Gǔlìn niúpí chá (古蔺牛皮茶) is a tea of Gulin County (古蔺县) of Luzhou prefecture-level city in the south of Sichuan Province, and a local tea bush variety of the same name. “Niúpí” (牛皮) means “ox hide”: the name was given for the large thick leaf, not for the class of tea. The variety comes from the Jiaozigou (椒子沟) gully near Zaolin village of Gulin Town and in 1985 was recognized as a provincial local variety. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark — it already appears in the list of such marks of Sichuan as of March 2018. The mark does not name the class.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Not established: I have not seen a document of the mark stating the class. The reference description of the variety calls it suitable for green and red tea; the Luzhou authorities call “牛皮茶” both a variety and the name of the finished tea, but do not state the class.
- Category: Tea of a local variety of southern Sichuan; geographical indication certification mark.
- Origin: China, Sichuan Province (四川, Sìchuān), Luzhou prefecture-level city (泸州, Lúzhōu), Gulin County (古蔺, Gǔlìn). The home of the variety is the Jiaozigou gully near Zaolin village (枣林村) of Gulin Town (古蔺镇).
- Mark zone: The Sichuan list gives Gulin County as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; the legal boundary of the zone is described by a group standard whose text I have not seen.
- Geographic coordinates: Gulin — about 28.0° N and 105.8° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Gazetteer. The Luzhou authorities and a 2017 regional news item quote the county gazetteer “古蔺县志”: “牛皮茶，曾为贡茶” — this tea “was once a tribute tea”. When and to whom it was presented is not said in the quotation.
- 1985. The provincial commission for crop varieties recognized it as a provincial local variety of Sichuan.
- 2014. The College of Horticulture of Sichuan Agricultural University published a study of the variety in the journal “作物学报” (2014, No. 12): 76 plants from seven populations, morphology, biochemistry, ISSR markers.
- Mark. In the list of geographical indication marks of Sichuan as of March 2018, Gǔlìn niúpí chá already appears; the reference description gives the year of registration — 2017. I did not find the mark number or the holder.
- 2021. According to a report of May 28, the county market regulation administration held an expert review of group standards for two marks of the county — “地理标志证明商标 古蔺面” (noodles) and “地理标志证明商标 古蔺牛皮茶”. The standards describe the zone, quality requirements, inspection rules, labeling and packaging; they were to be put into effect after publication on the national platform. Whether the standard has been issued, I have not established.
- Name: 古蔺 is the name of the county, 牛皮 — “ox hide”, 茶 — tea.
- Cultural significance: The 2014 article calls Gǔlìn niúpí chá a tea bush resource special to Sichuan and warns that the range of the population is shrinking because of droughts and human interference. According to the 2017 regional news item, an employee of the county forestry department found old trees of this variety in several townships of the county and estimated the age of most of them at several hundred years; I have not found an independent verification.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
According to the reference article on the variety, unless stated otherwise.
- Bush type: A seed-propagated population (有性系), shrub, medium-leaved, mid-season, diploid. The 2014 article specifies: in the Jiaozigou populations shrubs predominate, but in five of the seven populations there are also small trees or trees.
- Bush: Fairly tall, the crown spreading, branching sparse, the leaves set almost horizontally.
- Leaf: Elliptic or long-elliptic, dark green, glossy, the surface slightly puckered, the serrations deep and sparse, the leaf thick — hence the name.
- Shoots: Medium pubescence; a hundred “bud and three leaves” shoots weigh about 61.0 g. The spring harvest begins 7–10 days earlier than in other local populations; the buds are large.
- Flower and seed: Corolla about 2.9 cm, eight petals, style three-cleft; seed about 1.4 cm.
- Resistance: Fairly high drought resistance, medium fruiting.
- Distribution: According to the 2014 article — only Jiaozigou and the surrounding mountains and hills; the plants there are mostly wild and semi-wild.
- Harvest standard: No data in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Southern Sichuan; according to the 2014 article, the county lies at the transition from the Sichuan Basin to the Guizhou Plateau.
