, and autumn tea, of which spring tea has the largest annual production. The quality of Tieguanyin differs according to its grades. Generally speaking, the spring tea is the best, then the autumn tea, and the least precious is summer tea.  Tieguanyin's manufacturing procedures are quite complicated. The leaves of the manufactured tea are tight and dark green. First-grade Tieguanyin is coated with a thin layer of frost because caffeine evaporates with the water during its processing. When brewed by water, a natural fragrance of orchid comes out and the tea has a pure and heavy aroma. If it is served in a small and exquisite tea set, by smelling it first and then tasting it, you will have endless aftertaste in your mouth.

In the process, Tieguanyin has less wilting than other tea, adding more time to the process of making; after the heating process, re-crumpling is applied to hold the leaves with cloth and crumple it to make leaves tight. After re-crumpling and re-heating, small fire should be applied to heat it to vaporize the water inside the leaves. The caffeine, as the water vaporizes, sublimes on the surface as a layer of frost, called "efflorescent". It is an important factor to judge the quality of Tieguanyin to be with or without dark green efflorescent.

Tieguanyin is one of the best brands of the oolong teas produced in Fujian. It contains quite a lot of healthy substances like alkaloid, vitamin, protein and fragrant oil, etc. Since it is good for health and beauty in recent years, Tieguanyin has even been introduced to in Japan, South East Asia, Europe and America, enjoying worldwide reputation.