The tea from Qingcheng has been renowned since ancient times. In the Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu's Tea Classics (茶经 Cha jing ) notes, "In Shuzhou's Qingcheng County, Zhangren Mountain  exists. Qingcheng County produces loose te a and powdered tea." During the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, Mao Wenxi's The Tea Genealogy (茶谱 Cha  pu) also provides detailed records of Qingcheng tea, praising it as "the finest among loose tea". During the Song Dynasty, the Tribute List from the Yongkang Jun Prefecture (永康军贡目 Yongkang jun  gong mu) detailed the amounts of tribute tea provided to the imperial court by 35 Daoist temples located on Mount Qingcheng. Hence, Qingcheng tea has been renowned as Qingcheng Tribute Tea or Dongtian Tribute Tea. In ancient times, it was an annual routine to select the finest Qingcheng tea as a tribute for the imperial court, and this practice continued as a tradition in dynasties thereafter.

The Chronicles of Guanxian County: Food and Commodities (灌县志·食货 Guanxian zhi: shi huo) records that Qingcheng had "excellent tea selected as a tribute product during the Qing Dynasty". The quantity of tribute tea was also significant. In his work, First Draft of Guanxian Records (灌记初稿 Guanji chugao), Peng Xun provided a detailed account of the tribute tea process, "Since the thirteenth year of Emperor Kangxi, the Provincial Administration Commissio n has ordered the 35 temples and Daoist retreats on Mount Qingcheng under the county's jurisdiction to collect 800 jin (weight unit) of sprouting tea annually. The best 60 jin were selected for tribute tea, 60 jin for accompanying tea, and 680 jin for official tea. By the fourth year of Emperor Daoguang, this was reduced by 100 jin, with 700 jin collected each year. From this, 30 jin were selected for tribute tea, 20 jin for accompanying tea, and 660 jin for official tea. Each jin was priced at one hundred copper coins, and the tea had to be harvested by the fifth day before the beginning of summer." Due to the extortion of officials at various levels, the quantity of tribute tea in the Qing Dynasty continued to increase, imposing a heavy burden on the monks and laypeople involved in tea cultivation, leading to widespread complaints and discontent. In the ninth year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1804 AD), the Sichuan authorities at the time, in response to appeals from local monks and Taoists, set a fixed quota for tribute tea. They also appropriately extended the deadline for tribute tea submission based on the local tea harvest schedule. Later, during the reigns of Daoguang and Guangxu, the quota for tribute tea was reduced twice, ultimately easing the tensions.