Bǎojī cháyè (保基茶叶) is a geographical indication product of Panzhou county-level city (盘州市), Liupanshui prefecture-level city, in the west of Guizhou Province. The name comes from Baoji Township (保基乡), but the protection zone is wider — 22 towns and townships of the county. Cháyè (茶叶) simply means “tea leaf”: the name does not state the class of tea, and the sources consulted do not establish it. Reference descriptions speak of gardens at an altitude of 1,700–1,900 m, of old tea trees in the Laochang area aged, by a preliminary estimate, more than 500 years, and of selenium-bearing soils. The name received protection in 2016.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Not established. I have not seen a document with requirements for the product. A reference website writes that the tea is known for its rich aroma and its color “绿润” — “green with luster”; such wording is typical of green tea, but it does not prove the class, and I do not assign one on its basis alone.
- Category: Geographical indication product (地理标志产品, dìlǐ biāozhì chǎnpǐn), 2016.
- Origin: China, Guizhou Province (贵州, Guìzhōu), Liupanshui prefecture-level city (六盘水, Liùpánshuǐ), Panzhou county-level city (盘州, Pánzhōu).
- Protection zone: 22 towns and townships of Panzhou: Baoji, Yangchang, Yuni, Jichangping, Jiuying, Panjiang, Banqiao, Shuitang, Minzhu, Laochang, Mayi, Dashan, Huashi, Pingdi, Pingguan, Zhongyi, Baotian, Putian, Xinmin, Xiangshui, Lemin and Huopu. The list is taken from a reference reprint; I have not checked it against the protection announcement.
- Geographic coordinates: Panzhou — about 25.7° N and 104.5° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History: The early information below is from a reference website about local products; I have not seen the primary sources.
- The Classic of Tea. The site traces the history back to The Classic of Tea (茶经, Chájīng): it states that tea grows in the prefectures of Sizhou, Bozhou, Feizhou and Yizhou and “its taste is excellent”. That Baoji lies within these prefectures is the site’s interpretation; I have not seen confirmation.
- The Qianlong (乾隆) reign of the Qing dynasty. Citing the Ethnography of Guizhou (贵州民族志), the site writes that Baoji tea was a local tribute: the Han and the Yi people (彝族) presented it every year to landowners and hereditary local rulers (土司、土目).
- 1947. At the provincial exhibition of local products in Guiyang, Baoji tea represented the county.
- 1970s. The county’s tea gardens were laid out; by the 1990s their area exceeded 800 ha.
- 2007. The province adopted a decision on the accelerated development of the tea industry, and the county became one of its key tea counties.
- 2016. According to the reference website, on 4 July the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) placed “保基茶叶” under protection as a geographical indication product. I did not find the announcement number.
- 2025. By CNIPA announcement No. 615 of 23 January, 363 enterprises received the right to use the special geographical indication mark; “保基茶叶” is in the list of products. Which companies are authorized to use this mark is stated in an annex that I have not seen.
- Name: “Baoji” (保基) — the name of the township; cháyè (茶叶) — “tea leaf”.
- Cultural significance: According to the same site, the tea is loved by both the local Han and the Yi people, and both have a long-standing culture of tea drinking.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: Not named in the sources consulted.
- Old trees: According to the reference website, specialists of the Guizhou Tea Research Institute preliminarily estimated the age of a community of old tea trees in the Laochang (老厂) area at more than 500 years. The site concludes from this that Panzhou is one of the places where the tea plant originally grew; this is its interpretation. Whether the leaf of the old trees goes into the product under this name is not stated.
- Raw material, harvest and harvest standard: Data were not found in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The west of Guizhou. According to the reference website — low latitudes and high altitude, a subtropical monsoon humid climate without a severe winter and without summer heat, the coincidence of the rainy and warm seasons, abundant precipitation and a large difference between day and night temperatures.
- Growing altitude: 1,700–1,900 m; according to the same source, this is 200–300 m higher than in other tea areas of Liupanshui.
- Soils: The gardens, according to the reference website, lie on selenium-rich coal-bearing strata. The figures are in section 7.
- Slopes: More than 80% of the county’s arable land is sloping land, and slopes steeper than 25° are unfit for plowing. The site calls the conversion of such arable land to tea under the program of returning farmland to forest and grassland a large reserve for growth.
5. Production Technology
No description of the technology was found in the sources consulted. The class is not established, so I do not give the general scheme of the class either: for green, red or other tea it differs.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The reference website describes the tea in one phrase: a rich aroma and the color “green with luster” (香气浓郁和茶色绿润). For the high-mountain tea of Panzhou in general it adds: “清香馥郁，香高持久” — a clean, dense aroma, high and lasting — and that the tea withstands many infusions.
- Dry leaf appearance: There is no separate description; what “green with luster” refers to — the dry leaf or the liquor — is not specified.
- Dry leaf aroma: There is no separate description; the aroma is called rich without further detail.
- Liquor aroma: Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
- Taste: Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor color: Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
According to the reference website, the Institute of Geochemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Guiyang studied the soils and the tea of Panzhou:
| Indicator | Mean |
|---|---|
| Selenium in soil | 0.376 µg/g |
| Selenium in tea | 0.12 µg/g |
The site names neither the year, nor the sample, nor the method. It also compares the high-mountain tea of Guizhou with that of Zhejiang: amino acids 4–5% versus 3%, extractives 45–50% versus 38%. These are general figures for the province without reference to measurements, not indicators of Bǎojī cháyè.
8. Brewing
Class practice — the class is not established, and the parameters depend on which tea under this name is in hand.
- Green: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a glass tumbler or a gaiwan, first infusion after 40–60 seconds, two or three further infusions.
- Red: 90–95 °C, 3–5 g per 150 ml, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot, short infusions, progressively lengthened.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, drink within a year. Red — in a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data were not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark and the name “保基茶叶”: in 2025 CNIPA authorized new enterprises to use the mark.
- Check that the producer is from Panzhou and from one of the 22 units of the zone.
- Clarify the class of the tea: the name does not state it.
- Do not confuse it with Baojing Huangjin Cha (保靖黄金茶) from Hunan: the beginnings of the names — 保基 and 保靖 — differ by one character.
11. Interesting Facts
- The name comes from a single township, while the protected zone covers 22 towns and townships of the county.
- The gardens of Panzhou, according to reference data, are 200–300 m higher than other tea areas of their prefecture.
- Baoji tea, as retold from the Ethnography of Guizhou, went as tribute to hereditary local rulers under the Qing.
- In 1947 Baoji tea represented the county at the provincial exhibition in Guiyang.
12. Comparison with Other Teas of Western Guizhou
- Shuicheng Chun Cha (水城春茶): A high-mountain green tea of the same Liupanshui prefecture; its class is established, that of Bǎojī cháyè is not.
- Jiuceng Shan Lü Cha (九层山绿茶): A green tea of the Jiucengshan Mountains in Liupanshui prefecture.
- Pu’an Siqiu Cha (普安四球茶): A green tea of Pu’an County from a special species of tea plant, 四球茶.
- Qishe Cha (七舍茶): A mountain tea of Xingyi county-level city; its class is established by the product requirements.
In Conclusion:
Bǎojī cháyè is a name that protects a place rather than a specific tea: 22 towns and townships of Panzhou with gardens at 1,700–1,900 m, the old trees of the Laochang area and selenium-bearing soils. Protection has been in force since 2016, and in 2025 CNIPA authorized new enterprises to use the mark. The sources consulted give no variety, technology or description of appearance, so when buying tea under this name, it is worth first finding out its class.