---
title: "Bādōngjùn gòngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/badongjun-gongcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Bādōngjùn gòngchá (巴东郡贡茶)

*Bādōngjùn gòngchá* (巴东郡贡茶), “the tribute tea of Badong commandery”, is a steam-fixed green tea from Badong County (巴东县), Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the west of Hubei Province. The name refers to the Tang commandery of Guizhou-Badongjun, which, according to county materials, supplied tea to the court. The technology, according to the master — a national-level inheritor of the Enshi Yulu tradition — is almost the same as that of this famous neighboring tea, but the down (毫, *háo*) is kept on the leaf. The county made the name a public brand in 2017; since 2018 it has been a geographical indication certification mark.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*) with steam fixation (蒸青, *zhēngqīng*): a report calls the 2021 gold-medal sample a “high-class green tea”, and the technology is almost the same as that of Enshi Yulu.
* **Category:** A county public brand; a geographical indication certification mark (2018).
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (恩施, *Ēnshī*), Badong County (巴东, *Bādōng*).
* **Mark holder:** The Badong County Economic Crops Technology Extension Station (巴东县经济作物技术推广站).
* **Mark zone:** According to an unofficial catalog of geographical indications — the administrative territory of Badong County; the provincial list gives the county as the holder’s affiliation.
* **Main areas:** According to the county leadership (2018), the towns of Xiqiuwan (溪丘湾), Jinguoping (金果坪), Yanduhe (沿渡河) and Dongrangkou (东壤口), as well as part of the new gardens.
* **Geographic coordinates:** The county seat of Badong — about 31.0° N and 110.3° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Legend.** The county society for the study of tea culture retells a legend: Shennong, tasting herbs in the lands of present-day Badong and Shennongjia, was poisoned, and a leaf that fell into the pot of decoction changed the taste of the water and relieved the poisoning. This is legend, not history.
    * **Badong in texts.** A 2018 report refers to a tea historian’s work, “茶史初探”: of the Ba and Shu peoples, it was the Ba who linked tea drinking with the legend of Shennong. According to the same report, *The Classic of Tea* (茶经), the *Bencao Gangmu* (本草纲目), the *Tujing Bencao* (图经本草) and the *Hubei Tongzhi* (湖北通志) name Badong as the place where Shennong found tea; this has not been checked against the primary sources.
    * **Tang.** According to the same report, under the Tang, Badong belonged to Guizhou-Badongjun (归州巴东郡), one of the areas that supplied tea to the court; hence “郡贡” in the name.
    * **2017.** The county chose “巴东郡贡茶” as its public brand, set up the Shennong Tea Culture Research Society and invited specialists from the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and from agricultural agencies as consultants — to “develop” (研制) this tea. In the same year the Ministry of Agriculture entered it in the catalog of famous, special, new and high-quality agricultural products (名特新优农产品目录).
    * **2018.** On 19 May the tea was shown at the 2nd China International Tea Expo in Hangzhou. The master who guided the development was included that same year in the fifth list of national-level inheritors of intangible cultural heritage.
    * **Mark.** According to the provincial list (data as of May 2020), mark No. 26323461 is registered in class 30, goods — tea; the term of the exclusive right runs from 21 July 2018 to 20 July 2028.
    * **2021.** On 22 May, at the 4th China International Tea Expo, the sample “羽叶集·[恩施硒茶](https://thetea.app/article/enshi-xicha)·巴东郡贡茶” from the Badong company “湖北省羽集茶业” won gold at the spring stage of the 11th “中茶杯” competition; in total Hubei had two golds in the green tea category. In the same report, “巴东郡贡茶” is called a geographical indication product of Hubei.
* **Name:** 巴东 — Badong County; 郡 (*jùn*) — “commandery”, after the Tang Badongjun; 贡茶 (*gòngchá*) — “tribute tea”, tea for the court.
* **Cultural significance:** The master calls *Bādōngjùn gòngchá* and Enshi Yulu “sister teas”, typical representatives of the selenium-rich tea of Enshi ([恩施富硒茶](https://thetea.app/article/enshi-fuxicha)).

