---
title: "Huángméi chánchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/huangmei-chancha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Huángméi chánchá (黄梅禅茶)

*Huángméi chánchá* (黄梅禅茶) is a green tea of Huangmei County (黄梅县), Huanggang prefecture-level city, in the southeast of Hubei Province, near the junction of Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui. “Chan” in the name is Chan Buddhism: Huangmei is home to the Sizusi and Wuzusi monasteries, associated with the fourth and fifth patriarchs of Chan, Daoxin and Hongren. The gardens lie in the Ziyunshan Mountains (紫云山) north of the monasteries; since 2012 the tea has been protected as a geographical indication product.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*), unfermented. The class is confirmed by the appearance in the description of the geographical indication product: an emerald leaf, a clear liquor.
* **Category:** Mountain green tea of Hubei; geographical indication product (2012).
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Huanggang prefecture-level city (黄冈, *Huánggāng*), Huangmei County (黄梅县, *Huángméi Xiàn*).
* **Protection zone:** Seven units of the county: the towns of Wuzu (五祖镇), Dahe (大河镇) and Tingqian (停前镇), the townships of Liulin (柳林乡), Shanmu (杉木乡) and Kuzhu (苦竹乡), and the Nuobuyuan administration (挪步园管理处). The list was checked against a reference of the geographical indications platform; I have not checked it against the text of the announcement itself.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Huangmei County — about 30.1° N and 115.9° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Tang — “the mountain valleys of Huangmei”.** Lu Yu, in the eighth chapter of *The Classic of Tea*, mentions tea from the mountain valleys of Huangmei County in Qizhou prefecture (蕲州). Local descriptions of *Huángméi chánchá* rely on this line.
    * **Patriarchs of Chan.** According to the chronicle of the Sizusi monastery, the fourth patriarch of Chan, Daoxin (道信), returned to Qizhou prefecture in 620, and from 621 lived on Mount Potoushan (破头山) in Huangmei, where he expanded the monastery and gathered disciples. Reference descriptions date the Wuzusi monastery of the fifth patriarch Hongren (弘忍) to 654. The monastery describes Daoxin's way of life as a combination of meditation and labor (农禅并举): a settled community in the mountains fed itself by its own labor.
    * **Tea at the monasteries.** The name of the tea refers to this monastic tradition. Documentary evidence of tea gardens of the patriarchs themselves was not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2012.** The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 224, placed the tea under protection as a geographical indication product. A notice of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on the right to use the special mark is also in force.
* **Name:**
    * “*Huángméi*” (黄梅) — “yellow plum”, the name of the county.
    * “Chancha” (禅茶, *chánchá*) — “tea of the Chan school”.
* **Cultural significance:** The name of the tea links it with the best-known monuments of the county — the Sizusi and Wuzusi monasteries. The provincial department of culture and tourism writes that of the first six patriarchs of Chan, three — the fourth, fifth and sixth — studied and transmitted the teaching in Huangmei.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Not named in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest:** Harvest dates are not given in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** Not given in the sources consulted. The appearance — thin, straight twisted strands with down — points to tender raw material.
* **Raw material requirements:** Origin from the seven units of the protection zone.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The Ziyunshan Mountains (紫云山) lie north of the Sizusi and Wuzusi monasteries. According to the description of the provincial department of culture and tourism, the summit of the mountain is made up of seven ridges converging like lotus petals, hence its name — Lianhuafeng peak (莲花峰, “Lotus Peak”). Below it stands the Laozusi monastery (老祖寺), and nearby — the Nuobuyuan estate, built under the Ming; one of the units of the protection zone bears its name.
* **Growing altitude:** There is no altitude requirement in the product description. Figures for the altitude of the gardens appear only in retellings, and it was not possible to verify them.
* **Soils:** Data were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Climate:** The county lies between the Dabieshan range and the Yangtze. Climate data for the gardens were not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology is not given in the description of the geographical indication product. The general scheme for green tea is as follows:

1. **Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, *tānfàng*):** The leaf loses part of its moisture.
2. **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Heating stops oxidation.
3. **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** The leaf takes the form of a straight twisted strand.
4. **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**

This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of *Huángméi chánchá*. Parameters for this tea were not found in the sources consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

According to the description of the geographical indication product:

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Straight, thin, graceful twisted strands with down; the color is emerald, fairly moist (条索挺直、细秀、显毫，色泽翠绿尚润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description.
* **Liquor aroma:** Tender and lasting (嫩香持久).
* **Taste:** Fresh, mellow, refreshing (鲜醇爽口).
* **Liquor color:** Clear and bright (汤色清澈明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Emerald, bright, even (叶底翠绿明亮匀整).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physico-chemical data were not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**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. Add the tea.
    3. Pour in a little water and let the leaf open for 20–30 seconds.
    4. Top up with water; first infusion — 1–2 minutes.
    5. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    6. 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. Green tea is drunk fresh; it does not need aging.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data were not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging.
    * Check the producer: it must be from one of the seven units of the zone — Wuzu, Dahe, Tingqian, Liulin, Shanmu, Kuzhu or Nuobuyuan.
    * The word “禅茶” on the packaging does not by itself point to the place. The protected name is precisely “黄梅禅茶” with the mark.
    * The leaf — straight, thin, emerald twisted strands with down.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The way of life of the fourth patriarch Daoxin combined meditation with labor: the community in the Huangmei mountains fed itself.
* Lu Yu mentioned the tea of the Huangmei mountain valleys as early as *The Classic of Tea*.
* The seven-ridged summit of Ziyunshan is called “Lotus Peak”.
* The protection zone includes a town named directly after the fifth patriarch — Wuzu, “fifth patriarch”.

**13. Comparison with Other Green Teas:**

* **Guishan Yanlü (龟山岩绿):** A green tea of the same Huanggang prefecture, protected by the same 2012 announcement; tight, straight twisted strands; reference descriptions record that it keeps its traditional manual shaping in a pan.
* **Yingshan Yunwu (英山云雾):** A mountain green tea of Huanggang prefecture from the southern slopes of the Dabieshan range.
* **Enshi Yulu ([恩施玉露](https://thetea.app/article/enshi-yulu)):** A Hubei green tea with steam fixation and a needle-shaped leaf.

**In Conclusion:**

*Huángméi chánchá* is a tea in which history matters more than technology, but its appearance is honestly described by the document: straight, thin, emerald twisted strands with down, a tender lasting aroma, a fresh mellow taste. Behind the name stand the monasteries of the patriarchs of Chan, who combined meditation with labor, and the Ziyunshan Mountains north of them.