Chángshān yínháo (常山银毫) is a green tea of Changshan County (常山县) of Quzhou prefecture-level city in the west of Zhejiang Province. The word “yínháo” means “silver down”: the name describes the appearance, not the class. The class is stated in the only detailed description found — a reprint on the “Zhongguo Wang” portal (2017): “常山银毫，属绿茶” — “Chángshān yínháo belongs to the green teas”. The same text gives a machine technology with figures: drum fixation at 130–140 °C, straightening in a pan, manual finishing of the shape for middle and high grades, drying in two rounds. The finished tea is thin, tight, round and straight, emerald, with conspicuous down. Since 2013 the name has been protected by a geographical indication certification mark; the holder is the Chángshān yínháo Famous Tea Association.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). This is what the 2017 description calls it directly, and its technology is green: fixation, straightening, drying, without sweltering and without oxidation. I have not seen a document of the mark stating the class.
- Category: Famous tea of Quzhou prefecture; geographical indication certification mark (2013).
- Origin: China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, Zhèjiāng), Quzhou prefecture-level city (衢州, Qúzhōu), Changshan County (常山, Chángshān).
- Zone: The provincial database of marks gives Changshan County as the administrative affiliation of the holder; I have not seen a legal boundary of the zone.
- Geographic coordinates: Changshan County — about 28.9° N and 118.5° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History: The date of the tea’s creation is not found in the sources consulted. The 2017 description lists awards:
- Quzhou competition. In the city’s famous tea competition — high places and the title of “best famous tea of the city”; the description does not give the year.
- 1991. The organizing committee of the Hangzhou International Tea Culture Festival, held by the National Tourism Administration and the government of Zhejiang, awarded the tea a cup and a diploma as a “newcomer among famous teas” (名茶新秀).
- Province. Following several provincial competitions — a diploma as a quality famous tea.
- 1992. Bronze medal of the first China Agricultural Exhibition.
- 1995. Gold medal of the second China Agricultural Exhibition.
- 1998. Gold medal of the first Zhejiang provincial exhibition of famous, special, quality and new agricultural products.
- 2010–2013 — the mark. The application was filed on 23 December 2010, registration — 14 August 2013.
- Name: “Chángshān” (常山) is the name of the county; “yínháo” (银毫) means “silver down”, after the white hairs on the emerald leaf.
- Cultural significance: The 2017 description writes that the tea is sold to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Taiyuan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other large cities. For the county it is a signature tea: the mark is held by an association named after the tea itself.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: No data in the sources consulted.
- Harvest: No dates in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: One bud with one just-opened leaf (一芽一叶初展). The bud and leaf must be intact; shoots damaged by pests are not plucked.
- Raw material requirements: The raw material is mainly one bud with one leaf; the description stresses that the appearance of the tea comes from careful plucking and processing.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The west of Zhejiang Province, Quzhou prefecture.
- Conditions: The 2017 description says only that the tea grows in a high-mountain tea area where “clouds rise and the dawn glows” (云蒸霞蔚).
- Altitude, climate and soils: No figures in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
The 2017 description gives the machine technology stage by stage — with machine models, temperatures and times; below it is retold close to the text.
- Plucking and spreading (摊放, tānfàng): The fresh leaf is immediately spread thinly on bamboo mats or a clean cement floor, in a layer of 2 cm, for 4–6 hours; leaf wet from rain is kept longer. Roughly every two hours the leaf is turned. It is ready when it has become soft, darkened and lost its grassy smell.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Drum machine 6CST30. The leaf is fed when the inside of the drum is at 130–140 °C and the inlet feels hot to the hand, evenly and continuously, 35 kg per hour. Fixation takes about a minute. Readiness — a clean aroma, the stem bends and does not break, no reddened stems or leaves, the leaf sticks slightly to the hand. On exit the leaf is cooled at once to preserve its emerald color.
