Dǐxū chá (底圩茶) is a green tea of Guangnan County (广南县), Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The same name is used for the local seed-grown variety of tea bush from which the tea is made: a downy form that the description of the geographical indication assigns to the botanical variety 白毛茶 (báimáo chá). The name comes from Dixu Township (底圩乡) in the north of the county, where tea was first made. Since 2016 “底圩茶” has been a product with an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI).
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá): the quality description in the register of indications is given for green tea. The variety itself, according to the description of the indication, is suitable for green, yellow, white, red and compressed tea, but the red, white and bamboo tea of Dixu are different products.
- Category: Yunnan green tea from a local downy variety; agricultural product geographical indication (2016).
- Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (文山, Wénshān), Guangnan County (广南, Guǎngnán), Dixu Township.
- Protection zone: According to the description of the indication — 18 townships and towns of the county: Dixu, Bamei, Liancheng, Zhetu, Zhetai, Zhulin, Jiumo, Yangliujing, Dongbao, Babao, Banbang, Nanping, Heizhiguo, Shuguang, Zhujie, Zhuanjiao, Nasa and Wuzhu, as well as the state farms of Shishan and Tangshan.
- Geographic coordinates: The zone — 104°25′–105°39′ E and 23°23′–24°33′ N; Dixu Township — about 24.3° N and 104.9° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 1825. According to a retelling of the Guangnan Prefecture Chronicle (《广南府志》), a tea of “exquisite taste” (其地产茶味绝美) grows near the village of Dixu, more than 40 li from the Jiulong Mountains.
- Age of the tradition. Estimates differ: a reference work citing the Guangnan County Chronicle (《广南县志》) speaks of more than three hundred years of cultivation, the reference work of the register of indications — of more than two hundred.
- The Tongzhi years. According to a legend in the publication “映象文山”, Dixu tea at first came out bitter and astringent, and in this era a local resident, Yang Jichun (杨吉春), after experiments, invented “tea in bamboo”.
- 1982. According to the reference work, the Tea Institute of the Yunnan Agricultural Institute, after a survey, recognized “Dǐxū chá” as one of the best varieties of the province.
- 1983. Bamboo tea from Dixu entered the top ten teas of Yunnan at a provincial tea evaluation meeting.
- 1986. According to the reference work, the local tea factory also began producing red tea.
- 2012–2015. According to an industry publication, the application was prepared by the county tea technical station: samples were sent for examination in 2012, the on-site inspection and tasting evaluation took place in May 2015, and approval came in October 2015.
- 2016. By Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 2384 of 31 March 2016, “底圩茶” was entered in the register of agricultural product geographical indications; the registration number is AGI01871.
- Name: Dǐxū (底圩) — the name of the township and of the village. According to the publication “映象文山”, local residents read the character 圩 as hēi; in the register the name is recorded under the standard reading.
- Cultural significance: Around the bamboo tea, which is called 姑娘茶 (gūniang chá) here, “girls’ tea”, a legend and a local brewing ritual have taken shape (section 9).
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: The seed-grown population variety 底圩茶 (有性群体品种). The reference work of the register assigns it to the botanical variety 白毛茶 of the genus Camellia. The homeland of the variety is said to be the Jiulong range (九龙山), where the Tuoniang (驮娘江) and Xiyang rivers begin.
- Bush appearance: According to the description of the indication — a small tree with a semi-spreading crown; the young shoots are heavily downy; the leaf is large, dark green, with a blistered surface, a downy underside and a slightly wavy edge. The shoots stay tender for a long time (持嫩性强).
- Raw material requirements: According to the description of the indication, the fresh leaf is taken from bushes of this variety.
- Harvest: According to the description of the indication, picking is done in spring, summer and autumn, one or two flushes per season, mainly by hand; in a rainy, warm autumn, winter picking until mid-December is also possible. The fresh leaf standards are a single bud, a bud with one, two or three leaves, a single leaf or an open shoot (对夹叶) of the same tenderness.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Dixu Township: The north of the county; altitude from 698 to 1915 m, according to reference data on the township. According to the Yunnan portal (2020), the township has more than a thousand mu of old and wild tea trees.
- Indication zone: The transition from the southern Yunnan plateau to the low hills of western Guangxi. Altitude 450–1800 m, most gardens at 800–1500 m, on slopes with a gradient of 15–35°.
