---
title: "Dàwù huángchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/dawu-huangcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Dàwù huángchá (大悟黄茶)

*Dàwù huángchá* (大悟黄茶) is a yellow tea of Dawu County (大悟县), Xiaogan prefecture-level city, in the northeast of Hubei Province, at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains. The tea is young: it began to be made in 2023 in Zhuwan village (朱湾村), Xincheng town (新城镇), from summer and autumn leaf that the county had not picked before. It is made yellow by sealed yellowing — “three yellowings and three dryings” (三闷三烘, *sān mēn sān hōng*). The name is not protected: in 2025 a deputy to the National People’s Congress from Zhuwan proposed supporting an application for a geographical indication, but neither an application nor a registration was found in the sources consulted.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Yellow tea (黄茶, *huángchá*). The class is decided by the technology: publications describe sealed yellowing (闷黄, *mèn huáng*) after fixation. “黄茶” in the name is the class, not the color of the leaf: the raw material is the ordinary summer and autumn leaf of the county’s gardens, not a light-leaf cultivar. There is no standard or description of an indication; the class is established from descriptions of the technology in the press.
* **Discrepancy in terms:** The producer calls yellow tea “lightly fermented” (微发酵茶), and some publications call it the product of a “semi-fermented technology” (半发酵创新工艺); “semi-fermented” is usually applied to oolong, but the described sealed yellowing after fixation does not change because of this.
* **Category:** A new yellow tea from summer and autumn raw material; a proposed, not registered geographical indication.
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Xiaogan prefecture-level city (孝感, *Xiàogǎn*), Dawu County (大悟, *Dàwù*), Xincheng town, Zhuwan village. According to 2024 data, the leaf was bought from tea growers of eight surrounding townships and towns.
* **Zone:** Not defined — the indication is not registered.
* **Geographic coordinates:** The county seat of Dawu — about 31.6° N and 114.1° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **A tea county.** Publications link the gardens of Dawu with General Xu Haidong (徐海东), a native of Xincheng town, and his wife, a native of Lu'an in Anhui Province. According to *Hubei Ribao* (June 2025), in October 1958 she brought 400,000 tea seedlings from her home region; according to Central Radio (2024), both spouses brought the seedlings from Lu'an in the 1950s. The county has about 300,000 *mu* of gardens, but only the spring crop was picked, and in summer and autumn the bushes, as Central Radio put it, became “dry firewood and abandoned leaves” (干柴废叶).
    * **The search for a technology.** The deputy from Zhuwan went to study in the tea districts of Anhui — Jinzhai and Huoshan — and in Xinyang, Henan Province. On the advice of specialists it was decided to make yellow tea from summer and autumn leaf without expanding the gardens.
    * **2023.** In April a tea company that brought in the “三闷三烘” technology was founded in Zhuwan. In its first year it processed by hand 8,000 jin (about 4 t) of summer and autumn leaf.
    * **2024.** The tea came onto the market. According to Central Radio (October 2024), the company bought 220,000 jin of leaf and produced more than 50,000 jin of tea; *Hubei Ribao* (2025) gives 210,000 jin of leaf for April — November. According to publications, about 2,200 tea growers benefited. An automated line was set up with Anhui Agricultural University, and the provincial tea association allowed the company to use the brand “楚天好茶” (*Chǔtiān hǎo chá*).
    * **2025.** In March the deputy submitted a proposal to support the yellow tea of the Dabie Mountains: help for the industry and for sales, and support for the application of “大悟黄茶” for a geographical indication. The *Hubei Ribao* piece of 10 March was reprinted by the website of the Hubei agriculture department.
    * **2026.** An April review in *China County Economy News* (中国县域经济报) named Dawu Lücha as a product under state geographical indication protection; it said nothing about an application for the yellow tea.
* **Name:** “*Dàwù*” (大悟) is the name of the county; “*huángchá*” (黄茶) means “yellow tea”, after the class. The company sells the tea under the brand “双福山黄茶” (*Shuāngfúshān huángchá*); “大悟黄茶” is the general county name.
* **Cultural significance:** For the county, yellow tea is a way to “pick tea in three seasons and earn in four” (三季采茶、四季增收). According to *Hubei Ribao* (2025), spring leaf goes into expensive green tea, summer and autumn leaf into everyday yellow tea (口粮黄茶).

