Baokang pine needle is a kind of strip green tea, which is produced in the area of Baonandianya Town and Baobeihuangbao, Baokang County, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province. The tea area has a mild climate, abundant rainfall and is far away from industrial pollution. It is shrouded in mist all the year round, such as fine gauze mist scattered over the tea garden, forming a unique natural environment for Baokang Songzhen Tea Garden.
The fresh leaves of Baokang pine needles are generally picked in the garden around Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the raw materials require one bud and one leaf. Seize the sunny day, don't pick insect wounds, chilblain buds, fish leaves and stems. After the fresh leaves are harvested, they are quickly steamed and baked. "Baokang pine needle" belongs to needle-shaped steamed green tea, and its quality features are: tight, round, smooth, straight and delicate, green and oily in color, clear and bright in green tea soup, refreshing in aroma, mellow in taste and bright and even in leaf bottom. Its traditional processing technology includes seven steps: steaming, airing in water, shoveling wool fire, kneading, shoveling wool fire, shaping and polishing (Hubei tea net technology: holding, rubbing, ending and tying) and selecting. This product was very famous during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Baokang pine needles produced by Baokang Flower Tea Professional Cooperative of Hubei Flower Tea Group Company were rated as high-quality tea in Hubei Province.