Héngxiàn mòlìhuā chá

Héngxiàn mòlìhuā chá (横县茉莉花茶) is a jasmine tea of the county-level city of Hengzhou (横州市, until 2021 — Hengxian County) of the city of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Hengzhou is the largest jasmine area in China, and jasmine was taken from here to other areas of the country. The green tea base here is scented many times over with live flowers that open at night. The name is among the first hundred Chinese geographical indications taken under protection by the European Union.

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Flower-scented tea (花茶, huāchá): a tea base scented with fresh jasmine. The base is green tea: according to the description of the Guangxi archives administration, Hengzhou jasmine tea keeps the rich, refreshing character of green tea.
• Category: Jasmine tea of Guangxi; mark of origin (2006); a Chinese geographical indication protected in the EU under the China–EU Agreement.
• Origin: China, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区, Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū), the city of Nanning (南宁, Nánníng), the county-level city of Hengzhou (横州市, Héngzhōu Shì).
• Zone: The Ministry of Commerce overview names Hengzhou; this is a description of the territory, not a legal boundary.
• Geographic coordinates: About 22.7° N and 109.3° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • Ming — jasmine in hedges. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 1521 Wang Ji (王济), an official of Hengzhou Prefecture, wrote in the book Junzitang Rixun Shoujing (君子堂日询手镜): “jasmine grows everywhere, some weave hedges from it, and it blooms all year round”. According to the Guangxi archives, jasmine was long grown here mainly for its beauty, and the harvest was small.
  • 1959 — seedlings for the factory. According to Xinhua News Agency, in 1959 a young worker of the county tea factory ordered two bundles of jasmine seedlings from Guangdong; they were brought by boat and planted on a vacant lot by the factory.
  • Late 1970s — 1980s. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, from the late 1970s jasmine began to be grown as a commercial crop. According to the archives, in the early 1980s the factory gave seedlings to farmers free of charge, sent technicians and concluded long-term purchase contracts at a fixed price. From 1984 the factory cooperated with the Suzhou Tea Factory, a major producer of scented tea: they agreed on processing raw material supplied by the customer and on technical cooperation, and Suzhou sent well-known masters of scented tea processing.
  • 1989 — the turning point. In July 1989 the Ministry of Commerce held a national conference on the production and sale of scented teas at the county factory. According to Xinhua, before that the center of jasmine tea lay in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang; after the conference it gradually moved to Hengxian.
  • 2000. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Forestry Administration and the China Flower Association gave the county the title “hometown of jasmine in China” (中国茉莉之乡). Other materials name 2006 as the year of the award; I have not resolved the discrepancy.
  • 2006. In July AQSIQ placed the county’s jasmine itself — “横县茉莉花” — under protection as a geographical indication product. In the same year “横县茉莉花茶” received from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce a mark certifying its origin.
  • 2012. The technique of making Hengxian jasmine tea was included in the fourth list of the intangible heritage of Guangxi.
  • 2014 and later — Europe. In 2014 Hengxian jasmine was the first in Guangxi to be recommended for protection in Europe. Under the China–EU Agreement, “横县茉莉花茶” was included in the first hundred Chinese names protected in the European Union.
• Name:
  • “Hengxian” (横县) is the former name of the county, kept in the name.
  • “Molihua cha” (茉莉花茶, mòlìhuā chá) means “tea with jasmine flowers”.
• Cultural significance: For Hengzhou, jasmine is its calling card: the title “hometown of jasmine in China”, protection of both the flower and the tea as local names, and the scenting craft on the Guangxi intangible heritage list.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Scenting plant: Jasmine sambac (Jasminum sambac). According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Hengxian jasmine is distinguished by large buds and long flowering; according to Xinhua, flowering lasts up to half a year. The variety is not named in the sources consulted.
• Tea base: Green tea. Which bases exactly the name permits is not stated in the sources consulted.
• Flower picking: The season is from April to October. According to Xinhua, large buds that have already turned white but have not yet opened are picked during the day — from about nine in the morning to three or four in the afternoon; the hotter and sunnier the day, the better the flower.
• Raw material requirements: The buds are picked before they open: jasmine opens at night, and on the same evening, when the flowers begin to open, they are used for scenting.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: According to Xinhua, Hengzhou lies south of the Tropic of Cancer.
• Climate: According to Xinhua, a typical subtropical monsoon climate: plenty of rain, light and warmth. Jasmine loves warmth and fears cold, so the local climate suits it.
• Soils: In the same description — fertile, with a thick layer. The exact soil type is not found in the sources consulted.
• Altitudes: Data not found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The key operation is scenting (窨制 — xūnzhì): the tea base absorbs the aroma of opening flowers. According to the description of the Guangxi archives, the Hengzhou technology includes the following operations:

