LICHEE CONGOU

Emperor Chen Nung of China supposedly discovered tea when a leaf landed in his cup of steaming water about 2737 B.C. From monks and mandarins to the nomad tribesmen who bartered horses for bricks of tea, everyone in society soon adopted tea drinking as a custom they couldn’t live without. While the Japanese may have given tea a more spiritual significance, it was the Chinese who first started the tradition of serving tea to guests as a symbol of hospitality.
Scented teas have been around for quite some time and are made using time-tested methods passed down through the generations. The fragrance of lychee, a fruit revered in Chinese tradition, was one of the easiest to imitate until the development of essential oil extraction. Lychee fruits native to the area would be harvested and used in the estates’ juice presses. The finished product was a tea with a light, subtle flavour. To suit the enormous volume needs of the worldwide market, essential oils are now acquired in huge, drum-sized quantities and utilised to smell the tea. If you want to wow your next visitor, make them a cup of something particularly unique.