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** No data for the mark. According to a 2021 report, the ministry recognized the county as a national regional base for propagating improved tea varieties, but which varieties go into this tea is not stated.
* **Raw material:** The 2021 gold-medal sample, according to the report, was made from leaf from an ecological garden on Mount Yangrushan (羊乳山), which the report calls a base of tribute tea since the Sui and Tang — these are the report’s words.
* **Standard and time of harvest:** No standard found in the sources consulted. Harvesting is not limited to spring: at the end of May 2018, summer-autumn tea was being picked in Baiwan village (白湾村), Xiqiuwan township.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The west of Hubei, on the Yangtze: according to a 2018 report, Badong is the first county of Hubei on the river’s course from the west, “the throat between Sichuan and Hubei, the gate of western Hubei”.
* **Climate:** Middle latitudes; precipitation — 1100–1900 mm a year (2018 report).
* **Soils:** According to the same report, soil acidity is moderate, and the county has the nickname “the world’s natural selenium biobank”; the sources give no figures for selenium.
* **Area:** According to a 2018 report, the county’s tea bases covered 102,000 mu, and by 2020 the county set a target of 200,000 mu; whether the plan was fulfilled is not evident from the sources consulted.
* **Altitude:** No data found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

According to the master, the technology goes back to Tang steam fixation, is complex and largely coincides with the technology of Enshi Yulu:

1.  **Spreading to cool (摊凉, *tānliáng*).**
2.  **Steam fixation (蒸汽杀青, *zhēngqì shāqīng*).**
3.  **Fanning off the moisture (扇干水汽, *shàn gān shuǐqì*).**
4.  **First pre-drying (炒头毛火, *chǎo tóu máohuǒ*).**
5.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
6.  **Second pre-drying with turning (铲二毛火, *chǎn èr máohuǒ*).**
7.  **Shaping and polishing (整形上光, *zhěngxíng shàngguāng*).**
8.  **Final drying (烘焙, *hōngbèi*).**

The main difference is the down: the Badong tea keeps it, while for Enshi Yulu, according to the master, other techniques are used, and their appearance and taste differ. The 2021 gold-medal sample, according to the report, went through more than twenty operations. No temperatures or times found in the sources consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

There is no general description for the mark; below is what is available, with the source indicated.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** The leaf keeps its down. The 2021 gold-medal sample — tight, fine, needle-like strands (条索紧细似针形).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No data found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** For the 2021 sample — a “clean aroma” (清香); whether these words refer to the dry leaf or to the liquor is not specified.
* **Taste:** The unofficial catalog of geographical indications: mellow and rich, fresh and brisk, with a sweet aftertaste (滋味醇厚鲜爽而回甘). The 2021 report on the gold-medal sample — sweet.
* **Liquor color:** No data found in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No data found in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No physicochemical data found in the sources consulted. The unofficial catalog writes that the tea contains a lot of tea polyphenols and catechins, but gives no figures; on selenium there are only county slogans, without measurements.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler — the needles of the leaf are visible in it — or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    5. Top up with water; two or three repeat infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the certification mark “巴东郡贡茶” (No. 26323461, valid until 20 July 2028).
    * Check that the producer is from Badong County.
    * Look at the leaf: the down is kept on it — according to the master, this is the main difference from Enshi Yulu.
    * Remember that as a county brand the name has existed since 2017; the “tribute” antiquity in it is a reference to the Tang commandery and to legend.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The mark holder is not a producers’ association but a county agrotechnical station.
* The technology of the new 2017 brand is described as almost the same as that of Enshi Yulu — the difference rests on a single technique concerning the down.
* At the 2021 competition the name appeared within a triple brand: the company’s brand, the prefectural umbrella “恩施硒茶” and the county mark.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Enshi Yulu ([恩施玉露](https://thetea.app/article/enshi-yulu)):** A needle-shaped steam-fixed green tea, the “sister” of the Badong tea in technology; with the down, according to the master, it is handled differently.
* **Enshi Xicha (恩施硒茶):** The prefectural umbrella mark under whose name the 2021 gold-medal sample appeared.
* **Wujiatai Gongcha ([伍家台贡茶](https://thetea.app/article/wujiatai-gongcha)):** A green “tribute” tea of Xuan’en County in the same prefecture.
* **Quxiang Simian Cha ([屈乡丝绵茶](https://thetea.app/article/quxiang-simian-cha)):** A green tea of neighboring Zigui County, downstream on the Yangtze.

**In Conclusion:**

*Bādōngjùn gòngchá* is a new county brand with an old name: the Tang commandery and the legend of Shennong gave it its name, while the technology almost coincides with that of Enshi Yulu — steam fixation, but with the down kept. The mark was registered in 2018, and the “中茶杯” gold was won in 2021. Varieties, altitudes and a full description of the appearance are not yet provided by the sources consulted.