Dàshā tiānlù chá (大沙天露茶) is a tea of Dasha Town (大沙镇) in Kaiping county-level city (开平市) of Jiangmen prefecture, Guangdong Province. “Tiānlù” — “heavenly dew” — is the name of the Tianlushan mountains (天露山), where the town’s gardens lie, not the name of a class. A geographical indication certification mark is registered under this name; tea of the same town is also protected under the name “大沙茶”. According to the city’s publications, Dasha makes mainly green, red and yellow tea, so the article is placed among the categories. The protection requirements for the product “大沙茶” (2025), however, describe only green tea.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Not established. The mark application was filed in class 30; the tea class is not given in the information on the mark that was found. The government of Kaiping (2025) writes that “大沙茶” is mainly green, red and yellow tea; a 2021 publication named red, green and a little oolong. For the product “大沙茶” the class is established: the protection requirements attached to announcement No. 632 (2025) of the China National Intellectual Property Administration describe only green tea — needle-shaped, dried with hot air (烘青, hōngqīng) and semi-baked, semi-pan-fired (半烘炒, bàn hōng chǎo).
- Category: Town tea; geographical indication certification mark No. 20483539.
- Origin: China, Guangdong Province (广东, Guǎngdōng), Jiangmen prefecture-level city (江门, Jiāngmén), Kaiping county-level city (开平, Kāipíng), Dasha Town (大沙, Dàshā).
- Mark zone: The consolidated geographical indication database names the current administrative territory of Dasha Town as the area of origin; the text of the mark’s rules with the zone boundary is not found in the sources consulted.
- Zone of the “大沙茶” indication: According to the notice of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture on acceptance of the application (7 September 2020), the protection zone of the agricultural indication is 14 administrative villages of Dasha Town, from Gangping (岗坪) to Wofu (沃富), and the Dashaxu community (大沙墟社区). Coordinates — 112°13′45″–112°24′50″ E and 22°23′21″–22°35′08″ N, total area — 22,062 ha. The same 14 villages, community and coordinates are repeated in the 2025 protection requirements. Whether the zone of the “大沙天露茶” mark coincides with it cannot be established from the sources consulted.
- Geographic coordinates: Kaiping — about 22.4° N and 112.7° E; Dasha Town lies near the Tianlushan mountains.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Legends. Local publications trace the tea of Tianlushan back to the Tang era and link it with the legend of the sixth Chan patriarch Huineng (惠能), who supposedly planted tea here and joined tea with contemplation. The exact year of the start of tea growing named by local research is not confirmed by a primary source in the materials found. According to a publication of the weekly Shidai Zhoubao (2022), after the Battle of Yamen (崖门海战) soldiers of the Song army from Fujian took refuge with their families in the Tianlushan mountains; many of them were tea growers and brought Fujian techniques with them.
- Ming and Qing. According to local publications, a mountain tea market formed on the Tiantangping plateau (天堂坪) — Nanfang Nongcun Bao (2023) dates the trade to the Ming era — and under the Qing tea growing reached its height: according to the same publication, almost 36,000 dan (担) of tea a year were exported through the Qing customs of Kaiping at the port of Shuikou (水口). On Tiantangping, according to a 2022 publication, old tea trees are still found today.
- 2016–2018 — the mark. The application in class 30 was filed on 30 June 2016 by the agricultural services center of Dasha Town. The Trademark Office at first refused: the mark was judged similar to previously registered ones, and the documents lacked a description of quality and geographical boundaries. The refusal was appealed; according to a 2021 publication, in December 2018 “大沙天露茶” was registered as a geographical indication certification mark.
- 2018–2021. According to a report of the Kaiping government (2022), “大沙茶” was included four years in a row in the list of the “ten good spring teas of Guangdong” (广东十大好春茶). The Kaiping media center (2021) specifies: in 2018 the title went to the red tea of the “大沙里” brand, in 2019 to the “大沙里” green tea from the 金萱 variety.
- 2020. The application for the agricultural indication “大沙茶” was filed by the agricultural service center of Dasha Town; on 7 September 2020 the Guangdong department of agriculture announced its acceptance.
- 2021. According to the Kaiping government, in 2021 “大沙茶” entered the national register of agricultural products with geographical indication; according to the Kaiping media center, the ministry’s announcement of registration came out on 6 April 2021.
- 2022. According to the Kaiping media center (2023), in June 2022 the town began building the common brand “大沙优品”.
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration, by announcement No. 632 (signed on 9 June, published on 27 June 2025), recognized 224 names as geographical indication products. In the appended list, item 178 is precisely “大沙茶”; the applicant is the agricultural service center of Dasha Town (开平市大沙镇农业综合服务中心), the zone — the same 14 villages and community. The consolidated geographical indication database links this number with the “大沙天露茶” mark as well, but the list itself carries only the name “大沙茶”.
- Name: “Dàshā” (大沙) — “big sand”, the name of the town; “tiānlù” (天露) — “heavenly dew”, the name of the mountains; “chá” (茶) — tea.