• Mixing the flowers with the tea base (窨花拼和 — xūnhuā pīnhé) and scenting in a pile (堆窨 — duīxūn).
• Airing (通花 — tōnghuā) and gathering into a pile again (收堆 — shōuduī).
• Separating the flowers (起花 — qǐhuā), drying (烘焙 — hōngbèi) and cooling.
• The next cycle (转窨 — zhuǎnxūn) and the final scenting (提花 — tíhuā).
• Evening out the batch (匀堆 — yúnduī) and packing.

According to Xinhua, before mixing, the buds are “nursed” (养花 — yǎnghuā) and sieved (筛花 — shāihuā). Scenting goes on all night; for the top grades the cycle is repeated several times, and the more cycles, the denser the aroma. Not every night is suitable for the work, and in bad weather they wait. Figures — temperature, humidity, time — are not found in the sources consulted.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Descriptions of appearance in the protection documents are not found in the sources consulted. The aroma and taste below follow the description of the Guangxi archives.

• Dry leaf appearance: Descriptions not found in the sources consulted.
• Dry leaf aroma: Descriptions not found in the sources consulted.
• Liquor aroma: A fresh, lively jasmine aroma (鲜灵香味).
• Taste: Rich and refreshing (浓郁爽口), like that of the green base.
• Liquor color: Descriptions not found in the sources consulted.
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): Descriptions not found in the sources consulted.

7. Chemical Composition

Data specifically on Hengxian tea are not found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for jasmine tea on a green base.

• Water temperature: 85–90 °C.
• Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
• Teaware: A gaiwan with a lid that holds the aroma, or a porcelain teapot.
• Process:
  1. Warm the teaware.
  2. Add the tea.
  3. Pour water and cover with the lid at once.
  4. First infusion — 1–2 minutes in a gaiwan.
  5. Before drinking, lift the lid and breathe in the aroma.
  6. Two or three further infusions.

9. Storage

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a dry, cool, dark place, strictly away from foreign odors: a tea base that has absorbed jasmine will just as easily absorb a foreign smell. Jasmine tea is best drunk within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data are not found in the sources consulted. The top grades go through more scenting cycles.

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Look for Hengzhou origin and the geographical indication mark.
  • A genuine jasmine aroma comes from scenting with live flowers; a sharp, “perfumy”, quickly fading smell is a reason to be wary.
  • Dried flowers in the pack do not prove quality: after scenting the flowers are separated (起花), so their amount says nothing about the strength of the aroma.

11. Interesting Facts

• The county’s large jasmine industry grew out of two bundles of seedlings planted by the tea factory in 1959.
• The buds are picked during the day, at the height of the heat, and scenting goes on at night, when the flowers open.
• The county learned the scenting craft from Suzhou masters among others: from 1984 the Suzhou Tea Factory sent them to provide technical assistance.
• In 2006 both the flower and the tea received protection: jasmine as a geographical indication product, the tea as a mark of origin.

12. Comparison with Other Jasmine Teas

• Fuzhou Molihua Cha (福州茉莉花茶): The historical center of jasmine tea; until the late 1980s the center of the industry lay in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, then it moved to Hengxian.
• Yuanjiang Molihua Cha (元江茉莉花茶): Yunnan jasmine with the earliest season; according to industry descriptions, the bushes were brought there from Hengxian.
• Moli Longzhu (茉莉龙珠): A form of jasmine tea — rolled pearls; it is made both in Fujian and in Guangxi.

In Conclusion:

Héngxiàn mòlìhuā chá is the tea of China’s main jasmine land. The county’s path runs from the Ming jasmine hedges and two bundles of seedlings by the factory in 1959 to the 1989 conference, after which the center of the industry moved here. The craft, meanwhile, is unchanged: buds picked during the day open at night over the green tea base, and the cycle is repeated until the aroma becomes dense.

Sources

Geographical indication

• MOFCOM 中欧协定附录III (中国注册)

Full list — on the Sources page