Fēngmù gòngchá

Fēngmù gòngchá (枫木贡茶), “tribute to the court from Fengmu”, is a mountain tea of Fengmulin village (枫木林村) of Gutang Township (古塘乡) in the northwest of Lianyuan county-level city (涟源市) of Loudi prefecture-level city, Hunan Province. The tea grows on the southern slope of Mianniu Mountain (眠牛山) — “Sleeping Ox Mountain” — in a township with an average altitude of more than 600 m. The name is protected by a geographical indication mark from the list of the Hunan provincial government. The “gòngchá” in the name comes from a legend about a Qing governor-general who took the local tea to the court. The name does not state the class; according to the description of the technology in a local publication, it is a green tea.

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is determined from the technology described in a 2014 publication on the website of the Lianyuan government: spreading, fixation at high temperature, rolling, drying and aroma finishing — without withering for oxidation and without smothering. I have not seen a document on the mark that states the class.
• Category: Mountain green tea; geographical indication mark — the provincial list does not distinguish between collective and certification marks; the application, according to a local publication, was filed for a certification mark (section 2).
• Origin: China, Hunan Province (湖南, Húnán), Loudi prefecture-level city (娄底, Lóudǐ), Lianyuan county-level city (涟源, Liányuán), Gutang Township (古塘, Gǔtáng).
• Zone: According to the 2014 publication, the tea is made in Fengmulin village and in part of Niubu village (牛埠村) of Gutang Township. The register on which the article relies links the mark to Fengmulin village, and the provincial list links it to Lianyuan; this is the administrative affiliation of the holder, not the boundary of the zone. I have not checked the zone of use of the mark itself.
• Holder, number and year of registration: No data in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • The Anhua tea land. Gutang Township formerly belonged to Anhua County. The 2014 publication cites the 1992 Annals of Anhua County (《安化县志》): in the Yuan and Ming, the county’s teas “云雾茶” and “芙蓉茶” went as tribute to the court. This is said of Anhua in general, not of Fengmu.
  • The legend of the monk. The same publication retells a legend: every year before the Guyu festival a monk from a temple on Yuntai Mountain (云台山) of the Taoxijie range (桃溪界) secretly picked tea on Mianniu Mountain; the local people followed him, tasted the tea and appreciated its aroma and long sweet taste.
  • The legend of the tribute. According to legend, in the mid-Qing the governor-general of Liangjiang, having come to Anhua to visit his relatives, ordered tea to be brought from Fengmulin and brewed it in a purple clay (紫砂) teapot over a fire of mulberry twigs; the tea had the color of Maojian and the aroma of Longjing. The dignitary took several jin to the court — from then on the tea became “gòngchá”, and the locals no longer got any. The same page writes the dignitary’s name differently: in the legend — 陶澎, in the addendum below — Tao Shu (陶澍). According to legend, only the bushes on the “belly of the ox” went as tribute — a dozen or so mu, no more than a hundred-odd jin a year.
  • The mark. In the provincial reference book Hunan in Brief (湖南简况), published in December 2020, “枫木贡茶” stands among 229 collective and certification marks with a geographical indication, and in the 2024 edition among 250. The name is not in the lists of geographical indication products in the same reference book. The application for the mark, according to the addendum to the 2014 page, was filed in 2016; the year of registration is not found in the sources consulted.
  • 1989 and 2015. According to the addendum to the same page, in 1989 a Lianyuan tea company made the lost tea anew, and at an appraisal by the province’s tea specialists it received 90.09 points; in 2015 “枫木贡茶” was recognized as a famous trademark of Hunan Province.
• Name: “Fēngmù” (枫木) means “maple”; Fengmulin village (枫木林) means “Maple Forest”. “Gòngchá” (贡茶) means “tribute tea”, tea for the court.
• Cultural significance: Gutang lies deep in the old Meishan land (梅山); the 2014 publication writes that it is called the “Qinghai-Tibet Plateau”.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Varieties / Cultivars: No data in the sources consulted.
• Harvest time: According to the 2014 publication, the best picking is three days before and after the Qingming festival (清明); the second picking described is around the Guyu festival (谷雨).
• Harvest standard: For Qingming — a bud with one leaf (一芽一叶); for Guyu — a bud with two to four leaves.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: According to the 2014 publication, Gutang Township lies at the southern foot of the Taoxijie range — a spur of the Xuefeng Mountains — at an average altitude of more than 600 m.
• Topography: Fengmulin village stands on the northern edge of the township; mountains surround it on three sides, and the exits lead south, northeast and northwest. The tea grows on Mianniu Mountain, on the slope facing south.
• Climate: No data in the sources consulted.
• Soils: No soil analyses in the sources consulted. The addendum to the 2014 page calls Gutang a selenium-rich agricultural production base known in Hunan.
• Area: No data in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The 2014 publication, written after a visit to a local company, describes a combination of manual work and machines. This is a description of one producer, not the requirements of the mark.

