--- title: "Ānhuà hóngchá" url: https://thetea.app/article/anhua-hongcha lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Ānhuà hóngchá (安化红茶) *Ānhuà hóngchá* (安化红茶) is a red tea from Anhua County (安化县) of Yiyang prefecture-level city in Hunan Province. The county is known above all for dark tea — tianjian, black bricks and fu bricks, qianliang cha cylinders — and so “tea from Anhua” is habitually read as dark tea. This name concerns another line of the same county, red tea. Publications link it with the beginning of Hunan red tea in the mid-19th century, although the neighboring Xinhua County disputes the primacy. The name is protected under three regimes at once: as an agricultural product geographical indication (number AGI03211), as a geographical indication product — under announcement No. 640 of 2025 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) — and as a geographical mark. The protection zone is 23 townships and towns of the county, 391 administrative villages. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*), fully fermented. The class is named in the name itself. A popular review places it among the gongfu red teas (工夫红茶, *gōngfu hóngchá*). * **Category:** Hunan red tea (湖红, *húhóng*); agricultural product geographical indication, geographical indication product and geographical mark. * **Origin:** China, Hunan Province (湖南, *Húnán*), Yiyang prefecture-level city (益阳, *Yìyáng*), Anhua County (安化县, *Ānhuà Xiàn*). * **Protection zone:** According to the annex to CNIPA announcement No. 640 — 23 townships and towns of the county: Yanxi (烟溪), Kuixi (奎溪), Pingkou (平口), Qujiang (渠江), Gulou (古楼), Nanjin (南金), Malu (马路), Zhexi (柘溪), Dongping (东坪), Jiangnan (江南), Xiaoyan (小淹), Taoxi (滔溪), Changtang (长塘), Yangjiaotang (羊角塘), Dafu (大福), Lengshi (冷市), Xianxi (仙溪), Meicheng (梅城), Qingtangpu (清塘铺), Gaoming (高明), Le'an (乐安), Longtang (龙塘) and Tianzhuang (田庄), 391 administrative villages in all. * **Geographic coordinates:** 110°43′07″–111°58′51″ E, 27°58′54″–28°38′37″ N — according to the same annex. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **1854 — the beginning of red tea.** According to the 1992 county gazetteer as retold in a publication on Hunan red tea, in the 4th year of the Xianfeng (咸丰) reign Guangdong tea merchants came to Anhua, opened leaf purchasing and taught the locals to make red tea — it was called “广庄红茶”; after them came merchants from Shanxi and Hubei. Elsewhere the same publication gives the year 1858 — a discrepancy within a single text. In 2021 the title of the source of Hunan red tea (湖红之源) went to the neighboring Xinhua County; writers on the Anhua side dispute this, and I do not settle the dispute here. * **1868 — the rules.** According to the same gazetteer as retold, in the 7th year of the Tongzhi (同治) reign the authorities approved red tea regulations of eight articles (红茶章程八条) and uniform scales for purchasing. I have not seen the primary source. * **Export.** The publication refers to a Japanese report on the trade customs of Hunan: six to seven tenths of Anhua red tea went to Russia, the rest to England and America. It calls the years of the Guangxu reign the heyday. * **1915.** Publications report a gold medal at the Panama exhibition; I have not seen a document on the award. * **2020.** According to a reprint of a local report, the name passed review by the expert panel of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on agricultural product geographical indications; the number of the indication is AGI03211. * **2025.** By CNIPA announcement No. 640, *Ānhuà hóngchá* was recognized as a geographical indication product; the announcement contains 1409 names, and this one is in row 984. * **Name:** * *Ānhuà* (安化) is the name of the county. * *Hóngchá* (红茶) means “red tea”. * In the 2024 list of geographical collective and certification marks of the Hunan government, two names stand side by side — “安化红” and “安化红茶”. The reference database of geographical indications gives them the numbers 8947176 and 8947177 (class 30, tea); I have not checked the numbers against the trademark register. * **Cultural significance:** A popular review names the two main red tea lines of Hunan: the 湖红 of Anhua and the 湘红 of the Wuling area (present-day Changde prefecture), by which above all the red tea of Shimen is meant. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Varieties / Cultivars:** Not named in the sources consulted. * **Raw material:** No data for the name in the sources consulted. * **Harvest standard:** Requirements of the name are not found in the sources consulted. A popular review writes that Hunan gongfu red tea and broken red tea are usually made from a bud with two leaves and that summer leaf is better for red tea — this is general practice, not a norm for *Ānhuà hóngchá*. * **Harvest time:** No data in the sources consulted. