Huánghuā yúnjiān (黄花云尖) is a green tea of Ningguo county-level city (宁国市), Xuancheng prefecture-level city, in the southeast of Anhui Province; the core of production is Mount Huanghua (黄花山) in Qinglong Township. The name combines a place name and the word 云尖 — “cloud tips”, typical of mountain bud tea. The tea is young: according to various publications, it was created in 1983 or 1984, and in 1985 it won the all-China competition of famous teas. The protection document describes a straight, flat leaf with down, a clean, high aroma and a mellow taste with a sweet return, and names as its main feature “full bud tips and a rich floral aroma” (芽尖丰满、花香馥郁).
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is established from the protection document of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA): spreading, fixation, shaping, first and second drying, final drying (摊青、杀青、做形、头烘、二烘、复火), without smothering or oxidation. Publications on the tea directly assign it to green teas (属绿茶类).
- Category: A famous tea of the 1980s; geographical indication product (CNIPA, 2025) and agricultural product geographical indication (number AGI02609).
- Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Xuancheng prefecture-level city (宣城, Xuānchéng), Ningguo county-level city (宁国, Níngguó); the core is Mount Huanghua in Qinglong Township (青龙乡).
- Protection zone: Five townships and towns of Ningguo — Qinglong, Fangtang, Hule, Xiaxi and Jialu. The applicant is the Ningguo crop production service center.
- Geographic coordinates: 118°37′49″–119°02′15.46″ E, 30°18′30.58″–30°29′25.77″ N — according to the CNIPA announcement. The boundaries are given to hundredths of a second — more precisely than in most neighboring entries of the same announcement.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Creation. The newspaper Anhui Ribao (2022) writes that Huánghuā yúnjiān is much younger than other famous teas: it was created in 1984, and in 1985 at the all-China competition of famous teas it “took first place in one leap” (一举夺魁). A 2020 reprint names 1983 as the year of creation and reports that in 1984 Professor Chen Chuan (陈椽) worked on its style, taking the best from various famous teas. The discrepancy in the date cannot be resolved from the sources consulted.
- Recognition. According to the same reprint, the tea received a certificate and a quality cup of the Ministry of Agriculture and is registered under the trademark “瑞草”; the reprint does not name the year.
- Agricultural indication. Number AGI02609; the year of registration was not found in the sources consulted.
- 2024. On 19 April the Ningguo government held a “黄花云尖” tasting on a pleasure boat near Chujiatan (储家滩) — to promote the brand of Qinglong Township tea.
- 2025. CNIPA, by announcement No. 632 (annex line 78), recognized Huánghuā yúnjiān as a geographical indication product.
- Name: 黄花 — “yellow flowers”, here the name of Mount Huanghua; 云尖 — “cloud tips”. The same word appears in the name of Dongzhi Yunjian (东至云尖).
- Cultural significance: A 2024 publication cites a formula about the infusions: “头泡香气高、二泡滋味浓、三泡四泡味鲜醇” — “the first infusion — a high aroma, the second — a rich taste, the third and fourth — freshness and mellowness”.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties: According to the protection document — local population varieties, including 黄花山大叶种 (Huánghuāshān dàyèzhǒng), the large-leaf variety of Mount Huanghua, and 宁国猪耳朵种 (Níngguó zhū’ěrduo zhǒng), the Ningguo “pig’s ear” variety.
- Harvest: By hand, roughly from Qingming (清明) to Guyu (谷雨); harvesting starts when 5% of the shoots in the garden have reached the standard.
- Harvest standard: Not formulated in the protection document. An advertising slogan of 2024 speaks of “one bud with one leaf”; this is not a norm.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: According to a 2022 publication, Mount Huanghua lies where the spurs of the Tianmu Mountains and of Huangshan meet; the slopes are steep, forest cover is 75%, air humidity is high, ultraviolet radiation is abundant, the soils are deep and loose.
- Growing altitude: Not below 200 m; low mountains and hills, slope gradient under 25° (protection document).
- Soils: Mountain yellow-red and yellow-brown (黄红壤、黄棕壤), pH 4.5–6.5, at least 50 cm deep.
