Hǎiqīng chá (海青茶) is a green tea from Haiqing town (海青镇) in Huangdao District (黄岛区) of the city of Qingdao, Shandong Province; the local press also calls it plainly “Haiqing green tea” (海青绿茶). It is a northern tea from the campaign “南茶北引” — “southern tea brought north”: in 1966 the town brought in bushes from Anhui. The protection requirements describe it by comparison with the south: the leaf is larger, denser and heavier than the southern one. The name is protected as an agricultural product geographical indication and, since 2025, under announcement No. 646 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The protection requirements list the product lines made — longjing, yinzhen, biluochun, maofeng, chaoqing (炒青) and hongqing (烘青), “12 large series, more than 30 names”. Chaoqing and hongqing are names of green tea by the drying method; the appearance in the requirements is also that of a green tea.
- Category: Northern green tea of Shandong.
- Origin: China, Shandong Province (山东, Shāndōng), the city of Qingdao (青岛, Qīngdǎo), Huangdao District (Xihai’an New Area), Haiqing town (海青, Hǎiqīng). In 1966 the town belonged to Jiaonan County (胶南).
- Protection zone: 43 administrative villages of the town, among them Houhexi (后河西村), Houhedong (后河东村), Dongjiawa (董家洼村), Dongcaijia (东蔡家村) and Hongyangou (鸿雁沟村). The applicant is the town’s agricultural center.
- Geographic coordinates: 119°31′–119°37′ E, 35°35′–35°43′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 1950s, the idea. According to the geographical indications portal, the idea of “南茶北引” in Shandong goes back to the 1950s: before Tan Qilong (谭启龙) was appointed governor of the province, Mao Zedong spoke with him about moving tea to the north.
- 1966. Jiaonan County began the project “南茶北移、南竹北引” — “southern tea and southern bamboo brought north”. According to the geographical indications portal, the town brought in bushes from Anhui and planted them on the northern hill of Houhexi village; the experimental plot of 42 mu received the name “海青茶”. By 1972 the plantings had grown to 220 mu, and Houhexi is considered the birthplace of this tea. An essay by a local writer in the newspaper Qingdao Xihai’an Bao (2025) divides the same 42 mu among three villages: Houhexi — 25, Houhedong — 7, Dongjiawa — 10.
- 1968. According to the geographical indications portal, the first tea factory in Shandong — 海青河西茶厂 — was built in Haiqing and the first batch of tea was produced. According to the 2025 essay, the factory was built by five villages, and the first batch was made in 1969.
- Assessment. According to the portal and the essay, the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences noted in the first tea a clean aroma, a rich taste, endurance through infusions and a quality higher than that of southern tea.
- 2008. According to the commercial portal 产地宝, Haiqing green tea was entered in the Huangdao district list of intangible heritage. Dazhong Ribao (2025) names this item — “海青绿茶种植加工技艺”, the technique of cultivation and processing — and speaks of its representative bearers.
- Counting the years. Dazhong Ribao marked 2025 as the 60th anniversary of “南茶北引” in the town, while Qingdao Ribao (2026) writes that the first seedling arrived “seventy years ago”. The first plot is also measured differently: 42 mu at the indications portal, 26 mu at the 产地宝 portal, “twenty-odd mu” by the time the first factory was built — in the words of a heritage bearer in Dazhong Ribao.
- 2021. The group standard T/CAI 145-2021 “农产品地理标志 海青茶” was issued; on December 24, 2024 it was withdrawn.
- Agricultural indication. Hǎiqīng chá is registered as an agricultural product geographical indication; the indications portal gives the registration number AGI01621, while the year of registration is not found in the sources consulted. In April 2020 Jingji Ribao was already writing of the registration as accomplished. The website of the newspaper Dazhong Ribao (2024) adds that the tea was included in the national catalog of famous, special and new agricultural products, and that the China Tea Society gave the town the title “hometown of famous Chinese tea” (中国名茶之乡); the newspaper does not give the dates of these events.
- 2025. By announcement No. 646 of September 23, 2025, Hǎiqīng chá was recognized as a geographical indication product.
- Name: “Haiqing” (海青) is the name of the town. The name “海青茶” was given to the first experimental plot in 1966. According to a legend retold by the 产地宝 portal, “Haiqing” was an old station on the road from Haizhou (海州) to Qingzhou (青州); Su Shi passed through here in the eighth year of the Xining era (熙宁), and the arrival of tea is connected with him. There are no documents behind the legend.
- Cultural significance: According to district data for the end of 2024, the town has 35,000 mu of tea gardens, 57 tea-growing villages and more than 200 tea enterprises; output — more than 2.6 million jin of dry tea worth over 373 million yuan, and the value of the regional brand is estimated at 883 million yuan.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties under the protection requirements: Local varieties, selected and acclimatized on site — 胶南春 (Jiāonánchūn), 海青锋 (Hǎiqīngfēng), 海北春 (Hǎiběichūn) and 海青翡翠 (Hǎiqīng fěicuì).
- Source material: Reference descriptions and an industry journal (2017) trace Haiqing tea to the Anhui seed population 祁门槠叶群体 (Qímén zhūyè qúntǐ); according to the journal, it was brought in by Jiaonan County in 1966. From the same population, according to a district report, the variety 北茶寒春 was bred by single-bush selection.
- New varieties: According to a district report (2024), four local varieties have been registered by the Ministry of Agriculture — 北茶36, 东方紫婵, 北茶红蕊 and 北茶寒春; the last of them is suitable for both green and red tea.
