Huángshān báichá · thetea.app

Huángshān báichá (黄山白茶) is a green tea from a white-leaf variety of Shexian County (歙县), Huangshan prefecture-level city, Anhui Province. The second name of the geographical indication product is Huizhou Baicha (徽州白茶). “White” here is the color of the spring leaf, not the class: under the provincial standard the tea is made by fixation at 200–220 °C, shaping and drying, like a green tea. The raw material is an albino form of the local population of the Huangshan tea bush; such bushes, according to a publication of the provincial portal Zhong’an Zaixian, were found in the county’s mountain gardens in the early 1990s. The standard requires not less than 7% free amino acids. The name has been protected since 2015.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). Standard DB34/T 1757-2017 sets the technology “spreading — fixation — shaping — drying”; fixation (杀青) stops oxidation, and the tea comes out green by class.
Name trap: “白茶” (báichá) in the name is not the white class but the color of the leaf. White tea as a class is made without fixation; here it is present. Anji Baicha works the same way.
Category: Tea from a light-leaf (albino) variety; geographical indication product (2015).
Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Huangshan prefecture-level city (黄山, Huángshān), Shexian County (歙县, Shèxiàn).
Protection zone: The current administrative territory of Shexian County — within the boundaries approved by announcement No. 162 of 2015 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). A map of the zone is in the annex to the standard.
Geographic coordinates: An exact frame was not found in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Early 1990s — the discovery. According to a publication of the portal Zhong’an Zaixian (中安在线, December 2022), tea growers of Huangtian Township (璜田乡) in Shexian County, one after another, found natural (原生状, yuánshēngzhuàng) white-leaf bushes in the mountain gardens between Liulian and Wugongling (蜈蚣岭), at an altitude of about 600 m. Tea from them, according to the same publication, showed more than 8% amino acids. The core of production is Wugongling village in Huangtian Township.
- 2012. The first provincial standard — DB34/T 1757-2012 “黄山白茶”.
- 2015. By announcement No. 162, AQSIQ placed Huángshān báichá (Huizhou Baicha) under protection as a geographical indication product; a reference work dates the approval to October 2015.
- 2017. A new edition of the standard, DB34/T 1757-2017, was published on 30 June and has been in force since 30 July 2017. It gave the standard the name of the geographical indication product, added the protection zone, renamed the grades — “special first (top grade)” became simply “special first”, and “first” became “special third” — and dropped the requirements for flat tea and for fines.
- Today. The Huangshan government lists this tea among the protected geographical indication products.
Name: “Huangshan” (黄山) — the name of the prefecture-level city and of the famous mountains; “Huizhou” (徽州) — the historical name of the region to which Shexian belonged; “baicha” (白茶) — “white tea”, after the color of the leaf.
Cultural significance: Shexian was part of the old Huizhou region, which gives the tea its second name. The standard was drafted by local tea companies, a cooperative and county agencies, among them the tea factory of Wugongling — that is, of the place where the white-leaf bushes were found.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety: Albino variation of the Huangshan population (白化变异的黄山群体种, báihuà biànyì de Huángshān qúntǐzhǒng) — this is how the variety is defined in the standard.
Propagation and planting: Vegetative only (无性繁殖). Planted in September — November or in February — March, no denser than 60,000 bushes per hectare. Base fertilizer — not less than 22.5 t per hectare; top dressing — not less than 1.5 t per hectare per year.
Appearance of the raw material: According to reference descriptions — the bud is “white as jade”, the leaf “thin as paper”, the veins milky white.
Harvest: From mid- to late March.
Harvest standard: Young shoots, from a bud with one just-unfolding leaf to a bud with two or three unfolded leaves.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Shexian County in southern Anhui, in the old Huizhou region.
Growing altitude: The standard recommends gardens at an altitude of 300 m and above; the bushes with which it all began grew at about 600 m.
Soils: Red and yellow earths with an acidity of pH 4.5–6.5 and organic matter of not less than 1.0%.
Climate: Data were not found in the sources consulted.
Varietal feature: The standard links the white color of the leaf to the variety — the albino variation of the Huangshan population; propagation is vegetative only.