- Care according to the document: In spring — loosening, in summer — shallow weeding, in autumn — deep digging with application of oilseed cake and organic matter, in winter — earthing up. The soil is mulched with green manure and straw; the gardens are watered when relative soil moisture falls below 70%. Pruning — from formative pruning to rejuvenating cutting at ground level (台刈, táiyì).
- Climate: Numerical data were not found in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
The protection document names two equivalent sequences — manual and machine — without temperatures or times:
- Manual: spreading, fixation, shaping, first drying, second drying, final drying, sorting, packing (摊青、杀青、做形、头烘、二烘、复火、拣剔、装箱).
- Machine: the same, but fixation and shaping are done by machine.
Details are given only in the 2020 reprint:
- Spreading (摊青, tānqīng): The leaf is sorted and spread in a thin layer in a ventilated place, and is processed without delay.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): At high temperature and quickly, but so that the leaf does not scorch and is fired evenly; the reprint calls this stage technically difficult.
- Shaping (做形, zuòxíng): The key stage: the straightened leaf is pressed lightly, and the tea leaf gradually becomes spindle-shaped.
- First and second drying (头烘、二烘, tóuhōng, èrhōng): Parameters were not found in the sources consulted.
- Final drying (复火, fùhuǒ): Parameters were not found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the protection document.
- Dry leaf appearance: Straight and lying flat, emerald, with visible down, even and clean (挺直平伏、色翠显毫、匀净). The 2020 reprint describes the tea leaf as straight, “like a shuttle”, sturdy and even.
- Dry leaf aroma: A separate description was not found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Clean, high and long (清香高长); the typical feature is a rich floral aroma (花香馥郁).
- Taste: Mellow, brisk, with a sweet return (醇爽回甘).
- Liquor color: Tender green and bright (嫩绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Buds and leaves fleshy and sturdy, tender green and bright (芽叶肥壮、嫩绿明亮).
7. Chemical Composition
Physico-chemical requirements of the protection document:
| Indicator | Norm |
|---|---|
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 15% |
| Amino acids | not less than 2.0% |
| Caffeine | not less than 2.5% |
| Water extract | not less than 38% |
| Moisture | not more than 6.5% |
| Crude fiber | not more than 10.0% |
| Total ash | not more than 6.5% |
| Broken leaf and dust | not more than 3.0% |
Other data on the composition of this particular tea were not found in the sources consulted.
8. Health Properties
There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. The 2020 reprint attributes to it the set of properties usual for green tea without referring to studies of this tea, so they are not given here.
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:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Three or four further infusions — according to the formula from the 2024 publication, the third and fourth are still fresh.
10. Storage
Class practice. Airtight packaging, a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year.
11. Price and Counterfeits
Price data were not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication product mark “黄花云尖”.
- Check that the producer is from the five townships and towns of Ningguo named in the document.
- The leaf is straight, flat, emerald, with down; the liquor is tender green; the aroma is clean, with a floral note.
- The name is written 黄花云尖; one 2024 publication has the typo “黄山云尖” — this is not a different tea.
12. Interesting Facts
- Huánghuā yúnjiān is registered under the mark “瑞草” — the same word, “auspicious herb”, as in the name of the tea Yashan Ruicaokui from Langxi County.
- The coordinates of the zone are given to hundredths of a second.
- The tea won its first all-China victory a year or two after its creation.
13. Comparison with Other Anhui Green Teas
- Dongzhi Yunjian (东至云尖): A green tea of Dongzhi County with the same word 云尖 in its name.
- Taquan Yun Wu (塔泉云雾): A historical green tea from the mountains at the junction of Xuanzhou, Ningguo and Jingxian.
- Taiping Hou Kui (太平猴魁): A famous straight, flat Anhui tea — for comparison of shape.
- Yashan Ruicaokui (鸦山瑞草魁): A straight, flat green tea of Langxi County in the same prefecture, from the same announcement No. 632.
In Conclusion:
Huánghuā yúnjiān is a young famous tea of Ningguo: created in the early 1980s, it immediately won all-China recognition. A straight, flat leaf with down, a clean, high aroma with a floral note and a mellow taste with a sweet return are recorded in the 2025 protection document; the technology there is named only by stages, without processing parameters.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page