The source of Tie Guan Yin tea comes from Yaoyang, located in Xiping Town, Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. There are four administrative villages in Yaoyang: Shangyao Village, Nanyan Village, Yaoyang Village, and Yaoshan 360 Q&A Village. Most of the villagers in these villages depend on planting Tie Guan Yin tea as their main source of income. There are two types of finished Tie Guan Yin tea: Qing Xiang type and Nong Xiang type.
During the late Tang and early Song dynasties, a high monk named Er Wen Can lived in the Anchang Temple to the east of Sima Mountain in Anxi. He made tea for himself and taught the local residents. The locals called the tea "holy tree." In the sixth year of the Yuanfeng reign, there was a severe drought in Anxi. The villagers invited Master Puzu to pray for rain, and he stayed at Qing Shuiyan. He built a temple and repaired roads to benefit the villagers. Upon hearing about the medicinal effects of the holy tea, he traveled a long distance to learn how to plant and make tea from the locals near Sima Mountain, and he learned how to transplant the holy tree.
One day, after taking a bath and changing clothes with the fragrance of incense, Master Puzu went to the holy tree to pick tea. He discovered a beautiful phoenix-tail-shaped tea leaf and then saw wild mountain goats come to eat tea leaves. He was deeply impressed by the beauty of nature and believed that this tea was truly holy. He returned to the temple to make tea using holy spring water, and he shared the tea with the birds, beasts, and monks. This became his sacred tea recipe for treating illnesses. Master Qing Shui also taught the locals how to plant and make tea.
On the foothills of Nanyan Mountain, there was a retired hunter named Wu Long who accidentally invented the shaking and fermentation techniques for Tie Guan Yin tea while picking tea and hunting in the mountains. His Tie Guan Yin tea had a stronger aroma and a more mellow taste than the holy tea made by Master Puzu.