- In the plots: Qingdao Ribao (2026) describes a family farm where the varieties 中茶108 and 黄金芽, a seed population and clonal plantings grow side by side.
- Harvest: From the end of April or the beginning of May. In spring the 钱叶 leaf is left on the bush at first, later one leaf; in summer and autumn only the “fish” leaf (鱼叶) is left; paired leaves without a bud (对夹叶) are picked completely. Picking is frequent, in batches.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The hills of southern Qingdao near the Yellow Sea coast.
- Site: According to the protection requirements — sunny mid-slopes sheltered from the wind, and hilly plains with a gradient of no more than 25°.
- Soils: Acidic or slightly acidic, pH 4.5–6.5; fertile sandy loam is best; the soil layer is 80–100 cm and deeper, without a dense subsoil horizon, with a living layer of at least 40 cm.
- Altitude and climate: No numerical data in the sources consulted.
- Planting and care under the requirements: digging deeper than 80 cm; spring planting in double rows in sunken beds (凹田双行密植); for every 100 kg of dry tea per mu — 12–15 kg of pure nitrogen at a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium ratio of 3.5 : 1 : 1; three mandatory waterings a year — at bud break, after fertilizing and before winter; pruning by 3–5 cm between the Chunfen and Qingming seasons.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements do not describe processing, and the text of the withdrawn group standard was not available in the sources consulted. Below is the general scheme of green tea, not a description of Hǎiqīng chá:
- Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng).
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heat stops oxidation.
- Rolling or shaping (揉捻, róuniǎn).
- Drying: In a pan (炒青) or with hot air (烘青) — both lines are named in the requirements.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the 2025 protection requirements; in parentheses — the wording of the document.
- Dry leaf appearance: Larger, denser and heavier than southern tea (较南茶硕壮重实); ink-green, oily and glossy (墨绿油润). The Dazhong Ribao website adds that the veins of the leaf are clearly visible.
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: Rich, high and long (香浓郁高长). The Dazhong Ribao website (2024) and reference descriptions call a “pea” aroma (豌豆香) its signature trait; this word is not in the protection requirements.
- Taste: Rich, full and refreshing (浓醇爽口).
- Liquor color: Yellow-green, bright (黄绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Yellow-green, even, bright (黄绿匀亮).
According to Qingdao Ribao (2026), everyone in Haiqing knows the formula “叶片厚、滋味浓、香气高、耐冲泡”: a thick leaf, a rich taste, a high aroma, endurance through infusions.
The product card on the geographical indications portal places the accents differently: a rich chestnut aroma (栗香浓郁), a fresh taste (鲜爽), green and bright spent leaves.
The commercial portal 产地宝 (2019) divides the tea by shape into two types. The flat type (扁平形) is smooth and straight, “like the tip of a sword”, green with a luster; the taste is soft and full, the liquor yellow-green. The curled type (卷曲条形) is emerald, thin and tight, with noticeable down; the aroma is high and lasting, the taste fresh. The top brand of the line is “海青峰”.
7. Chemical Composition
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Moisture | no more than 6.0 % |
| Broken particles | no more than 4.0 % |
| Total ash | no more than 6.0 % |
| Extractives | no less than 37.0 % |
| Crude fiber | no more than 16.0 % |
| Selenium | no less than 25 mg/kg |
| Total amino acids | no less than 2.0 % |
The selenium threshold of 25 mg/kg is unusually high: for Enshi Xicha, a tea with selenium in its very name, an average of about 0.21 mg/kg is given, and in high-selenium areas about 6.4 mg/kg. The same threshold appears in the requirements of the same announcement for Jiaonan Lücha and for the top grades of Rizhao Lü Cha, so an error in units cannot be ruled out. In the line on amino acids the first character of the word “氨基酸” is missing.
The Dazhong Ribao website (2024) and reference descriptions write that Haiqing tea contains 13.7 % more catechins and 5.3 % more amino acids than southern teas of the same type. The original study is not found in the sources consulted, and the same two numbers also appear in descriptions of Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶).
According to the product card on the geographical indications portal, Haiqing tea usually contains 42–46 % extractives.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, glass tumbler or gaiwan. Pour the water down the side of the vessel, first infusion — after 40–60 seconds, then two or three more infusions, leaving part of the liquor.
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
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark and a producer from Haiqing town.
- Remember that Haiqing town is also named in the zone of Jiaonan Lücha: other towns of the former Jiaonan belong to the 胶南绿茶 zone, but not to the 海青茶 zone.
11. Interesting Facts
- The zones of two names from one announcement overlap: Hǎiqīng chá is protected in 43 villages of the town, while the town itself is also part of the Jiaonan Lücha zone of 163 villages.
- The group standard for Hǎiqīng chá was in force for a little over three years.
12. Comparison with Other Shandong Teas
- Jiaonan Lücha (胶南绿茶): The green tea of the former Jiaonan County, whose zone includes Haiqing; its appearance is described in the same words about southern tea.
- Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶): A neighboring coastal green tea, which also grew out of “南茶北引”.
- Changqing Cha (长清茶): A northern green tea near Taishan from the same announcement No. 646.
In Conclusion:
Hǎiqīng chá is the green tea of a town where southern bushes took root in 1966: a large, heavy ink-green leaf, a rich high aroma and a yellow-green liquor that withstands many infusions. The 2025 protection requirements describe the garden in detail, but not the processing, and some of their chemical norms need checking.
Sources
Standards
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page