--- title: "Dàzú sōngmíng" url: https://thetea.app/article/dazu-songming lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Dàzú sōngmíng (大足松茗) *Dàzú sōngmíng* (大足松茗) is a tea brand of Dazu District (大足区) of the municipality of Chongqing, which the district wants to turn into a common regional brand with a geographical mark. For now it is a plan, not a protected name: in June 2025 the district agricultural commission replied to a deputy of the district assembly that an application plan had been drawn up and that the zone would be delimited mainly along Mount Bayue (巴岳山). The class of the tea under this name is not given in the sources consulted, and the district's tea enterprises make both green and red tea. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Not established. The 2025 letter calls “大足松茗” one of eleven local brands but does not state its class; a teaching compilation of China's famous teas writes only about the raw material. The closest by name — “石都松茗” under the brand “石都茗芽” — is called a green tea, but that is a different name. A tea company from Gulong town wins awards for both green and red tea, so ascribing a single class to the future brand would be a guess. * **Category:** Local trademark; proposed common regional brand of the district. * **Protection status:** There is no geographical indication and no geographical mark. The letter of the district agricultural commission No. 〔2025〕103号 describes only a plan: an association, a group standard, a decision on the zone, an application for a geographical indication certification mark. The project register for 2026 lists the name as a proposal for which no application has been filed. * **Origin:** China, municipality of Chongqing (重庆, *Chóngqìng*), Dazu District (大足, *Dàzú*). Most of the district's tea comes from Gulong town (古龙镇) at the foot of Mount Bayue. * **Proposed zone:** “Mainly along Mount Bayue”. The commission intended to derive the boundaries from the county chronicle and from agricultural and product chronicles and to submit them to the district government for approval. No approved zone was found in the sources consulted. * **Geographic coordinates:** Dazu District — about 29.7° N and 105.7° E. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **The legend of Mount Bayue.** According to a report by the news portal *Hualong Wang* (华龙网, 2024), the Mount Bayue tea “水南茶” was ranked alongside “赵坡” of Guanghan, “白芽” of Emei and “蒙顶” of Ya'an as the four treasures of Sichuan tea and was assigned as tribute to the court. I did not find the primary source; this is a press claim, and it does not relate directly to the *Sōngmíng* brand. * **1974.** According to the same report, in Gulong town people began clearing slopes and planting tea on a large scale — on the basis of earlier plantings. * **Late 1970s.** The town's Gulong tea factory introduced the most advanced red tea technology of the time, and its products, according to the press, were exported to Great Britain and the United States. Then exports fell, the gardens were abandoned, and in the worst years less than 1000 mu of gardens under harvest remained. * **2006.** Five brands — “大足龙芽”, “大足松茗”, “古龙[毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/maofengcha)”, “古龙珍美” and “古龙春露” — received the state “green food” certificate (绿色食品, *lǜsè shípǐn*). * **2025, January.** The district government work report named “大足松茗” among the local processed products to be developed — alongside wine and seasonings. * **2025, June.** The agricultural commission's reply to a deputy's proposal on “accelerating the creation of the ‘大足松茗’ tea brand with a public geographical mark” (letter No. 〔2025〕103号 of 11 June, published 29 July). * **Name:** *Dàzú* (大足) — the name of the district; *sōng* (松) — pine; *míng* (茗) — a literary word for tea. Together — “pine tea”: an image, not an indication of a variety or class. * **Cultural significance:** Dazu is famous for its rock carvings (大足石刻), and stone can be heard in the names of local brands: “石都” in “石都茗芽” and “石都松茗” means “stone capital”, and the “大足龙芽” brand has a “禅茶” line — “Chan tea”. In Gulong town tea also goes into the kitchen: the press describes shrimp with “龙芽” leaf picked around the Qingming festival, and chicken soup with mushrooms made with red tea. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Variety / Cultivar:** Varieties were not found in the sources consulted. * **Raw material:** A teaching compilation of famous teas by province writes that *Sōngmíng* is made from one bud with one leaf and spring tips (一芽一叶、春尖) picked in the “ecological area of Mount Gulong” (古龙山生态区). This is a secondary source without references. * **Harvest time:** For *Sōngmíng* there are no data. For the neighboring brand “大足龙芽” the press mentions picking around Qingming. * **Raw material requirements:** The commission intended to agree production rules and a quality standard with the enterprises and to issue a group standard; the text of such a standard was not found in the sources consulted. