---
title: "Fùlì chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/fuli-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Fùlì chá (复立茶)

*Fùlì chá* (复立茶) is a green tea of Xiaohe town, Weiyuan County (威远县), Neijiang prefecture-level city, Sichuan Province. The name is taken from the old name of the place: the present town of Xiaohe was formerly the market town of Fuli (复立场). The top grade is made flat, the lower ones twisted; the documents describe a chestnut aroma and a mellow taste. The name has been protected as a geographical indication since 2010.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The specification describes a green tea technology — fixation, rolling, drying — without oxidation.
* **Category:** A Sichuan “famous” green tea (名优茶, *míngyōuchá*): flat in the top grade, twisted in the others; geographical indication product.
* **Origin:** China, Sichuan Province (四川, *Sìchuān*), Neijiang prefecture-level city (内江, *Nèijiāng*), Weiyuan County (威远, *Wēiyuǎn*), Xiaohe town (小河镇, *Xiǎohé zhèn*).
* **Protection zone:** 15 villages of Xiaohe town — Putao, Tiechang, Sanhe, Yumai, Qinglan, Xingu, Nianzi, Xintong, Dayan, Xiaohe, Kaiyuan, Pingle, Sanyang, Paifang and Minzhi — and 11 tea farms (茶场). The protected area, according to the 2010 specification, is 2254 ha, and the production volume is 5000 t.
* **Geographic coordinates:** 29°34′05.8″–29°40′50.3″ N and 104°17′09.9″–104°22′27.9″ E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **583 and 591.** According to the specification, under the Sui dynasty the military post of Weiyuan (威远戍) was established here in 583, and in 591 — Weiyuan County.
    * **Legends.** The specification retells as a legend the story that in 1242 the Song governor of Sichuan, Yu Jie (余玠), ordered tea to be picked on Mount Fuli and a strong decoction to be brewed from it. Documentary support for this and the other legends of the specification is not found in the texts consulted.
    * **The inscription of Zhao Xi.** According to the same text, Zhao Xi (赵熙), a man of letters of the late Qing — early Republic, passing through the market town of Fuli, left the inscription “复立茶树” — “the tea trees of Fuli”.
    * **2000.** According to the specification — a gold medal at the international tea exhibition in Chengdu; the same text says that the tea was “included among the thirteen famous teas of the country”, but who compiled this list is not stated.
    * **2010.** On 15 November, the Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC, by announcement No. 1478, registered *Fùlì chá* as an agricultural product geographical indication (农产品地理标志).
    * **2025.** The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), by announcement No. 646 (dated 23 September), recognized *Fùlì chá* as a geographical indication product — among 870 names. The applicant is a local cooperative of tea growers (威远复立茶[叶种](https://thetea.app/article/qiaomuguanmu)植农民专业合作社).
* **Name:** “Fuli” (复立) is an old name of the place: of the market town that became Xiaohe town, and of the mountain that legend calls Mount Fuli.
* **Cultural significance:** According to the specification, this tea is served to honored guests and given as a gift; the county included the tea industry in its development program for the 11th Five-Year Plan, and holds a tea-picking festival and contests of tea masters.

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

* **Varieties / Cultivars:** Fuding Dabai (福鼎大白, *Fúdǐng dàbái*), Mingshan 131 (名山131, *Míngshān 131*) and Fuxuan No. 9 (福选9号, *Fúxuǎn 9 hào*) “and other” varieties.
* **Raw material:** According to the 2025 requirements — early spring single buds (独芽, *dúyá*) from high-mountain gardens. The 2010 grade table describes the raw material differently: the first grade — a bud with one leaf, the second — a bud with two leaves, the third — a bud with two just-opened leaves, the fourth — a bud with three opened leaves. How to reconcile this with “single buds”, the documents do not explain.
* **Start of harvest:** When there are 10–15 standard buds per square meter of the bush surface. Picking is done on a clear morning, into bamboo containers.
* **Harvest time:** “Early spring”; exact dates are not found in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The south-central part of the Sichuan Basin. The center of a dome-shaped mountain massif (穹窿山形地貌): mountains, ravines, dense forests.
* **Soils:** Yellow soils (黄壤), cold sandy yellow clays (冷沙黄泥) and grey-brown clays (灰棕泥); light and medium loams, slightly acidic, with a deep, loose plow layer and a large reserve of organic matter.
* **Waters:** The Yuexi River (越溪河, *Yuèxī hé*) flows through the gardens; the gardens lie in its upper reaches, in a zone without industrial pollution; the pH of the river water and groundwater is 5.5–7.5.
* **Climate:** Subtropical monsoon: mean annual temperature 17.9 °C, 1192 hours of sunshine a year, more than 1000 mm of precipitation, a frost-free period of more than 330 days, a large daily temperature range.
* **Altitude:** The documents speak of “high-mountain gardens”; figures are not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology is described in detail by the 2010 specification; before processing, the raw material is sorted by grade.