- Straightening (理条, lǐtiáo): The multipurpose famous-tea machine 6CMD40/7 without the pressing roller, or a separate straightening machine; 90–100 °C, higher at first, then lower; 1.2–1.5 kg of leaf, 6–10 minutes. The leaf is taken out when it has become tight, straight and prickles the palm.
- Shaping and “raising the down” (整形提毫, zhěngxíng tíháo): For low grades this stage is skipped and the leaf is dried right after straightening. Middle and high grades are finished by hand in an electric pan 6CG65 at 80 °C, 0.15–0.20 kg at a time. With four fingers held together at a right angle to the thumb, the tea is gathered into the palm and turned continuously so that the pressure falls evenly. The stage ends when the strips have become straight and the white down has come through.
- Drying (烘干, hōnggān): A small drying machine, in two rounds. The first — at 90–100 °C, turning every 5–6 minutes, to eight-tenths dryness, then an hour of cooling. The second — at 80–90 °C, turning every 5 minutes, until the leaf rubs to powder between the fingers.
The description calls this technology a machine one; whether the tea has a separate manual technology is not stated in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The 2017 description:
- Dry leaf appearance: Thin, tight, round and straight, emerald green, with conspicuous down (细紧圆直，翠绿显毫).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: Rich and lasting (香气馥郁持久).
- Taste: Fresh, mellow and refreshing (滋味鲜醇爽口); in another paragraph of the same text — fresh and mellow, with sweetness (鲜醇带甘).
- Liquor color: Tender green and bright (汤色嫩绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): The thin, tender leaf opens into flowers (叶底细嫩成朵); in another paragraph — whole, in flowers (完整成朵).
7. Chemical Composition
No physicochemical data in the sources consulted. The 2017 description lists only groups of substances common to any tea: water, polyphenols, proteins, amino acids, enzymes, alkaloids, sugars, vitamins. It gives no figures.
8. Health Properties
There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. The 2017 description attributes to the tea an action against a long list of diseases; these claims have not been verified, and I do not repeat them.
9. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler — in it you can see the straight strips open into flowers — or a white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- 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
No price data in the sources consulted. The technology shows that the grades differ: high grades are finished by hand and have their “down raised”, low grades are dried right after straightening.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “常山银毫” No. 8981415. According to the provincial database as of 2019, two companies were authorized to use it; whether the mark is in force now has not been confirmed.
- Check that the producer is from Changshan County.
- The leaf is thin, tight, straight, emerald, with white down; the liquor is tender green and bright.
- The white down, according to the description, is brought out by the manual finishing, which is done only for middle and high grades.
12. Interesting Facts
- The holder of the mark is the Chángshān yínháo Famous Tea Association of Changshan County (常山县常山银毫名茶协会): the association is named after a single tea.
- On the same 2017 page the name is written differently several times — “常山银豪”, with a different character for “háo”.
- Almost three years passed between the application and the registration of the mark.
13. Comparison with Other Teas of Quzhou Prefecture
- Kaihua Long Ding (开化龙顶): A green tea of the neighboring Kaihua County in the same prefecture — also straight, slender buds with white hairs.
- Jiangshan Lü Mu Dan (江山绿牡丹): A green tea of the county-level city of Jiangshan in the same prefecture, twisted into “petals”.
- Tonglu Xueshui Yunlü Cha (桐庐雪水云绿茶): A needle tea of single buds from Tonglu County of Hangzhou prefecture; for Chángshān yínháo the raw material is a bud with a leaf.
In Conclusion:
Chángshān yínháo is a green tea of western Zhejiang with “silver down” in its name: thin, tight, straight emerald strips with white hairs, a tender green bright liquor, a fresh mellow taste. Its technology is described in unusual detail — from the thickness of the layer during spreading to the palm technique in manual finishing — and its awards go back to 1991. The date of creation, the bush varieties and the altitudes of the gardens are not found in the sources consulted.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page