--- title: "Běiyuàn gòngchá" url: https://thetea.app/article/beiyuan-gongcha lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Běiyuàn gòngchá (北苑贡茶) *Běiyuàn gòngchá* (北苑贡茶) is the “tribute tea of the Northern Garden”: the name has two meanings, and they must not be mixed up. Historically this was the name of the court tea of Jianzhou — steamed, ground into a paste and pressed into cakes with a dragon and a phoenix, which, according to local sources, went to the court for 458 years, from the Min kingdom to the Ming dynasty. Today it is a geographical indication of Jian'ou county-level city (建瓯市) in the north of Fujian and the common brand of its teas; the indication document describes an oolong with a “green leaf with a red edge”. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Oolong (乌龙茶, *wūlóngchá*) — according to the indication document: the shuixian and aijiao wulong varieties, oxidation with tossing (做青). The historical *Běiyuàn gòngchá* is a steamed pressed tea (蒸青研膏团饼茶), not an oolong. * **Category:** Agricultural product geographical indication (2012), since 2025 a geographical indication product; at the same time the common brand of the county. * **What the brand covers:** According to China National Radio (2024), mainly loose-leaf aijiao wulong, shuixian, meizhan, rougui and the white Shuixian Bai, as well as recreated pressed cakes. * **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Nanping prefecture-level city (南平, *Nánpíng*), Jian'ou county-level city (建瓯, *Jiàn'ōu*) — ancient Jianzhou (建州). * **Protection zone:** The whole county — 14 towns and townships (among them Xudun, Jiyang, Fangdao, Nanya) and 4 subdistricts, 4233 km². * **Geographic coordinates:** 117°58′45″–118°57′11″ E, 26°38′54″–27°20′26″ N. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **The Zhenyuan years (785–805).** According to the radio, the Fujian governor Chang Gun (常衮) began making steamed tea from ground paste (研膏茶) in Jianzhou. *Huaman Lu* also dates this to the Zhenyuan years and calls Chang Gun the governor of Jianzhou prefecture; a tea portal and an economic publication link the new method of making to his appointment to Fujian in the Jianzhong years (780–783). Xiong Fan begins the story differently: under the Southern Tang, at the end of the Five Dynasties, residents of the counties were gathered in Beiyuan for picking, where at first tea from ground paste (研膏) was made, and then “wax surface” (蜡面, *làmiàn*). * **933.** Zhang Tinghui (张廷晖), a resident of Jianzhou, gave the tea hills of Fenghuangshan (凤凰山) — thirty li in circumference — to the ruler of the Min kingdom for an imperial garden. It was called the “Northern Garden” because it lay in the north of the kingdom (according to the economic publication — north of the Min capital Fuzhou). * **977.** The Song court took the garden under its own administration, sent officials to supervise the making and cast molds with a dragon and a phoenix in order to “distinguish it from the drink of commoners” (以别庶饮). This is how the 龙团凤饼 (*lóngtuán fèngbǐng*) cakes appeared. In 985, when the Fujian circuit was established, its transport office, according to the tea portal, was placed in Jianzhou to secure the making and delivery of these cakes. * **Ding Wei and Cai Xiang.** According to *Minbei Ribao* (reprinted by Xinhua, 2025), in the Xianping years Ding Wei (丁谓) made the phoenix cake, then the dragon cake, and in the Qingli years Cai Xiang (蔡襄) made the small dragon cake (小龙团). *Huaman Lu* dates the small cakes to the Tiansheng years. * **Weight and price of the cakes.** Ouyang Xiu (欧阳修) writes in *Notes on Returning to the Fields* (《归田录》) that the large dragon and phoenix cakes went eight to a jin, and the small ones, which Cai Xiang began making in the Qingli years, twenty, and a small cake cost two liang of gold: “gold can be had, but this tea cannot” (金可有而茶不可得). On the days of the sacrifices in the southern suburb, according to him, the Secretariat and the Privy Council each received one small cake and divided it among four people; *Huaman Lu* speaks of eight people to one cake. * **Miyunlong.** By decree of Shenzong, Jianzhou began making the “dense cloud dragon” (密云龙, *mìyúnlóng*) and ranked it above the small cakes. *Huaman Lu* dates the decree to the end of the Xining years, Xiong Fan to the Yuanfeng years; in the Shaosheng years, according to Xiong Fan, this tea was renamed the “auspicious cloud soaring dragon” (瑞云翔龙). * **Volumes.