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Cultivars for the yellow tea are not named in the sources consulted. The leaf is taken from the existing gardens of the county; in 2024 a separate yellow tea base was being laid out next to the workshop.
* **Harvest:** The main raw material is summer and autumn leaf. According to Central Radio, leaf is carried to the factory from April, and in October, in good weather, picking is still going on.
* **Harvest standard:** Publications speak of tender leaf (嫩叶), while the county tea industry center speaks of “coarse twigs and large leaves” (粗枝大叶) that no one used to pick. An exact standard was not found in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material requirements:** The leaf is bought and processed separately by type and quality (分类收购后按照种类、品质加工处理).

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Northeast Hubei, the southern slope of the Dabie Mountains (大别山). The county tea industry center (2026): the county lies around the 31st parallel, on lands of the Huaihe and Yangtze basins; the climate is mild, rainfall is plentiful, the soils are rich in minerals.
* **Conditions as assessed by the county (2025):** Frequent fogs, moderate rainfall, sandy-gravelly acidic soils (砂砾酸性土壤), a large daily temperature range, few pests.
* **Growing altitude:** Data for the yellow tea were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Area:** About 300,000 *mu* of gardens across the county; how many of them supply leaf for the yellow tea is not reported.

**5. Production Technology:**

There is no document describing the technology. The press describes it as follows.

* **Basis:** According to the head of the company, the processing is close to that of green tea, but after fixation of the fresh leaf the sealed yellowing of “three yellowings and three dryings” is added.
* **Sealed yellowing:** Three alternations of yellowing and drying. Central Radio adds “fermentation with heating to bring out the aroma” (发酵提香).
* **Charcoal heating:** According to *Hubei Ribao* (2025), “heating over charcoal to bring out the aroma” (炭火提香) has been added.
* **Parameters:** Temperatures, duration of yellowing and humidity were not found in the sources consulted.

The general scheme of the class, not a description of this tea: fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), for some teas rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*), sealed yellowing (闷黄, *mèn huáng*) — the warm moist leaf is kept covered and turns yellow — and drying (干燥, *gānzào*).

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

There is no document with requirements for the appearance; the press has only general words.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** *Hubei Ribao* (2025) writes of a “long honey aroma” (蜜香悠长) without specifying whether of the dry leaf or of the liquor; the producer writes of a charcoal, toasty note.
* **Taste:** Central Radio: “yellow, mellow, sweetish, refreshing” (黄、醇、甘、爽). According to the producer, sealed yellowing removes the bitterness and astringency of summer and autumn leaf.
* **Liquor color:** There are no descriptions of this particular tea; the producer, speaking of yellow tea in general, names “yellow color, yellow liquor, yellow spent leaves” (色黄、汤黄、叶底黄).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** There are no descriptions of this particular tea.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physico-chemical data on *Dàwù huángchá* were not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for yellow tea from mature leaf.

* **Water temperature:** 85–90°C.
* **Tea amount:** 3–4 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea.
    3. Quickly rinse the tea with hot water and pour it off.
    4. First infusion — 30–60 seconds.
    5. Pour off completely, without leaving the tea in the water.
    6. Three or four further infusions, each a little longer.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In a dry, cool place, in tight opaque packaging, away from odors and moisture. Best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Retail prices were not found in the sources consulted. The county positions this tea as an everyday one.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * *Dàwù huángchá* does not yet have a geographical indication mark; the inscription “地理标志” on its packaging is a reason to be wary.
    * Check that the producer is from Dawu County.
    * Do not confuse it with Dawu Lücha: the protected indication belongs to the county’s green tea, not to the yellow one.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The technology was sought in Huoshan — the home of Huoshan Huangya and Huoshan Huangdacha, in the same Dabie Mountains, only in Anhui.
* According to *Hubei Ribao*, the company, together with food firms, makes sesame sweets and rice wine with the yellow tea.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Dawu Lücha ([大悟绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/dawu-lucha)):** A green tea of the same county from spring leaf; it has a protected indication and a standard.
* **Yuan'an Huangcha ([远安黄茶](https://thetea.app/article/yuanan-huangcha)):** A classic yellow tea of Hubei with a long history and protection; next to it *Dàwù huángchá* is a newcomer.
* **Huoshan Huangdacha ([霍山黄大茶](https://thetea.app/article/huoshan-huang-da-cha)):** An Anhui yellow tea from large leaf, also from the Dabie Mountains; according to publications, its experience was studied in Huoshan.

**In Conclusion:**

*Dàwù huángchá* is a yellow tea invented to suit its raw material: a county whose gardens gave only spring leaf learned to turn summer and autumn leaf, by sealed yellowing, into a mellow everyday tea with honey and charcoal notes. It does not yet have a standard or protection of its name, and everything known about it is taken from the press of 2024–2026 — this is the story of a new venture, not of an established tea.