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Region:** Anhua County of Yiyang prefecture-level city, Hunan Province. The protection zone stretches across more than a degree of longitude — from 110°43′ to 111°58′ E. * **Growing altitude:** No data in the sources consulted. * **Climate:** According to a popular review — subtropical monsoon; mountains occupy 82% of the county's territory, the average annual temperature is 16.2–17.6 °C, precipitation 1706.1 mm a year. * **Soils:** No data in the sources consulted. * **Scale:** No data in the sources consulted. **5. Production Technology:** I have not seen a document with technology requirements for *Ānhuà hóngchá*. The reference database of geographical indications allows three forms of the finished tea — granules (颗粒形), curled leaf (卷曲形) and compressed tea (紧压成形). A popular review names four operations of primary processing. Below is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of this tea: 1. **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*):** The leaf loses part of its moisture and becomes soft. 2. **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** The leaf is rolled, breaking the cells so that the juice comes out. 3. **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** Oxidation, which turns the leaf red. 4. **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*):** Fixes the result. Parameters for *Ānhuà hóngchá* are not found in the sources consulted. **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** A short description is given by the reference database of geographical indications: 内质花香味纯正，无粗涩味，汤色红亮，叶底紫铜色或猪肝色. Formulas from popular summaries are marked as such. * **Dry leaf appearance:** According to the reference database — granules, curled leaf or compressed tea. Popular summaries describe the curled tea: tight, fairly plump strands (条索紧结尚肥壮), black and glossy (色泽乌润). * **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** Floral (花香) — according to the reference database; a popular review calls the aroma high (香高). * **Taste:** Pure, without coarse astringency (纯正，无粗涩味). A popular review — “high aroma, full taste, thick liquor” (香高、味厚、汤浓). * **Liquor color:** Red and bright (红亮). * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** The color of red copper or liver (紫铜色或猪肝色) — according to the reference database. Popular summaries diverge: one calls them red and bright (红亮), another slightly dark (稍暗). **7. Chemical Composition:** Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** Class practice for red tea. * **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C. * **Tea amount:** 3–5 g per 150 ml. * **Teaware:** A white porcelain gaiwan or teapot. * **Process:** 1. Warm the teaware. 2. Add the tea. 3. Briefly wet the leaf with hot water and pour it off. 4. First infusion — 15–30 seconds in a gaiwan. 5. Pour out completely. 6. Four or five further infusions, adding 10–15 seconds each time. **10. Storage:** Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry, cool, dark place, away from foreign odors. A refrigerator is not needed. **11. Price and Counterfeits:** Data on prices and grades are not found in the sources consulted. * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging. * Check that the producer is from Anhua County: the protection zone is 23 townships and towns of this county. * Do not confuse it with Anhua dark tea — that is a different name and a different class. * Remember that three forms are permitted: granules, curled leaf and compressed tea. **12. Interesting Facts:** * A county famous for dark tea has a separate protected name for red tea. * The zone includes Qujiang Town — the place name of the historical tea 渠江薄片; the coincidence of a place name does not make them a single protected name. * The reference database allows a compressed form for *Ānhuà hóngchá* — in a county known for its tea bricks. **13. Comparison with Other Hunan Teas:** * **Anhua Hei Cha ([安化黑茶](https://thetea.app/article/anhua-heicha)):** Dark tea of the same county — its main claim to fame; a different class and a different name. * **Xinhua Hongcha ([新化红茶](https://thetea.app/article/xinhua-hongcha)):** Red tea of the neighboring county, which disputes Anhua's primacy in Hunan red tea. * **Changde Hongcha ([常德红茶](https://thetea.app/article/changde-hongcha)):** A prefecture-wide red tea of the northwest of the province, covering parts of Shimen, Linli and Li counties — the land of the 湘红 line. * **Jietan Hong Cha ([碣滩红茶](https://thetea.app/article/jietan-hongcha)):** Red tea of Yuanling County in western Hunan. * **Anhua Song Zhen ([安化松针](https://thetea.app/article/anhua-song-zhen)):** A needle-shaped green tea of the same county — the third line of local tea growing. **In Conclusion:** *Ānhuà hóngchá* is the red line of a county that all of China knows for its dark tea. The documents about it are sparse: three protection regimes, a zone of 23 townships and towns, and a short description — floral aroma, pure taste without coarse astringency, bright red liquor, copper-red spent leaves. The history of red tea here goes back, according to the summaries, to the Guangdong merchants of 1854, but this primacy is disputed by neighboring Xinhua.