- Cultural significance: According to publications of 2021 and 2022, in 2015 Dasha became one of the “ten tea towns of Guangdong” (广东十大茶乡); Nanfang Nongcun Bao (2023) dates the same title to 2014. According to a 2021 publication, the town has been recognized as a provincial specialized tea town, and six of its villages as specialized tea villages. Since 2022 the town’s tea has been sold under the common brand “大沙优品”.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties: According to local publications, more than twenty varieties have been selected, improved and introduced in Dasha, among them Yunnan large-leaf (云南大叶), 金萱 (Jīnxuān), 鸿雁 (Hóngyàn) and 白毛 (Báimáo). The work began with a survey by the Tea Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2004: the institute set up a 100-mu demonstration base in the village of Gangping (岗坪). The 2021 publication names 金萱, 英红九号 (Yīnghóng jiǔhào) and 鸿雁 as the main varieties.
- Variety under the “大沙茶” protection requirements: 金萱 (Jīnxuān) and other suitable varieties (金萱等适宜大沙茶的茶树品种).
- Old trees: According to publications of 2022 and 2023, groups of old tea trees on Tianlushan have survived to this day; their number is not found in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: For the mark, no harvest standard is fixed in the sources consulted. For the product “大沙茶” the protection requirements set picking from one bud with one leaf to one bud with three leaves (一芽一叶至一芽三叶); the shoots must be whole, even and clean.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Mountains: The main peak of Tianlushan lies on the border of Dasha Town and Xinxing County; the official website of Jiangmen (2025) gives its height as 1251 m and calls it the highest point in south-central Guangdong, the Chinese Wikipedia — 1254 m. The range takes in lands of Xinxing, Yangchun, Yangdong, Enping and Kaiping.
- Garden altitude: The exact altitude of the gardens is not found in the sources consulted. Official materials repeat the formula “high mountains, low latitudes, many clouds and fogs, clean production without pollution”.
- Climate and soils: According to local publications — a mild rainy climate, frequent fogs, fertile soil. The protection requirements for “大沙茶” specify: the soils are mainly red and yellow earths (红壤、黄壤), rich in organic matter, with pH 4.5–5.5.
- Gardens under the “大沙茶” protection requirements: 2500–4000 bushes per mu; spring planting — from mid-February to the beginning of March, autumn planting — from the beginning of October to the end of November. The base fertilizer is applied in October–November in furrows 20–25 cm deep, about 1000 kg of organic matter per mu.
- Area: The 2021 publication gives 10,200 mu of gardens, the 2020 notice of the indication application — 680 ha (the same 10,200 mu) and 180 t of tea a year. According to the Kaiping media center (2023), almost 2333 ha (about 35,000 mu) are under tea, of which more than 666 ha are gardens of famous varieties.
5. Production Technology
For the “大沙天露茶” mark, no technology is fixed in the sources consulted, and teas of different classes are made under the town’s names. For the product “大沙茶” it is set by the 2025 protection requirements — and this is green tea technology:
- Spreading (摊青, tānqīng): On bamboo trays or mats in a layer no thicker than 3.5 cm, 4–10 hours, until the leaf loses 10–20% of its weight, becomes soft and gives off a fresh aroma.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): In a drum machine at a leaf temperature of 110–120 °C — until the leaf becomes soft and the stalk bends without breaking, until the color changes to dark green and the grassy smell goes. There must be no scorched edges and no reddened stalks and leaves.
- Cooling (摊凉, tānliáng): In a thin layer with airflow, then about 2–3 hours of rest so that the moisture in the leaf evens out.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): 30–40 minutes; tender leaf with light pressure and briefly, coarse leaf with strong pressure and longer. More than 90% of the leaves must come out rolled.
- Drying (干燥, gānzào) — in three variants. Needle-shaped tea is made from a barely opened bud with a leaf: after fixation the leaf is lightly rolled or not rolled at all, stretched by machine and dried to the end. Hōngqīng (烘青) is dried with hot air in two passes after breaking up the clumps. Semi-baked, semi-pan-fired tea (半烘炒) is first dried in a belt dryer at 115–120 °C to about 70% dryness, and after resting — in a drum at 100–105 °C to full dryness.
- Finishing and packing (整理包装, zhěnglǐ bāozhuāng): The cooled tea is cleaned of stalks, dust and yellow flakes.
For green tea, the Kaiping government’s publication on the spring harvest (April 2025) gives the same parameters for spreading, fixation and rolling, and for drying — from 90 to 160 °C depending on the shape of the tea. The town also makes red and yellow tea; according to the same publication, this is the town’s practice, not protection requirements:
- Red tea: picking, withering, rolling, fermentation, drying. The leaf in baskets is lightly packed down and covered with cloth moistened with warm water; usually after 5–6 hours the veins turn red, and the leaf goes for drying.
- Yellow tea: the same steps as for green, plus smothering (焖黄, mènhuáng): after fixation and rolling, while still hot, the leaf is piled up or smothered by machine, and it gradually turns yellow.