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Region:** The west of Chongqing. Mount Bayue also extends into the neighboring Yongchuan District (永川): the teaching compilation of famous teas names it among Yongchuan's tea mountains. * **Climate:** According to the press description — the small basin climate of Gulong town, dense forests and springs. * **Soils:** The press writes of selenium and strontium (硒锶) in the local tea but gives no figures; no conclusions about benefits can be drawn from this. * **Growing altitude:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Area and output:** According to *Hualong Wang* (2024), Gulong town has more than 4500 mu of gardens in 26 tracts, more than 2500 mu of them under harvest, and two tea enterprises; each year it produces more than 300 t of fresh leaf and more than 60 t of finished tea worth 36 million yuan — 80% of the district's tea. The 2025 letter counts five tea enterprises in the district, two bases and 16 products with the “green food” certificate. **5. Production Technology:** The technology of *Sōngmíng* was not found in the sources consulted, and the class has not been established. If the brand covers both the green and the red tea of the district, the technologies will differ: for green tea the main step is fixation by heat (杀青, *shāqīng*), for red tea — withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*), rolling and fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*). This is a general scheme of the classes, not a description of *Dàzú sōngmíng*. **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** * **Dry leaf appearance:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Dry leaf aroma:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Taste:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor color:** Data were not found in the sources consulted. * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Data were not found in the sources consulted. **7. Chemical Composition:** Physico-chemical data were not found in the sources consulted. The press mention of selenium and strontium comes with neither figures nor a method of analysis. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** Class practice. The parameters depend on which tea under the brand is in hand. * **Green:** 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion 40–60 seconds, glass tumbler or gaiwan, two or three further infusions. * **Red:** 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion about a minute, gaiwan or porcelain teapot, several infusions with lengthening times. **10. Storage:** Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, drunk within a year. Red — in a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors. **11. Price and Counterfeits:** Price data were not found in the sources consulted. * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Remember that as of the date of the 2025 letter the name had neither a geographical indication nor a geographical mark: such a label on *Sōngmíng* packaging is not confirmed by documents. * Check that the producer is from Dazu District, preferably from Gulong town. * Do not confuse it with “石都松茗”: that is a different name, a product of the “石都茗芽” brand. * The brand received the “green food” certificate in 2006; whether it is still valid is not stated in the sources consulted — check the number on the packaging. **12. Interesting Facts:** * It was not a producer but a deputy of the district people's congress who proposed making the brand a common brand with a geographical mark; the reply to this proposal became the main document about *Sōngmíng*. * Attached to the reply is the procedure for registering a public organization: to create a tea association, at least 50 individual or 30 collective members and at least 30,000 yuan for its activities are needed. * Among the district's eleven brands there are two “pine” names at once — “大足松茗” and “石都松茗”. **13. Comparison with Other Chongqing Teas:** * **Yongchuan Xiuya ([永川秀芽](https://thetea.app/article/yongchuan-xiu-ya)):** A needle-shaped green tea of the neighboring Yongchuan District; Mount Bayue is also named among its tea mountains. Unlike *Sōngmíng*, it has a geographical mark. * **Banan Yinzhen ([巴南银针](https://thetea.app/article/banan-yin-zhen)):** A needle-shaped green tea of Banan District, created, according to the teaching compilation, in 1980. * **Nanchuan Dashu Cha ([南川大树茶](https://thetea.app/article/nanchuan-dashu-cha)):** A tea from a local big-tree variety of Nanchuan District; unlike *Sōngmíng*, it is already protected as an agricultural product with a geographical indication. **In Conclusion:** *Dàzú sōngmíng* is a name that the district is only planning to make a common brand. The documents about it speak of administration, not of tea: an association plan, a group standard and a zone along Mount Bayue that has yet to be approved. Tea has been made near this mountain since the 1970s, both green and red; the standard, if it is issued, will show what *Sōngmíng* will be like and which class it will belong to.