1. Spreading (摊放, tānfàng): The fresh leaf is left for several hours so that some of the moisture is lost; this is especially important for leaf picked in rain or with dew on it.
2. Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): At high temperature; then the leaf cools to room temperature.
3. Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): By machine.
4. Drying (烘干, hōnggān) in two stages: First to six or seven tenths of dryness, then cooling and final drying to nine tenths. During drying the leaf is constantly lifted, tossed and shaken by hand; the fuel is charcoal, coal or electricity.
5. Aroma finishing (提香, tíxiāng) and setting the shape: By machine; the temperature and time are chosen by an experienced master.

The leaf is cooled in bamboo winnowing baskets; for the sake of quality, cigarettes and betel are not brought into the workshop, and the women workers do not use perfume.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Below is the description from the 2014 publication; I have not seen a document with requirements for the appearance.

• Dry leaf appearance: Early-picked tea has prominent white down and thin, round, tight and straight strands, dark green (白毫显露，条索细圆紧直，呈深绿色). Tea picked for Guyu is ink-green (墨绿). The addendum to the same page, describing the same appearance, calls the color emerald (翠绿).
• Dry leaf aroma: No data in the sources consulted.
• Liquor aroma: In the early tea — tender (嫩香), in the Guyu tea — a rich chestnut aroma (栗香浓郁).
• Taste: In the early tea — sweet and refreshing (味甘爽口), in the Guyu tea — sweet and long (味甘绵长).
• Liquor color: In the early tea — clear, pure green (通透清绿), in the Guyu tea — clear, yellow and bright (通透黄亮). The same publication describes the tea served to the author in early summer as golden and clear.
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): No data in the sources consulted.

7. Chemical Composition

The addendum to the 2014 publication cites an analysis by the provincial agricultural product inspection center: selenium 0.818 mg/kg. Which batch and by what method is not stated. No other physicochemical data in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea. The 2014 publication recommends water at about 85 °C; the usual class parameters are 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a glass tumbler or a white gaiwan, the first infusion after 40–60 seconds, two or three further infusions.

9. Storage

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and foreign odors. Best drunk within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data in the sources consulted.

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Look for the “枫木贡茶” mark on the packaging.
  • Check that the producer is from Gutang Township in Lianyuan.
  • Early tea has thin, tight, dark green strands with prominent down and a clear green liquor.

11. Interesting Facts

• Gutang Township used to be part of Anhua County, and today it belongs to Lianyuan in Loudi prefecture-level city.
• Among the people, according to the same page, the tea is called “香十里” — “fragrance for ten li”.

12. Comparison with Neighboring Hunan Teas

• Anhua Song Zhen (安化松针): Green tea of Anhua County, to which Gutang Township formerly belonged; in the shape of a “pine needle”.
• Xinhua Hongcha (新化红茶): Red tea of neighboring Xinhua County in the same Loudi prefecture-level city; in the provincial list of marks it stands next to “枫木贡茶”.
• Taojiang Lücha (桃江绿茶): Hunan green tea under a mark from the same list.

In Conclusion:

Fēngmù gòngchá is the tea of one mountain village on the southern slope of Sleeping Ox Mountain: early picking for Qingming, fixation, rolling and drying in two stages, thin dark green strands and a clear green liquor. The name “gòngchá” rests on the legend of the tribute, and the protection on a mark from the provincial list.