** Xiong Fan (熊蕃) writes in *Records of the Tribute Tea of Beiyuan in the Xuanhe Years* (《宣和北苑贡茶录》): at the beginning of the Taiping Xingguo years 50 cakes were presented, by the Yuanfu years 18,000, and in his own time more than 47,100. For the beginning of the tribute the count diverges: *Huaman Lu* writes that under Ding Wei no more than 40 cakes a year were presented, the tea portal speaks of 50-odd jin with eight cakes in each. * **1048.** The Fujian transport commissioner (转运使) Ke Shi (柯适) left an inscription of 80 characters on a rock about the time of the garden's founding, its location and its buildings, with 32 drying houses, the “Hall of Imperial Tea” and the “Imperial Spring”. * **Scale.** At its peak Jianzhou had 32 official drying houses and 1304 private workshops. * **End of the tribute.** The tribute went on through the Song, Yuan and Ming; the economic publication and the China News Service agency name the 24th year of Hongwu (1391), when the making of cakes was stopped. When under the Ming the cakes gave way to loose tea, whisked tea 点茶 (*diǎnchá*) in China, according to a local researcher, gradually died out. * **How many years the tribute lasted.** The radio and the provincial press give 458 years, counting from the Min kingdom and the year 933. In 2023 the provincial government portal gave a different count, citing a local researcher — from 946 (保大四年, the Southern Tang period) and 445 years. * **The site.** In 1995 the Fujian Provincial Museum carried out excavations next to the inscription. The area of the site, according to the economic publication, is about 20,000 m²; among the finds are glazed ceramic mortars and drying kilns. Since 2006 it has been a heritage site of national significance; on 2 January 2025 the province approved its protection plan. * **2012.** The Ministry of Agriculture registered the agricultural indication by announcement No. 1813 of 3 August; the certificate holder is the Jian'ou Agricultural Technology Extension Center (建瓯市农业技术推广中心). * **2025.** The catalog of indications assigns the name to announcement No. 640 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on the recognition of geographical indication products. * **Name:** 北苑 means “Northern Garden”, 贡茶 means “tribute”, that is, tea presented to the court. * **Cultural significance:** The Song author Zhou Jiang (周绛) wrote: “天下之茶建为最，建之北苑又为最” — the best tea under Heaven is from Jian, and the best in Jian is from Beiyuan. Beiyuan is the subject of Xiong Fan's treatise, the *Separate Records of Beiyuan* by Zhao Ruli (赵汝砺) and pages of Emperor Huizong's *Treatise on Tea*. Zhang Tinghui is revered as the god of tea; his temple stands on Mount Fenghuangshan in Dongfeng Town. The county runs a “1+5” program for the revival of Beiyuan — reviving the ruins, telling the history, raising the tea industry, tea tourism and external ties — and holds traditional tea ceremonies: “calling the mountain” (北苑喊山), “tea contests” (北苑茗战), and a sacrifice to the god of tea. According to China National Radio (2024), Jian'ou has 7 tea-related intangible heritage items of various levels and 59 recognized bearers of the tea craft. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Varieties:** According to the indication document — “shuixian, aijiao wulong and other good varieties” ([水仙](https://thetea.app/article/shui-xian)、[矮脚乌龙](https://thetea.app/article/ai-jiao-wulong)等优良品种); planting material according to the national standard GB 11767. * **Harvest:** Manual or mechanical, according to the industry regulation on mechanized picking NY/T 225. Picking norms and timing are not found in the sources consulted. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Region:** The north of Fujian, the upper reaches of the Min River. Zhao Ruli placed Beiyuan near Mount Fenghuangshan and called the local earth red (赤壤). According to the indication document, the county lies on the southeastern side of the Wuyi range and on the northwestern side of the Jiufengshan range (鹫峰山), and borders Jianyang in the north, Nanping and Gutian County in the south, Zhenghe and Pingnan in the east, and Shunchang in the west. * **Growing altitude:** Gardens at 300–1280 m. * **Topography:** The highest point is Mount Chenshan (辰山, 1822.2 m), the lowest is Fangcun village of Nanya Town (68 m); hills and mountains occupy 57.34% of the territory. * **Soils:** Red-yellow, with a deep profile and an admixture of gravel; the topsoil is brown, yellow-red or yellow-gray; pH 5.5–6.5. * **Climate:** Mid-subtropical maritime monsoon, with distinct seasons; mean annual temperature 14–20 °C, precipitation 1600–1800 mm, humidity about 80%, 1600 hours of sunshine a year, 280 frost-free days, accumulated active temperature above 10 °C — 6500 °C. * **Scale:** According to *Minbei Ribao* (2025), the county has 141,000 mu of gardens and 20,600 t of raw tea a year; about 80% of the raw material, according to the radio, is bought up by firms of Xiaoqiao Town. **5. Production Technology:** According to the indication document, today's *Běiyuàn gòngchá* is made as follows: 1. **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*).