Xinhua County Tianmenxiang Organic Tea Co. Ltd..

Holy tea grows along the geographic dividing line running through Xinhua County, a central part of Hunan, southern China. It perches 1,000 meters above sea level, 28 degrees north latitude, at the intersection of the east-west stretching Nanling Mountain and the south-north extending Xuefeng Mountain. Typically, during winter and spring, when the warm monsoon of southern China meets the cold spell of the north, temperature at such a high altitude—1,000 meter above sea level—is markedly warmer than the surface, a climate phenomenon dubbed by locals as “south wind spell”.

As a result, even during spring, it is not uncommon to see the tender shoots of holy tea covered in ice and its leaves clad in snowflakes. Beleaguered by such severe cold, some tea trees succumbed and died; others survived and had their diseases and pests subdued in the process, sparing the need for pesticide. Holy tea contains higher levels of nutritious substances such as theanine and polyphenol than does regular, low-altitude-dwelling brick tea—a quality that distinguishes holy tea from the others.