The SiChuan Basin in SiChuan Province in the southwest part of China, has very fertile soil, plenty of rain and warm temperature which is ideal for many kinds of  plants. This is probably the most popular and prosperous part of the country for many dynasties. That is why the SiChuan Basin is also called "the State of Heaven". One of the most important places in the tea history of Sichuan and probably the whole of China is Mount Meng Shan. It is northwest of the small town of Mengding, just on the rim of the SiChuan Basin.

MengDing tea is a famous mountain tea in China, belong to tender green tea. The rain season here is as long as nine months each year, the temperature is relatively cool on the slope of the mountain. This environment is ideal for the mountain tea. As early as in the western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 24 AD),  a farmer called Wu LiZhen discovered a special tea species amid the foggy peaks on the Mount. MengDing. His is believed to be the founder of the MengDing tea gardens. in Tang Dynasty the best  tea gardens were assigned to be the royal garden.  Every year around the QingMing Festival (April 5), the local governor would be dress in ceremonial attires, offering sacrifices to gods, and asked the Buddhist priests to worship the tea trees, then picked up 365 pieces of tea leaves. When processing the leave, the Buddhist monks would be praying around. These 365 pieces leaves will be called the "holy tea" and reserved in two silver bottles. It would be used in the Emperor's sacrificial ceremony to their ancestors. The local officers would also pick some other leaves, process them to the tea product, then reserve the tea in another 18 tin bottles, which was called the "ordinary tea" or "secondary tea" for the royal family's daily life. This traditional had been kept from the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) for more than a thousand years.

There are also some different brand name of the MengDing tea, such as HuangYa (yellow bud), ShiCha (stone tea), YuYe (jade leaf), YinZhen (silver needle), the best  and most famous of them is probably GanLu (Honey Dew). The bud of the Ganlu is covered by silver thin hair, with a yellowish-green color for the leaves. The taste has a special sweet flavor, which make the MengDing tea distinguishable from other types of tea.