** 2. **Cooling the leaf (凉青, *liángqīng*).** 3. **Tossing and oxidation (做青, *zuòqīng*).** 4. **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*).** 5. **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).** 6. **First drying (初焙, *chūbèi*).** 7. **Cooling (摊凉, *tānliáng*).** 8. **Second drying (复焙, *fùbèi*).** The document gives no regimes or temperatures. The Song technology was different: the *Separate Records of Beiyuan* name picking, sorting, steaming, pressing, grinding, shaping and drying (采茶、拣茶、蒸茶、榨茶、研茶、造茶、过黄). The county is reviving it: according to the radio, pressed cakes are again made the old way, and a machine has been created for whisked tea. **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** The description below is from the agricultural indication document; it refers to loose-leaf oolong. * **Dry leaf appearance:** Tightly rolled, heavy; the color is greenish-brown, oily (条索紧结重实，色泽青褐油润). * **Dry leaf aroma:** A separate description is not found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** Rich and lasting, floral and fruity (香气浓郁持久，具有花果香). * **Taste:** Full, with a sweet return (滋味醇厚回甘). * **Liquor color:** Clear, orange-yellow (汤色清澈橙黄). * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Thick, soft and bright, “green leaf with a red edge” (叶底肥厚软亮，绿叶红镶边). **7. Chemical Composition:** The document names tea polyphenols, caffeine and amino acids, but gives no figures. For safety the product must meet the standard for “green” products NY/T 288-2002. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** Class practice for oolong from large-leaf varieties. * **Water temperature:** 95–100 °C. * **Tea amount:** 7–8 g per 110 ml gaiwan. * **Teaware:** Gaiwan or clay teapot. * **Process:** 1. Warm the teaware and briefly rinse the leaf. 2. First infusions — 15–30 seconds. 3. Add time with each infusion. 4. Five to seven infusions. **10. Storage:** Class practice. Airtight, in a dry cool place, away from light and foreign odors. **11. Price and Counterfeits:** Price data are not found in the sources consulted. The leadership of Xiaoqiao Town, according to the radio, calls Jian'ou finished tea noticeably cheaper than Wuyishan tea. * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Look for the indication mark: it is used with the permission of the certificate holder; according to *Minbei Ribao*, within the common brand system the right to the “北苑贡茶” trademark has been confirmed for 26 companies. * Check that the tea is produced in Jian'ou. * Look at the class on the package: oolong, white tea and pressed cakes are all sold under this name. According to the radio, the name “北苑贡茶” is put on the packaging of all finished tea that Jian'ou sells to outside buyers — it speaks of the place, not of the variety. * For oolong, the guide is a greenish-brown oily leaf, an orange-yellow liquor and a red edge on the spent leaf. * Do not confuse it with “北苑贡茶（延平焙）” from neighboring Yanping District: Yanping is not part of the indication zone. **12. Interesting Facts:** * The newspaper calls Ke Shi's inscription the only inscription found in China about the court tea tribute. * In the 2024 ranking of regional brands, “Dongfeng Aijiao Wulong” (东峰矮脚乌龙) is in 61st place, and *Běiyuàn gòngchá* itself is in 73rd. * Cakes of “北苑贡茶·龙团凤饼” have been taken into permanent storage at the National Archive of Publications (国家版本馆). **13. Comparison with Other Teas:** * **Aijiao Wulong (矮脚乌龙):** One of the two varieties named in the indication document. * **Jian'ou Shuixian Cha ([建瓯水仙茶](https://thetea.app/article/jian-ou-shuixian-cha)):** A 2019 mark for oolong from shuixian in the same territory. * **Nanlu Shuixian ([南路水仙](https://thetea.app/article/nanlu-shuixian)):** A town-level mark for shuixian from Nanya within the same zone. * **Yanping Gongcha ([延平贡茶](https://thetea.app/article/yanping-gongcha)):** A neighboring “tribute tea” with its own mark. * **Shuixian Bai ([水仙白](https://thetea.app/article/shuixian-bai)):** White tea from shuixian, also under the Jian'ou brand. **In Conclusion:** *Běiyuàn gòngchá* is a name with two lives: Song cakes with the dragon and phoenix, the 1048 inscription and centuries of tribute — and the 2012 indication for Jian'ou oolong from shuixian and aijiao wulong with a greenish-brown leaf, a floral and fruity aroma and a red edge. When buying tea under this name, it is worth looking at the class, not at the legend.