5. Production Technology

The technology is set by Annex B to the standard — this is a description of Huángshān báichá specifically, not a general scheme for the class.

Spreading (摊青, tānqīng): The fresh leaf is spread in a layer of about 1 kg per square meter until the grassy smell is gone and a light tea aroma appears.
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): At 200–220 °C, until the leaf darkens.
Shaping (做形, zuòxíng): The share of shaped leaf is not less than 60%; the leaf should be slightly prickly.
Drying (干燥, gānzào) in three steps:
- first drying (初烘, chūhōng) — 110–120 °C, a 2–3 cm layer, 15–20 minutes;
- second drying (复烘, fùhōng) — 100–110 °C, a 1–2 cm layer, about 15 minutes;
- “raising the aroma” (提香, tíxiāng) — 80–100 °C, until the leaf can be rubbed to dust between the fingers.

The standard prohibits food additives.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The standard divides the tea into three grades — special first, second and third. Below is the special first grade.

Dry leaf appearance: The bud with leaves in the shape of an open, straight “flower”, the shoots large and fleshy, the color tender yellow with a glint of emerald and a whitish sheen, fresh, even (朵形舒直，芽叶肥壮，色嫩黄透翠泛白、鲜活，匀齐).
Dry leaf aroma: The standard does not describe it; data were not found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Tender, clean and long-lasting (嫩清香持久).
Taste: Fresh and brisk, with a sweet return (鲜爽回甘).
Liquor color: Light green, clear (浅绿清亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Jade-white, fresh and bright; the buds with leaves open into “flowers”, tender and even (玉白鲜亮，芽叶成朵、嫩匀).

The second grade has a clean, high aroma, a fresh and mellow taste, and a light yellow-green liquor; the third has thinner shoots, a fuller taste and a yellow-green liquor. A reference description adds that in the glass the leaf resembles a phoenix feather, and the aroma is orchid.

7. Chemical Composition

The standard sets the following limits — these are norms, not measurements of a specific batch:

Indicator	Norm
Moisture	not more than 6.5%
Total ash	not more than 6.5%
Water-soluble extractives	not less than 35%
Free amino acids (as glutamic acid)	not less than 7.0%

The standard does not set norms for polyphenols or caffeine; measurements were not found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for tender green tea.

Water temperature: 75–80 °C — light-leaf tea is rich in amino acids, and hot water dulls their freshness.
Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: A glass — in it you can see the leaf open into a “flower”.
Process:
1. Warm the glass.
2. Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Two or three further infusions.

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. The standard requires a clean, dry warehouse free of foreign odors and storage away from the floor and walls, and prohibits synthetic agents against insects, rodents and mold in the warehouse. The shelf life is determined by the producer.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data were not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication product mark: under the standard, it may be put on the packaging only after approval.
- Check that the producer is from Shexian County.
- Check the grade: this tea has only three, and all are “special” (特级一等, 特级二等, 特级三等).
- The leaf is tender yellow with a glint of emerald, jade-white after brewing; the liquor is light green.
- Do not confuse it with white tea as a class: Huángshān báichá undergoes fixation.

11. Interesting Facts

The standard has no “first” or “second” grade: all three are “special”.
Drying ends when the leaf can be rubbed to dust between the fingers.
The 2017 standard removed the requirements for flat tea: the current form is an open “flower”.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Anji Baicha (安吉白茶): A green tea of Zhejiang from the white-leaf cultivar 白叶一号; the same name trap.
Huangshan Maofeng (黄山毛峰): A green tea from the same prefecture-level city, made from ordinary, not white-leaf, raw material.
Songluo Cha (松萝茶): A green tea of Xiuning County, also in the former Huizhou region.
Baihao Yinzhen (白毫银针): A true white tea from Fujian, without fixation — for contrast.

In Conclusion:

Huángshān báichá is a green tea called white because of the color of its leaf. Its basis is the white-leaf bushes found by Shexian tea growers in the early 1990s and propagated only vegetatively. The standard describes it in detail: fixation at 200–220 °C, three stages of drying, a tender yellow “flower” leaf, a light green liquor, jade-white spent leaves and not less than 7% amino acids.

Sources

Standards

Geographical indication

Full list — on the Sources page