Dàmiáoshān hóngchá (大苗山红茶) is a red tea of Rongshui Miao Autonomous County (融水苗族自治县), Liuzhou prefecture-level city, in the north of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. 大苗山 means “the great Miao mountains”, the historical name of this area. The raw material is local tea resources: old trees, wild tea and plants selected from them. Since the end of 2020 the name has been an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI), in 2023 a group standard was adopted for it, and in 2025 it was included in the CNIPA list of geographical indication products.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Red tea (红茶, hóngchá), fully fermented. The class is stated in the name; the Guangxi Department of Agriculture (2024) defines the product as a gongfu red tea (工夫红茶, gōngfu hóngchá), and the technology in all the descriptions found includes fermentation.
- Category: Agricultural product geographical indication (2020), CNIPA geographical indication product (2025); since 2024 — on the national list of famous, special, quality and new agricultural products.
- Origin: China, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西, Guǎngxī), Liuzhou prefecture-level city (柳州, Liǔzhōu), Rongshui Miao Autonomous County (融水, Róngshuǐ).
- Protection zone: The entire county — 20 townships and towns and the 206 administrative villages and communities in them: Rongshui, Hemu, Sanfang, Huaibao, Dalang, Dongtou, Yongle, Danian, Liangzhai, Gongdong, Hongshui, Baiyun, Tonglian Yao Township, Wangdong, Gandong, Gunbei Dong Township, Xiangfen, Sirong, Antai and Anchui. The list is given in the annex to the CNIPA announcement and repeated in a reference paraphrase of the indication’s description; the same source gives the scale of protection — 13,000 ha and 5,000 t a year.
- Geographic coordinates: 108°34′–109°27′ E and 24°49′–25°43′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History: The chronicle of recent years was given by the county agriculture bureau in a 2021 report.
- Since 2008 the agencies of the prefecture-level city and the county have been studying local tea resources.
- 2013. The Ministry of Agriculture approved in the county a site for the in situ conservation of the gene pool of wild tea of Mount Yuanbaoshan; at the same time a county base of the Liuzhou branch of the National Engineering and Technology Center for the Tea Industry was set up, and the breeding of local tea began.
- 2018. The book “柳州融水九万山古茶树研究” was published — about the old trees of Mount Jiuwanshan.
- 2020. At the end of December the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs registered the indication (number AGI03234; the group standard refers to ministry announcement No. 378 of 2020). By September 2021, five factories had been permitted to use the mark.
- 2023. On 19–21 July, at a scientific seminar and tasting in the county, twelve companies received the right to the mark; the group standard was also discussed there. On 28 July the group standard T/LZBX 023-2023 “农产品地理标志 大苗山红茶” of the Liuzhou Standards and Technology Association (柳州市标准技术协会) was issued. According to its abstract, it covers the protection zone, grading with reference samples, requirements, test methods, labeling and storage. I have not seen the text of the standard.
- 2024. The tea was included in the second 2024 list of famous, special, quality and new agricultural products of the country (全国名特优新农产品名录).
- 2025. By CNIPA announcement No. 640 of 16 July, 1,409 products, including Dàmiáoshān hóngchá, were recognized as geographical indication products.
- Name: Dàmiáoshān (大苗山) — “the great Miao mountains”, hóngchá (红茶) — “red tea”. The name refers to the region, not to a variety or a leaf shape.
- Cultural significance: A 2025 piece by the Guangxi Department of Agriculture describes a base for schoolchildren in the Miao village of Yubu (雨卜苗寨) in Xiangfen Township: the classes include the Miao custom of “打油茶” — making “oil tea” — and making tea by hand.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: No named variety was found in the sources consulted. According to the county’s definition (2021), the raw material is the ancient trees of Mount Jiuwanshan (九万山, Jiǔwànshān), the wild tea of Mount Yuanbaoshan (元宝山, Yuánbǎoshān), old trees in Miao villages and the best individual plants selected from these resources. The 2024 and 2025 materials name three product lines: ancient-tree tea of Jiuwanshan, wild tea of Yuanbaoshan and old-tree tea of the Rongjiang (融江, Róngjiāng) area.
- Harvest: Dates were not found in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: No data were found in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: According to the description of the indication, the gardens lie on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, in the mountains of the eastern spurs of the Miaoling range (苗岭, Miáolǐng). Forest covers more than 80% of the territory; the 2024 and 2025 materials give 81.77%.
- Climate: In the description of the indication — abundant rain, rainy and warm seasons that coincide, even sunshine, frequent clouds and mists; in the compilers’ view, this helps the accumulation of amino acids, sugars and extractives. The 2024 material adds a large difference between day and night temperatures. Figures on temperature and precipitation were not found in the sources consulted.