The red tea “大沙韵萱红茶”, according to Guangzhou Ribao (2023), is made by withering, fermentation and baking (烘焙). The tea of small farms is processed by the common “大沙优品” factory: according to the Kaiping media center (2023), by that time it had processed the tea of 20 small farms.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The most definite description is in the protection requirements for the product “大沙茶” (2025); it is also quoted by reference portals and the Kaiping government (2025). This is a tea of green appearance. For the “大沙天露茶” mark the consolidated geographical indication database gives a different description, and other publications speak of “大沙茶” in general, without a class, and diverge.
- Dry leaf appearance: According to the indication’s description — fairly tightly rolled, slightly curled, dark green (外形较紧结、微卷曲、色泽深绿). The indication’s formula is “色深、味浓带花香”: “dark color, rich taste with a floral note”. For the mark the consolidated database writes otherwise: the dry tea is thin and tight, with noticeable silvery down (紧细显银毫).
- Dry leaf aroma: No data found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: According to the indication’s description — clean and high, with a tea note (香气清高带茶香); according to its formula — with a floral one (带花香). The Kaiping government (2025) adds: deep and dense, long-lasting (香气深沉而厚重).
- Taste: According to the indication’s description — rich and mellow (滋味浓醇). The Kaiping government (2025): full, the astringency turns into sweetness and makes the mouth water. For the mark the consolidated database writes: rich and fresh, with a sweet return (滋味醇厚鲜爽，回甘生津).
- Liquor color: According to the indication’s description — green and bright (汤色绿明亮). For the mark the consolidated database writes: clear, greenish with a slight yellowness (碧清微黄).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): According to the indication’s description — thick, soft, dark green (叶底厚软、深绿).
7. Chemical Composition
The protection requirements for the product “大沙茶” (2025) set the following norms:
| Indicator | Norm |
|---|---|
| Moisture | no more than 6.0% |
| Total ash | no more than 6.0% |
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 15.0% |
| Water-soluble extractives | no less than 36.0% |
A reference tourist portal, retelling the earlier specification of the agricultural indication, gives other norms: moisture no more than 5.0%, ash no more than 7.5%, polyphenols no less than 16.0%, extractives no less than 40.0%. The portal page did not open, and these figures have not been checked against the document. For the “大沙天露茶” mark, physico-chemical data are not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice — the parameters depend on which tea from Dasha you have in hand.
- Green: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion 40–60 seconds, glass tumbler or gaiwan, two or three repeat infusions.
- Red: 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion about a minute, gaiwan or porcelain teapot, several infusions with increasing time.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green and yellow 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, away from odors.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “大沙天露茶” (No. 20483539) or the special geographical indication mark on the product “大沙茶”. According to the protection requirements, a producer from the zone obtains the right to it through the Kaiping intellectual property office, with verification by the province and approval by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
- Check that the producer is from Dasha Town of Kaiping county-level city (for “大沙茶” — from the villages of the indication zone, section 1).
- Part of the town’s tea is sold under the common brand “大沙优品”.
- Do not confuse it with Xiangwo tea from another slope of the same mountains: that is a separate name of another county.
11. Interesting Facts
- The mark application was at first rejected — among other things because quality and boundaries were not described in it; after an appeal the mark was nevertheless registered.
- Guangzhou Ribao (2023) writes that there are no industrial enterprises in the town at all.
- One town holds three protection regimes under two names — “大沙天露茶” and “大沙茶”. The 2025 requirements for “大沙茶” describe only green tea, although the town also makes red and yellow; whether the mark zone coincides with the indication zone cannot be established from the sources consulted.
- According to the Kaiping media center and Nanfang Nongcun Bao (both publications of 2023), in 2022 the yellow tea “大沙里一号黄茶” received the title of one of the “ten tea kings of China” (中国十大茶王). “Yellow” in the name does not by itself prove the class.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Xiangwo Cha (象窝茶): Tea of the same Tianlushan mountains, but of Xinxing County of Yunfu prefecture; it is also produced in several series of different classes.
- Gulaocha (古劳茶): A historical green tea of Heshan county-level city of the same Jiangmen prefecture.
- Taishan Hong Cha (台山红茶): Red tea of the neighboring Taishan county-level city of Jiangmen prefecture.
- Heshan Hong Cha (鹤山红茶): Red tea of Heshan county-level city of the same Jiangmen prefecture.
In Conclusion:
Dàshā tiānlù chá is the tea of the mountain town of Dasha, named after the Tianlushan mountains. The documents tell more about the town than about the tea in the cup: the difficult registration of the mark, three protection regimes, the growth of the gardens to almost 35,000 mu, a common factory and a common brand. There are several classes under the mark, and the descriptions of the appearance diverge, so it is worth choosing a specific line from a specific producer. The most definite description is given by the 2025 protection requirements for “大沙茶”: it is a green tea with a tight dark green leaf, a green bright liquor and a rich mellow taste.