Chēnzhōu fúchá (郴州福茶) is “the happiness tea of Chenzhou”, the public brand of Chenzhou prefecture-level city in the south of Hunan Province and a geographical indication certification mark. It is not one tea but a signboard over four classes: the 2018 group standards of the prefecture tea association describe green tea, red tea, white tea and oolong under this name. The character 福 (fú) means “happiness, blessing” and does not name a class. County brands are also gathered under the signboard — for example, Guidong’s “玲珑茶” and Zixing’s “狗脑贡茶”.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: There is no single class. Four product standards (T/CZSCYXH 006–009—2018) describe green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), red tea in strands (条形红茶, tiáoxíng hóngchá), white tea (白茶, báichá) and oolong (青茶, qīngchá).
- Category: A public brand of the prefecture and a geographical indication certification mark; included in the Hunan government’s list of geographical indications.
- Origin: China, Hunan Province (湖南, Húnán), Chenzhou prefecture-level city (郴州, Chēnzhōu).
- Zone: The brand’s standards apply to tea produced within Chenzhou prefecture-level city; I have not seen the rules for using the mark itself. The main gardens, according to the cultivation standard, lie between 112°13′ and 114°14′ E and between 24°53′ and 26°50′ N.
- Holder: According to reference data, in 2017 the prefecture government instructed the prefecture tea association (郴州市茶叶协会) to apply for the mark, and the same association manages the brand. I have not found the number of the mark.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 2015. According to a 2020 Hunan Ribao publication, the prefecture began building the public brand “郴州福茶”.
- 2018. On November 20 the association published the brand’s group standards, in force from January 1, 2019 — on cultivation, on oolong processing and on the products of four classes; in total, according to the same publication, there are nine of them.
- 2019. The mark was registered as a geographical indication certification mark; the first 25 tea companies received the right to use it.
- 2020 and 2024. The provincial handbook Hunan in Brief (湖南简况) lists “郴州福茶” among the marks with a geographical indication.
- 2022. According to reference data, over the year the number of companies with the right to the mark grew from 24 to 36, and their list was filed for the record with the China National Intellectual Property Administration. Another account assigns the figure of 36 to 2023.
- 2023. According to Hunan Ribao, the brand became one of the model brands under the “three teas” program (三茶统筹); the award was planned for the 15th Hunan Tea Expo.
- Brand system: According to reference data, this is a “1+2” system: the prefecture’s public brand plus county regional brands and company brands. The 2020 publication names among the brands under the “郴州福茶” signboard Zixing’s “狗脑贡茶” and Guidong’s “玲珑茶” — well-known trademarks of China since 2014 and 2015.
- Name: A legend retold by local publications says that Shennong found tea in Zixing, and for this blessing tea came to be called the tea of “happiness”. The second explanation is the prefecture’s nickname “city of happiness” (福城), associated with Mount Suxianling (苏仙岭).
- Cultural significance: The 2020 publication calls a cup of “happiness tea” a custom of hospitality in the prefecture and writes that Lu Yu, passing through Chenzhou, named the local Yuanquan spring (圆泉) the eighteenth spring under Heaven.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties / Cultivars: The cultivation standard requires improved clonal varieties suited to local conditions and to the class of tea, but does not name the varieties. The white tea standard names, for Bai Mu Dan, varieties with abundant down — 福丁大白 (as written in the text), 福鼎大毫 and 福云六号.
- Harvest standards: For the top grade of green tea — mostly a single bud, for the third grade — a bud with two or three leaves; for red — from a single bud and a bud with one leaf to a bud with three leaves; for Bai Hao Yin Zhen — a single bud, for Bai Mu Dan and Gong Mei — a bud with one or two leaves; for oolong — a shoot with a formed dormant bud and two to four leaves (开面采, kāimiàn cǎi).
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: According to the 2020 publication — a subtropical monsoon climate, the junction of the Nanling and Luoxiao ranges, the headwaters of the Xiangjiang, Zhujiang and Ganjiang rivers.
- Altitude: The cultivation standard recommends 500–1500 m for the main gardens.
- Climate: According to the same standard — 1380–1670 mm of precipitation a year, an average temperature of 15–18 °C, 1370–1500 hours of sunshine, a large difference between day and night temperatures, much diffused light; absolute minimum −5…−7 °C.
- Soils: According to the standard — on weathered granites, shales and sandstones and on river alluvium; slightly acidic, pH 4.5–6.0, a layer of at least 30 cm; slope 10–25°.
