Fúdǐng lǜchá · thetea.app

Fúdǐng lǜchá (福鼎绿茶) is a green tea of Fuding county-level city (福鼎市) in Ningde prefecture-level city, on the north-eastern coast of Fujian Province — in a land known as the “northern gate” of the province. Fuding is famous for white tea, and the green tea has stayed in its shadow, although it came under protection earlier: according to the provincial list, the name “福鼎绿茶” was taken under protection by announcement No. 14 of 2004 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) — five years earlier than the name “福鼎白茶”. I have not seen the text of the announcement, and I have not found open descriptions of the tea itself — its varieties, technology, appearance: this is a protected name about which the documents say more than about the leaf.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) — by its name. I have not seen a document with the technology.
Category: Product with protected origin (2004); in the provincial list the entry carries the note “product of origin” (原产地产品).
Origin: China, Fujian Province (福建, Fújiàn), Ningde prefecture-level city (宁德, Níngdé), Fuding county-level city (福鼎, Fúdǐng).
Protection zone: In the list the entry is assigned to Fuding; the applicant column names the Fuding Intellectual Property Office (福鼎市知识产权局). I have not seen the legal boundary of the zone.
Protection regime: AQSIQ announcement No. 14 of 2004; the date in the list is 4 February 2004. The entry has no note of a special mark. As of 30 June 2026, the entry stands in the provincial list of protected geographical indication products. There is no certification mark “福鼎绿茶” in the provincial list of marks as of the same date.
Geographic coordinates: Fuding — 26°52′–27°26′ N and 119°55′–120°43′ E (according to a reference on the city).

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Fuding tea in general. The Fuding tea bureau (2022) writes that the county has long made red, green, yellow, scented and white tea. A written history of green tea specifically is not found in the sources consulted: the old texts that the bureau cites speak of white tea and of Mount Taimushan.
- 2004. On 4 February, according to the list, a single AQSIQ announcement No. 14 took under protection “福鼎绿茶”, “太姥山绿雪芽茶” and the Fuding pomelo “福鼎四季柚”; the same number in the list also marks the banyan bonsai “沙西榕树盆景” of Zhangpu County.
- 2005. AQSIQ announcement No. 8 added four more Fuding tea names to the list: “福鼎白毫银针”, “福鼎白琳工夫”, “福鼎大白茶” and “福鼎太姥绿雪芽”.
- 2009. Announcement No. 32 took “福鼎白茶” under protection — with a note of a special mark, which the 2004 entry does not have.
- Today. According to the Fuding tea bureau, in 2020 the county produced 32,400 t of tea, of which 25,300 t was white. Nongmin Ribao (2024) gives figures for 2023: tea gardens — 362,000 mu, of which 305,000 mu are in bearing; tea — 32,000 t, of which white — 23,000 t. How much of the remainder is green, the sources do not say.
Name: “Fuding” (福鼎) is the name of the county-level city; according to a reference on the city, it was given after the Fudingfeng peak (覆鼎峰) of Mount Taimushan. Lǜchá (绿茶) is “green tea”.
Cultural significance: According to the tea bureau’s text, Fuding is the only county to which a national-level body has awarded the title “中国白茶之乡” — “hometown of Chinese white tea”. Green tea in this picture is one of five lines, and the county texts found say almost nothing about it.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: Which varieties the 2004 protection admits, the sources consulted do not say. The famous local varieties, according to the Fuding tea bureau, are 福鼎大白茶 (Fúdǐng dàbáichá, “华茶1号”) and 福鼎大毫茶 (Fúdǐng dàháochá, “华茶2号”): the buds of both are densely covered with down, both became national elite varieties and spread across the whole country. The bureau calls them the recognized best raw material for white tea; it does not write about green tea separately.
Raw material: According to the bureau’s text, tender buds and fresh leaf are taken in the county for all five classes of tea. A harvest standard for green tea is not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest time: No data in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The north-eastern coast of Fujian. According to a reference on the city, the area of Fuding is 1526.3 km², mountains and hills occupy 88.1% of the land, and the highest point is Mount Qinglongshan (青龙山), 1141 m. The county is surrounded by mountains on three sides and opens onto the sea on one.
Climate: According to the tea bureau — mid-subtropical maritime monsoon: winter without severe cold, summer without exhausting heat.
Soils: According to the same text — red, yellow, purple and alluvial (潮土) soils, loose and fertile, rich in organic matter and minerals.
Garden altitude: No data in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The technology of Fuding green tea is not found in the sources consulted, nor is a document with requirements. Below is the general scheme of green tea, not a description of this tea:

Spreading the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng): The leaf is spread in a thin layer so that it gives up part of its moisture.
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heating stops oxidation and preserves the green color.
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Drying (干燥, gānzào): With hot air or in a pan.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

I have not seen a document with requirements for the appearance.

Dry leaf appearance: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Taste: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor color: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions in the sources consulted.

7. Chemical Composition

No physico-chemical data in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea.

Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Two or three further infusions.

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

No price data in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Check the name on the package: in the Fujian list, “福鼎绿茶” (2004), “太姥山绿雪芽茶” (2004) and “福鼎太姥绿雪芽” (2005) stand side by side — these are different entries.
- Check that the producer is from Fuding.
- Remember that “福鼎大白茶” is also the name of a variety which, according to the Fuding tea bureau, is grown across the whole country: the variety on the pack does not prove Fuding origin.
- The entry “福鼎绿茶” in the list has no note of a special mark, and the list of marks has no certification mark with this name; a mark on the pack should be checked against the list rather than taken on trust.

11. Interesting Facts

The protection of the name “福鼎绿茶” (2004) is five years older than the protection of the name “福鼎白茶” (2009); the white “福鼎白毫银针” was taken under protection in 2005.
The same announcement took under protection not only the Lüxueya tea but also the Fuding pomelo.
“福鼎大白茶” in the Fujian list is at once the name of a protected product (2005) and the name of a variety that long ago spread to other provinces.
In 2023, white tea accounted for about 23 of the county’s 32 thousand t of tea.

12. Comparison with Other Teas of Fuding and Its Neighbors

Fuding Bai Cha (福鼎白茶): The main tea of the county, white, protected since 2009.
Taimushan Lüxueya Cha (太姥山绿雪芽茶): A name of Mount Taimushan taken under protection by the same 2004 announcement; the sources disagree on its class — green or white.
Fu’an Lücha (福安绿茶): Green tea of the neighboring Fu’an county-level city of the same Ningde prefecture, with a mark of 2021.
Tianshan Lü Cha (天山绿茶): A historical green tea of eastern Fujian, dried with hot air.
Wuping Lücha (武平绿茶): Green tea of the south-west of the province — for comparison within Fujian.

In Conclusion:

Fúdǐng lǜchá is the protected name of a green tea in a county that the whole world knows for its white tea. The 2004 protection is confirmed by the provincial list and is older than the protection of the name “福鼎白茶”, but the text of the announcement, the requirements for the leaf, the varieties and the appearance have not been found in open sources. For now little can be said about it: this is a green tea of a coastal mountain county, the homeland of the varieties 福鼎大白茶 and 福鼎大毫茶; which varieties the protection requires and what the leaf should be like still awaits a document.