Dianhong begins with fresh leaf from Fengqing large-leaf tea. A Yunnan agriculture department description names four stages: withering, rolling, fermentation and drying. Leaves lose moisture, are worked, undergo oxidation and are dried into a stable tea.
From the journal
From Fresh Leaf to Dianhong Tea in Fengqing
Withering, rolling, oxidation and drying turn Fengqing large-leaf tea into Dianhong, a process distinct from Pu'er tea making.
In the same city · Lincang ↗The leaf sets the process in motion
Four stages, several decisions
Withering prepares fresh leaf for rolling; rolling works the leaf before oxidation changes its color and aroma; drying then stabilizes the made tea. Together, the four stages turn Fengqing large-leaf material into a black tea. The process is a chain of linked operations, and its documented local history includes the 1938 batch associated with tea specialist Feng Shaoqiu.
A modern name with a documented history
The same department account places a key moment in 1938. It says tea specialist Feng Shao Qiu collected ‘one bud and two leaves’ in Fengqing, made a black tea that drew attention in Hong Kong, and that the tea was later named Dianhong. This is a useful point in the documented modern history of the product. It does not mean tea cultivation in Fengqing began then: the source separately describes a long local history of planting, making and drinking tea.
The department account gives the product a dated turning point: in 1938, tea specialist Feng Shaoqiu made a black tea from one bud and two leaves in Fengqing; after it attracted attention in Hong Kong, it was named Dianhong. The story belongs to the modern product history, while the same account describes a longer local practice of planting, making and drinking tea. Leaf and place meet in both histories, but they are not the same timeline.