TeaHQ

Que She

A Wuyi ming cong — one of the named bushes of the rock-tea tradition — whose name means sparrow’s tongue, after the shape of the small pointed leaf. The same two characters are used in Sichuan and elsewhere for entirely unrelated green teas picked at a very small leaf standard, so Que She is a name that describes a leaf shape in one place and a specific Wuyi plant in another.

雀舌Camellia sinensis var. sinensisChinaAlso called sparrow tongue

Where it sits in the botany

Que She is recorded under Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, the variety group one level above cultivar. It is associated with China, which is where it was selected or is most widely planted rather than the only place it grows.

Also transliterated as: que she, queshe.

Where it came from

Propagated within the Wuyi ming cong tradition, in which individually named bushes were selected on the cliffs and multiplied by cutting.

How firm this is: Inferred rather than taken from a primary breeding or registration record. Origin narratives for individual ming cong are locally transmitted and generally undated; TeaHQ asserts none.

What the plant is like

Small, narrow leaf and a low yield even by ming cong standards, giving a high, sharp fragrance that roasting has to be judged carefully against.

What it is usually made into

The categories this cultivar is typically processed into. It is a statement about common practice, not a limit — processing decides the category, and a cultivar can be taken down more than one route.

  • Oolong — Partially oxidised teas, bruised deliberately and often roasted — the widest-ranging category in tea.

Teas in the catalogue made from Que She

Other cultivars in Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

Sources

  • TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ

This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No breeding register or institutional record stands behind the account above, which is why the origin note carries its confidence in the open rather than reading as a citation.

How TeaHQ handles sources

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this cultivar against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.

  • Que She: a Wuyi bush, a rock tea, and a leaf shape — 雀舌 means sparrow's tongue and describes the shape of a small pointed leaf. That is all it describes. It is attached to a specific Wuyi ming cong and the oolong made from it, and also to green teas from Sichuan and elsewhere picked to a very small standard, which are neither the same plant nor the same category.