- Soils: Yellow-red and red sandy loams on shales and sandy shales, pH 4.5–6.5, layer thickness more than a meter.
- Rivers: The Zhujiang and Honghe basins.
- Climate: Mid-subtropical highland monsoon; many foggy days in winter and spring. For the zone — 17.9 °C annual average, 1224 mm of precipitation, humidity 78%, 1561 hours of sunshine, 306 frost-free days.
- Areas: According to the reference work, by the end of 2017 the township had 168,000 mu of bearing gardens, with output worth 178 million yuan. According to the Yunnan portal (2020), the same 168,000 mu are 38% of the county’s gardens; in 2019 — 3750 t of tea worth 180 million yuan.
5. Production Technology
According to the description of the indication, the green tea is made as follows: fresh leaf → spreading (摊放, tānfàng) → fixation (杀青, shāqīng) → cooling → second cooling → winnowing (风选, fēngxuǎn) → rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn) → drying (烘干, hōnggān) → packing. The grades are named as follows: special (特级), first (一级), second (二级) and “mass-market tea” (大众茶), although the text says “three grades”. Temperatures and durations were not found in the sources consulted.
Planting. In the old way, seeds were sown straight on the slope, 300–500 plants per mu; now — on terraces, 800–1000 plants per mu, from seeds or cuttings, with the aim of switching to cuttings of selected plants: sowing from seed produces many undesirable forms.
Bamboo tea. A related product, not “Dǐxū chá” under the indication. According to the publication “映象文山”, a section of 金竹 bamboo is packed with spring tea, placed in a steamer over cooking glutinous rice and slowly dried over charcoal — hence the “three aromas”: of tea, bamboo and rice. “Girls’ tea”, according to it, shares a root with 底圩茶 but is made a little differently.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
Description of the green tea according to the reference work of the register of indications:
- Dry leaf appearance: Tightly rolled and slender, green, with noticeable down; green and white in equal measure, but white predominates (外形紧结清秀，干茶色绿显毫，绿白相间以白为主).
- Dry leaf aroma: A pleasant aroma of down (毫香宜人).
- Liquor aroma: High (香高).
- Taste: Mellow and sweetish (味醇甘).
- Liquor color: Yellow-green, bright (汤色黄绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender and even (叶底嫩匀).
For the bamboo “girls’ tea”, according to the publication “映象文山”, the liquor is golden-yellow and bright (茶汤金黄明亮).
7. Chemical Composition
Indicators of raw tea (毛茶) according to the description of the indication:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 22% |
| Water-soluble extractives | not less than 30% |
| Caffeine | not less than 2.2% |
| Free amino acids | not less than 3.9% |
| Moisture | not more than 7% |
These are lower thresholds, not the results of an analysis of a specific batch.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Glass tumbler or white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Two or three further infusions.
For “girls’ tea” the publication “映象文山” describes a local ritual of eight actions: split the bamboo, take out the tea, put it in, rinse it, rinse the cups, pour in water, pour off the liquor and drink. Water and time parameters for it were not found in the sources consulted.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Retail price data were not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the agricultural product geographical indication mark and Guangnan County as the place of production.
- Remember that under the indication this is a green tea: red, white and bamboo tea from the same area are different products.
- The appearance reference is a tight, slender leaf with abundant white down and a yellow-green, clear liquor.
11. Interesting Facts
- The bush variety, the township and the tea bear one name.
- The tea is older than the mark: the 1825 record of “tea of exquisite taste” precedes the 2016 indication by almost two hundred years.
- In 1983 it was not the green but the bamboo tea of Dixu that entered the top ten teas of Yunnan — more than thirty years before the indication.
12. Comparison with Other Teas from Downy Varieties
- Lechang Baimao Cha (乐昌白毛茶): A Guangdong green tea from a local downy form — the closest in raw material.
- Kaishan Baimao Cha (开山白毛茶): A downy green tea of Guangxi, the province neighboring Guangnan.
- Naka (那卡): A Yunnan pu-erh village where the tradition of tea in bamboo is also kept; the raw material and the region are different.
In Conclusion:
Dǐxū chá is a green tea from Guangnan County’s own downy variety, protected since 2016. The indication document describes it in detail — from the zone and soils to the composition thresholds — and draws its appearance: a slender leaf with a predominance of white down, an aroma of down, a yellow-green liquor. Next to it lives the bamboo “girls’ tea” — a related product with its own legend and ritual.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page