- Area: According to Hunan Ribao reports, by the end of 2019 the prefecture had 384,200 mu of gardens, and by the end of 2022 — 433,300 mu and 17,100 t of tea a year.
5. Production Technology
The umbrella has no single technology; the standards set a scheme for each class.
- Green: fixation (杀青, shāqīng), rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn), drying (干燥, gānzào).
- Oolong: withering (萎凋, wěidiāo), shaking the leaf (做青, zuòqīng), fixation, rolling, drying; oolong also has a separate processing standard.
- White: withering, drying and sorting (拣剔, jiǎntī).
- Red: according to a separate processing regulation, which I have not seen; the product standard does not list the stages.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
Publications give the brand’s general formula as “香气清悠高长，滋味浓醇甘爽” — a clean, high, long aroma and a rich, mellow, sweet and brisk taste. Below are the requirements of the standards for the top grade of each class.
- Dry leaf appearance: Green — straight buds or tight curls, emerald, downy; red — thin strands with golden down, black and glossy; Bai Hao Yin Zhen — plump needle buds, silvery gray; oolong — dense, firm strands, black and glossy.
- Dry leaf aroma: The standards do not describe it; no data.
- Liquor aroma: Green — tender, high, long; red — rich and sweet; needles — clean, with a down aroma; oolong — rich and floral.
- Taste: Green — fresh, with a sweet aftertaste; red — full, sweet and brisk; needles — fresh, with a taste of down; oolong — rich and mellow.
- Liquor color: Green — tender green; red — bright red; needles — light apricot; oolong — golden yellow.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Green — tender green; red — with buds, evenly red; needles — plump and soft; oolong — soft, with a distinct red edge.
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical requirements of the standards (the range is across grades):
| Indicator | Green | Red | White | Oolong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moisture, % not more than | 6.0–7.0 | 6.0–7.0 | 7.0 | 6.0–7.0 |
| Water extract, % not less than | 36.0–38.0 | 32.0–33.0 | none | 32–33 |
| Total ash, % not more than | 6.0–7.0 | 5.5–6.0 | 6.5 | 7.0–8.0 |
| Crude fiber, % not more than | 12–13 | 14–16 | none | none |
Polyphenols in the published texts: 15% for green and 8% for red with the sign “not more than” — possibly a typo in the sign. The 2020 publication writes that the polyphenols and catechins in the prefecture’s tea exceed the provincial average by more than 10%, without naming the method.
8. Brewing
Class practice. Green — 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, 40–60 seconds; red — 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, about a minute; white — 85–90 °C, 4–5 g per 150 ml, about a minute; oolong — 95–100 °C, 6–7 g per 110 ml in a gaiwan, infusions of 20–40 seconds.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green — airtight, in the refrigerator at 0–5 °C, to be drunk within a year; red, white and oolong — in a dry, dark place at room temperature. For all — tight packaging and no foreign odors.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “郴州福茶”.
- Check that the producer is from Chenzhou prefecture-level city and is among the companies with the right to the mark.
- Look at the class on the packaging: four different teas go under one mark.
11. Interesting Facts
- In the red tea standard, the phrase referring to the organoleptic table names a different brand — “潇湘红”; the table itself and the rest of the text speak of “郴州福茶”.
- Besides Bai Hao Yin Zhen, Bai Mu Dan and Gong Mei, the white tea standard describes a rolled “new-process white tea” (新工艺白茶).
- According to the 2020 publication, the Rucheng silver needles “汝白银针” received gold at an international exhibition in Paris in 1997.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Linglong Lü Cha (玲珑绿茶): A green tea of Guidong County; the 2020 publication names “玲珑茶” among the brands under the “郴州福茶” signboard.
- Rucheng Bai Mao Cha (汝城白毛茶): A tea of Rucheng County from a local wild downy tea resource; it has its own mark in the Hunan list.
- Chengbu Dongcha (城步峒茶): A Hunan tea that the 2020 publication places next to Rucheng Bai Mao Cha among the three valuable wild tea resources of the province.
- Enshi Xicha (恩施硒茶): A prefecture umbrella of Hubei Province over teas of different classes.
In Conclusion:
Chēnzhōu fúchá is not a variety but the prefecture’s signboard over four classes of tea. Its foundation is the 2018 group standards, with garden altitude, soils, harvesting, appearance and norms for each class, and the 2019 mark ties all of this to the territory of the prefecture. For taste, go to the county brands under the signboard, and on the packaging look at both the mark and the class.
Sources
Standards
Full list — on the Sources page