Tie Guanyin Tea

Tie Guanyin is produced in Anxi County of Fujian Province, so people often call it "Anxi Tie Guanyin." Anxi is located in the southeast side of the hill, where over 50 kinds of tea leaves are produced, with Tie Guanyin on the top. Another name for Guanyin is Guanshiyin, the most popular female Buddha in China. Chinese folks think she is most charitable and most willing to help people, so they call her "the charitable Guanshiyin Buddha who helps the needy and relieves the distressed."
The word "Guanyin" means to listen to people's misteries. It is said that there used to be an old man who devotedly believed in Guanyin. He consecrated green tea in front of Guanyin's shrine every morning and evening for dozens of years on end. One day, he dreamed of himself discovering an unusual tea tree in the crack of a rock near a stream. Just when he was trying to pick its leaves, he was woken up by a barking dog. Waking up, he went to the place he dreamed of. Sure enough, he found a tea tree there and transplanted it to his home, whose leaves gave off tremendous fragrance. What with this tea tree was discovered under the guidance of Guanyin Buddha, and with the leaves were black, moist burly and weighing like steel, the tree was called Tie (meaning steel) Guanyin because of its sweet smell and beautiful appearance which were characteristic of Guanyin. Whether this story is true or not is beyond proof, but the fact that people used "Guanyin " to name a tea is solid proof of people's fondness of Tie Guanyin.