- Growing altitude: The 2014 article: the core of the population is the Jiaozigou forest at 900–1100 m, the whole range — about 20 km² at 800–1200 m. The Luzhou authorities: the tea base is the localities of Baishapo (白沙坡), Jiaozigou and Fengyuanpo (凤元坡) at 600–1200 m.
- Climate: According to the 2014 article — summers hot, winters mild, comparatively little precipitation, frequent droughts in summer. The Luzhou authorities, on the contrary, write of abundant rainfall.
- Soils: No data on composition and acidity in the sources consulted.
- Harvest timing: According to a local tea master in the 2017 news item, because of the altitude this tea is picked more than ten days later than in low-mountain areas; the reference “7–10 days earlier” is a comparison with neighboring populations.
5. Production Technology
I have not seen a document with the technology for the mark; the 2021 group standard, according to the county’s report, is to regulate processing as well, but its text is not available.
The general scheme of the classes, not a description of this tea: green — fixation, rolling, drying; red — withering, rolling, oxidation, drying. Which scheme, and with what parameters, is applied to Gǔlìn niúpí chá is not stated in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The descriptions come from the reference article and from the words of a representative of a local company in the 2017 news item; they do not name the class and are not a requirement of the mark.
- Dry leaf appearance: Tight, slightly curved, green, with abundant white down (紧致微曲，白毫嵌绿).
- Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: With a chestnut note (栗香) — all the descriptions found name it.
- Taste: Mellow and full, with a sweet aftertaste; the tea withstands many infusions (醇厚回甘，耐冲泡).
- Liquor color: According to the reference article — clear and bright; in the 2017 news item — yellow and bright (汤色黄亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): According to the reference article — even, yellow-green, bright; in the 2017 news item — tender green.
7. Chemical Composition
The reference article gives two sets of figures, and they do not match:
| Indicator | Spring shoots “bud and two leaves”, dry sample | “Fresh leaf”, according to the book Sichuan Tea (《四川茶叶》) |
|---|---|---|
| Polyphenols | 25.1% | 29.27% |
| Caffeine | 4.5% | 4.15% |
| Amino acids | about 2.1% | no data |
| Extractives | no data | 45.17% |
Neither set names the year or the method of analysis. The 2014 article gave a range of polyphenols in spring shoots of 22.57–30.17% for the seven populations. These are data on the raw material of the variety, not on the finished tea.
8. Brewing
Class practice — the parameters depend on which tea from this variety 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 of increasing length.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, to be drunk within a year. Red tea — in a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “古蔺牛皮茶”.
- Check that the producer is from Gulin County.
- Remember that “牛皮茶” is not a unique name: in a sketch about Bangdong Township (邦东乡) in Yunnan, one of the local wild tea forms bears this name. It is a different plant and a different region.
11. Interesting Facts
- The leaf gave the tea its name: “ox hide” is an image of a thick, dense leaf.
- According to the book Sichuan Tea, which the Luzhou authorities quote, the yield of this variety is 36.49% higher than that of other varieties.
- The standard of the mark for the tea was examined at the same expert review as the standard for Gulin noodles.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Junlian Hongcha (筠连红茶): Red tea of Yibin prefecture in the south of Sichuan, also based on a local variety — Zaobaijian (早白尖).
- Yibin Zaocha (宜宾早茶): Early green tea of Yibin in the south of Sichuan.
- Beichuan Taizi Cha (北川苔子茶): Green tea of the northwest of the Sichuan Basin, also named after a local tea bush.
In Conclusion:
Gǔlìn niúpí chá is above all a variety: a seed-propagated population with a thick dark green leaf, wild and semi-wild in the Jiaozigou gully, recognized by the province in 1985. A geographical indication mark has been registered under its name, but which tea it protects — green, red or both — is not stated in the documents found. The descriptions agree on a chestnut aroma, a full taste and endurance over many infusions; until the text of the group standard is available, this is the best there is.