- Growing altitude: 400–1300 m — in the description of the indication and in the 2025 material.
- Soils: The soil type was not found in the sources consulted.
- Scale of the industry: According to county data for 2022 — 36,000 mu of gardens (1 mu is about 667 m²), 782 t of dry tea and 22 factories and cooperatives; according to the 2024 and 2025 materials — the same 36,000 mu, of which 25,000 mu are productive, and 990 t of dry tea a year. A reference paraphrase of the indication’s description names a “2020 production scale” of 195,000 mu and 5,000 t. This is exactly the scale of protection — 13,000 ha — and it is five times the garden area reported by the county.
5. Production Technology
According to a 2025 piece by the Guangxi Department of Agriculture, the tea is made in this sequence: sun withering (晒青), rolling, fermentation, drying. A year earlier the same department named ordinary withering (萎凋) as the first stage — the sources disagree here. Neither gives parameters; the county’s 2021 report speaks only of a “special technology”. Requirements for the product are part of the 2023 group standard, but I have not seen its text.
- Withering (萎凋 — wěidiāo; in the 2025 material — in the sun, 晒青 — shàiqīng): The leaf loses part of its moisture and becomes soft.
- Rolling (揉捻 — róuniǎn): The leaf cells are broken, and the sap comes to the surface.
- Fermentation (发酵 — fājiào): Oxidation to a coppery red color.
- Drying (干燥 — gānzào): Stops oxidation.
The explanations of the stages are a general scheme for red tea, not a description of the technology of Dàmiáoshān hóngchá.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description below is from a reference paraphrase of the indication’s description.
- Dry leaf appearance: Tight thin twists, black with a sheen (条索紧结，色泽乌润).
- Dry leaf aroma: A separate description was not found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Sweet and lasting (香气甜香持久). The same source and the county’s reports also give a “honey-sugar” aroma (蜜糖香).
- Taste: Sweet, mellow, fresh and brisk (滋味甜醇、鲜爽); the county writes of a full, rounded taste (口感醇厚).
- Liquor color: Red and bright (汤色红亮); the county says bright red (汤色红艳).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Red and bright (叶底红、明亮).
7. Chemical Composition
A reference paraphrase of the indication’s description gives the main quality indicators:
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Extractives | not less than 36% |
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 9% |
| Total free amino acids | not less than 3.5% |
| Another indicator | 4–6% |
The name of the fourth indicator dropped out of the page text, and I will not guess it. I have not seen the primary source; this is a reference point with attribution, not a norm.
8. Brewing
Class practice for red tea.
- Water temperature: 90–95 °C.
- Tea amount: 3–5 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea.
- Quickly rinse the leaf with hot water and pour it off.
- First infusion — 10–20 seconds.
- Pour off to the last drop.
- Five to seven further infusions, each slightly longer than the previous one.
9. Storage
Class practice. In a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors and moisture.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data were not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark “大苗山红茶”: in 2023 twelve companies of the county received the right to it.
- Check that the producer is from Rongshui Miao Autonomous County.
- The dry leaf — tight black twists with a sheen, the liquor red and bright, the aroma sweet, with a honey note.
11. Interesting Facts
- In the list of the zone, two townships carry ethnic designations — Yao and Dong. Together with the county’s Miao status, this means that the zone covers the lands of several mountain peoples, not one.
- The wild tea of Mount Yuanbaoshan has been protected as an in situ gene pool since 2013 — and it is also one of the three lines of raw material.
12. Comparison with Other Red Teas of Guangxi
- Baise Hongcha (百色红茶): A prefecture-wide name in western Guangxi; it has a named variety — Lingyun Baihao, whereas the raw material of Dàmiáoshān hóngchá is described by place and by the age of the trees.
- Lingyun Hong Cha (凌云红茶): A red tea of Lingyun County from the same Lingyun Baihao variety.
- Longji Hong Cha (龙脊红茶): A red tea of the Longji mountains in north-eastern Guangxi, also from old trees.
- Sanjiang Lü Cha (三江绿茶): A green tea of Sanjiang County in the same Liuzhou prefecture-level city — for a contrast in class.
- Jinxiu Hongcha (金秀红茶): A red tea of Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in the Dayaoshan mountains — another name whose zone coincides with a mountain autonomous county of Guangxi.
In Conclusion:
Dàmiáoshān hóngchá is a red tea of the Miao mountains of northern Guangxi from local raw material: the old trees of Jiuwanshan, the wild tea of Yuanbaoshan and plants selected from them. The description of the indication gives it tight black twists, a red bright liquor, a sweet lasting aroma and a mellow fresh taste; the gardens lie at 400–1300 m among forests that cover more than 80% of the county.
Sources
Standards
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page