*Top grade — flat tea:*

1.  **First pan-firing (青锅, *qīngguō*):** Pan at 180–200 °C; the hand techniques include shaking, laying, pressing, rubbing, tossing, gripping and straightening (抖、搭、捺、拓、甩、扣、挺). Three stages: 3–4 minutes of shaking, 2–3 minutes of shaking with rubbing, then pressing with rubbing until the leaf becomes flat at a moisture content of 20–25%.
2.  **Resting:** 40–60 minutes; then the leaf is sieved into three fractions.
3.  **Second pan-firing (辉锅, *huīguō*):** Each fraction separately: pan at 60–80 °C; when the down shows — 80–90 °C; when the down begins to fall off and the leaf becomes firm — 50–60 °C.

*Other grades — twisted tea:*

1.  **Spreading (摊青, *tānqīng*).**
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Pan at 200–220 °C, 200–250 g of leaf, the leaf quickly heats up to 80 °C; it is fired with shaking until the leaf darkens and the stalk bends without breaking.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** “Light — strong — light”, 1–2 minutes in all.
4.  **Pre-drying (烘青, *hōngqīng*):** 90–110 °C, a layer of about 1 cm.
5.  **Shaping and bringing out the down (整形提毫, *zhěngxíng tíháo*):** Pan at about 100 °C, straightening of the twist — about 70 °C.
6.  **Final drying (烘干, *hōnggān*):** “High — low — high”, to a moisture content of 5–6%.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The 2010 and 2025 documents describe the tea differently; both are given.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Flat, straight, even (扁直匀齐), green with an oily sheen (绿润). The first grade — tender yellow with a sheen, every bud covered with down (嫩黄油润、全芽有毫).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Chestnut, rich and lasting (栗香浓郁持久); the documents do not specify whether of the dry leaf or of the liquor.
* **Taste:** Mellow and full (醇厚) — in 2010; fresh, mellow, sweetish (鲜醇味甘) — in 2025. The tea withstands many infusions (耐冲泡).
* **Liquor color:** Tender green, bright (嫩绿亮) — in 2010; light green, clear (淡绿清流) — in 2025. The grade table gives a yellow-green bright liquor for the two top grades.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Tender green, bright (嫩绿明亮) — in both documents.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Indicators of the 2010 specification, repeated in the 2025 requirements:

| Indicator | Requirement |
| :--- | :--- |
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 13.5% |
| Soluble sugars | not less than 1.0% |
| Caffeine | not less than 0.1 g per 100 g |

In addition, the documents speak of a “moderate” selenium content and a “richness” in amino acids, without figures. The unit for caffeine is given as in the documents.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. The healing promises of reference works are not repeated here: they cite no research.

**9. 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, and top up with water.
    5. Two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

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

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark: only a producer from the protection zone may use it, with a permit approved by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
    * Check that the tea was made in Xiaohe town, Weiyuan County.
    * Look at the label: the specification requires the grade to be stated.
    * Twisted leaf is not a counterfeit but a lower grade of the same tea.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The protection zone fits within one town: 15 villages and 11 tea farms.
* The tea got its name from a name that is no longer on the map: the market town of Fuli became Xiaohe town.
* Only the top grade is made flat; for the other three the specification describes a different, twisting technology.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Xihu Longjing ([西湖龙井](https://thetea.app/article/xihu-longjing)):** A flat tea of Hangzhou; the stages of the first and second pan-firing in the *Fùlì chá* specification are called by the same words — 青锅 and 辉锅.
* **Zhuyeqing ([竹叶青](https://thetea.app/article/zhu-ye-qing)):** A flat pan-fired green tea of Mount Emei in the same province.
* **Rongxian Lücha ([荣县绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/rongxian-lucha)):** Green tea of the neighboring Rongxian County of Zigong prefecture, which borders the *Fùlì chá* zone on the south.

**In Conclusion:**

*Fùlì chá* is a green tea of a single town in south-central Sichuan. The documents on it are unusually detailed — down to the pan temperature at each stage. The flat top grade with a chestnut aroma and the twisted lower grades are one and the same tea, and its name came from Fuli, a market town that has disappeared from the map.