---
title: "Bǎizhàngtán chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/baizhangtan-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Bǎizhàngtán chá (百丈潭茶)

*Bǎizhàngtán chá* (百丈潭茶) is a flat green tea of the pan-fired type from Tongcheng County (通城县), Xianning prefecture-level city, in the far south of Hubei Province, at the junction of Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi. The main feature singled out by the product description is “扁平显毫”: a flat, straight leaf with exposed white down. The tea is young, from the 1990s. In 2020 the name received an agricultural product geographical indication — the second in the county — and in 2025 it was included in the list of geographical indication products of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea of the pan-fired type (炒青, *chǎoqīng*), flat (扁形, *biǎnxíng*). The class is named in the description of the protected product: “百丈潭茶为炒青类扁形绿茶” — “a flat green tea of the pan-fired type”.
* **Category:** A modern county green tea; geographical indication product.
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Xianning prefecture-level city (咸宁, *Xiánníng*), Tongcheng County (通城, *Tōngchéng*).
* **Protection zone:** According to a directory of local products — eleven towns and townships of the county, 165 administrative villages: 马港镇, 五里镇, 隽水镇, 关刀镇, 沙堆镇, 麦市镇, 塘湖镇, 四庄乡, 大坪乡, 石南镇 and 北港镇. The catalogue of geographical indication products gives the zone as “the current administrative territory of Tongcheng County”.
* **Geographic coordinates:** According to the same directory — 113°36′–114°04′ E and 29°02′–29°24′ N.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **1990s.** According to the applicant at the 2020 expert review, the tea was “developed starting from the nineties” (自九十年代研制而成); the portal *Jingchu Wang* (2020) names the year 1990 and dates the registration of the trademark “百丈潭” to 2003. Early written mentions were not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2005.** According to a county government reference, in July 2005 a tea company of the same name was founded (通城县百丈潭茶业有限责任公司) — a provincial-level leading agricultural enterprise. Its connection with the indication procedure was not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2009–2017 — awards.** According to the directory of local products: in 2009 the tea was named among the five main promoted brands of famous green teas of Xianning, in 2013 it won gold at the 10th China (Wuhan) Agricultural Expo, in 2016 the mark was recognized as a well-known trademark of Xianning, and in 2017 the tea became a famous product of the city. The sources diverge: *Jingchu Wang* dates the recognition of the mark as well-known in Xianning to 2008.
    * **January 2020 — expert review.** According to a report by the Xianning agricultural bureau, experts reviewed the application of the Tongcheng County Wild Tea Scientific Research Institute (通城县[野生茶](https://thetea.app/article/ye-sheng-cha)科学研究所), found the quality distinctive and approved the registration; the bureau called *Bǎizhàngtán chá* the county's second product with an agricultural indication.
    * **April — May 2020 — registration.** The directory dates the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to 30 April 2020. On 19 May the portal *Jingchu Wang* (荆楚网) reported that by ministry announcement No. 290 nineteen Hubei products had received certificates, and named *Bǎizhàngtán chá* among them. The registration number in the indication catalogue is AGI02948.
    * **2025 — the CNIPA list.** By announcement No. 640, signed on 16 July and published on 13 August 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration recognized 1,409 names as geographical indication products; the indication catalogue assigns *Bǎizhàngtán chá* to this announcement.
* **Name:** 百 (*bǎi*) — a hundred, 丈 (*zhàng*) — zhang, an old measure of length, 潭 (*tán*) — a deep pool: “a pool a hundred zhang deep”. This is a local place name: according to the county reference, it is the name of one of the county's three cascade chains of small hydropower stations, and the local liquor is called 百丈潭酒. Why the name went to the tea is not explained in the sources consulted.
* **Cultural significance:** In the list of “flavors of Tongcheng” of the county bureau of culture and tourism (2021) the tea appears as “百丈潭[有机茶](https://thetea.app/article/youji-cha)” — Baizhangtan organic tea.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The variety is not named in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material:** The directory gives the physicochemical indicators for the spring harvest of “one bud with one leaf” (一芽一叶). A harvest standard was not found in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest time:** Exact dates were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Organic certification:** According to the applicant at the 2020 expert review, the tea had passed national organic tea certification for eighteen years in a row.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** According to the county reference, Tongcheng lies at the northern foot of the Mufushan Mountains (幕阜山), where Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi meet. To the east the county borders Xiushui (Jiangxi), to the south Pingjiang (Hunan), to the west Yueyang and Linxiang (Hunan), and to the north Chongyang (Hubei).
* **Growing altitude:** According to the directory of local products, altitudes in the zone are 250–1,528 m; there are no separate data for the gardens.
* **Climate:** Subtropical monsoon. The data diverge: the county reference gives a mean annual temperature of 15.5–16.7 °C and about 1,500 mm of precipitation, the directory — 17 °C, 1,627.3 mm of precipitation, 1,694.5 hours of sunshine a year and an annual sum of active temperatures from 3,000 to 5,100 °C. Forest cover in both sources is 57.5%.
* **Soils:** According to the directory — mainly red earths and yellow-brown soils, pH 4.5–6.8.
* **Scale:** According to the directory, the area of tea gardens in the zone is 4,620 ha; the year of the data is not stated. The same source calls Tongcheng one of the three largest tea counties of Hubei.

**5. Production Technology:**

The product description assigns the tea to the flat pan-fired type (炒青); a process chart and parameters were not found in the sources consulted.

For a flat pan-fired green tea, the usual sequence is as follows:

1.  **Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊青, *tānqīng*).**
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Heat stops oxidation.
3.  **Straightening (理条, *lǐtiáo*).**
4.  **Flattening (压扁, *yābiǎn*):** The leaf takes on a flat shape.
5.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**

This is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of *Bǎizhàngtán chá*.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The description below is from the description of the protected product in the indication catalogue; the directory repeats it.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Flat and straight (扁平挺直), heavy and dense (身骨重实), green, with white down (色绿有白毫). The distinguishing feature is “flat, with exposed down” (扁平显毫).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** High and lasting (香高持久).
* **Taste:** Full, with a returning sweetness (醇厚回甘); the tea withstands many infusions (耐冲泡).
* **Liquor color:** Green and bright (绿亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Even and bright (匀整明亮).

The applicant at the 2020 expert review described the taste as “full, sweet and fresh” (醇厚甘鲜), and the brewed leaf as even, tender, opening into whole “flowers” (匀嫩成朵).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The directory of local products gives the following indicators for the spring harvest of “one bud with one leaf”:

| Indicator | Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 15% |
| Free amino acids | not less than 2% |
| Water extractives | not less than 36% |
| Moisture | not more than 6.5% |

The figures have not been checked against the text of the CNIPA requirements; there are no data on caffeine.

**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 or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add 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.
    6. Two or three further 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:**

Price data were 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 Tongcheng County.
    * The leaf is flat, straight, with exposed white down. Many flat teas look like this, so the origin and the mark are more reliable than appearance.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The tea's name is a local place name, borne also by a chain of small hydropower stations and by the county liquor.
* In the same 2020 ministry announcement, eighteen more Hubei products received the indication, among them neighbors in the series — Donghe Bizhen Cha ([董河碧珍茶](https://thetea.app/article/donghe-bizhen-cha)) and Luotian Xianglu Cha ([罗田香露茶](https://thetea.app/article/luotian-xianglu-cha)).

**13. Comparison with Other Green Teas:**

* **Tongcheng Haolü ([通城毫绿](https://thetea.app/article/tongcheng-haolu)):** Another green tea of the same county — downy straight twists of the maojian type; *Bǎizhàngtán chá* has a flat leaf.
* **Xihu Longjing ([西湖龙井](https://thetea.app/article/xihu-longjing)):** The model of flat pan-fired green tea; *Bǎizhàngtán chá* is a later Hubei tea of the same shape.
* **Sanxia Longjing ([三峡龙井](https://thetea.app/article/sanxia-long-jing)):** A Hubei green tea made by the longjing technique, from the west of the province.
* **Shuangjing Lü ([双井绿](https://thetea.app/article/shuangjing-lu)):** A twisted downy green tea of neighboring Xiushui County — on the other side of the provincial border, in Jiangxi.

**In Conclusion:**

*Bǎizhàngtán chá* is a young flat green tea of the Tongcheng mountains at the junction of three provinces: a straight leaf with white down, a high lasting aroma, a full taste with a sweet return. The documents speak of the zone, the appearance and the registration, but name neither the variety nor the process chart.