Huángshíxī máofēng

Huángshíxī máofēng (黄石溪毛峰) is a green tea from the Jiuhuashan massif (九华山) in Qingyang County (青阳县), Chizhou prefecture-level city, in the south of Anhui Province. The name comes from the village of Huangshixi — “Yellow Stone Stream” — in Lingyang town. The Jiuhuashan administration assigns it to the “chestnut” aroma type, as distinct from the orchid Minyuan máofēng from the same mountain, and reports a gold medal for tea from Huangshixi at the 1915 Panama exhibition. The protection zone is described on two levels: a general zone and a core of ten production groups delineated by name. A local bush variety and two technologies — manual and machine — are recorded for the tea.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The technology according to the geographical indication description — fixation, shaping and drying, without oxidation or smothering.
Category: Máofēng — “downy peaks”: a generic designation for a downy bud tea, not a proper name. The same word appears in the name Huangshan Mao Feng, but these are different teas from different mountains.
Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Chizhou prefecture-level city (池州, Chízhōu), Qingyang County (青阳, Qīngyáng), the towns of Lingyang (陵阳镇) and Zhubei (朱备镇).
Protection zone: The villages of Huangshixi, Nanyang, Qingquan, Suocun, Lanxi and Meishan in Lingyang town and the villages of Jiangjun and Dongqiao in Zhubei town — two towns and eight villages in all; the description specifies that this refers to plots along the Jiuhuashan ridge.
Core of the zone (核心区): Ten production groups: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups of Huangshixi village; Fengyou and Changwei of Qingquan village; Chaquan, Jiande and Paishang of Lanxi village.
Geographic coordinates: 30°20′36″–30°32′21″ N, 117°47′25″–117°52′09″ E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- The mountain. Jiuhuashan is one of the Buddhist mountains of China. The mountain’s administration writes that tea was already grown here under the Tang.
- 1915. According to the Jiuhuashan administration, teas from Minyuan and Huangshixi received a gold award at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
- From 1956, as popular descriptions claim, Huángshíxī máofēng was served at official receptions in Chinese embassies abroad. I have not seen a document about this.
- 2018. The Ministry of Agriculture registered an agricultural product geographical indication; the number is AGI02470. Reference books date the registration to September 5, 2018.
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized it as a geographical indication product by announcement No. 632.
Name: Huángshíxī (黄石溪) — “Yellow Stone Stream”, the name of a village. Máofēng (毛峰) — “downy peaks”.
Cultural significance: Huángshíxī máofēng is one of the teas that Mount Jiuhuashan presents under the common name “九华佛茶”. Within this family it represents the chestnut school, and Minyuan the orchid one.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety / Cultivar: 黄石天云种 — a local variety named in the geographical indication description.
Harvest: According to a reference summary of the geographical indication description — by hand, sorted by grade (分级人工采摘). No exact harvest standard is found in the sources consulted.
Harvest time: No data in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The south of Anhui, the Jiuhuashan massif. One of the reference descriptions places the historical tea of Huangshixi in the Daosengdong (道僧洞) area on the rear slopes of Tiantai peak (天台).
Growing altitude: The sources diverge. One description places the Huangshixi canyon, the core of production, at an altitude of 400–800 m; another writes of gardens at 600–900 m. I have not found a normative altitude.
Soils: Acidic mountain yellow-red soils, acidic yellow-brown soils and mountain meadow soils on weathered granite. Organic matter not less than 2.5 %, soil layer thickness more than 60 cm, pH about 5.0–6.5.
Climate: Northern subtropical humid monsoon: mild, with hot summers and cold winters, distinct seasons and abundant rain. No figures found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

Reference summaries of the geographical indication description give two technologies; I have not opened the primary source of these schemes.

Manual tea (手工茶):

Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
Cooling (摊凉, tānliáng).
Shaping, straightening the leaf (做形, 理条, zuòxíng, lǐtiáo).
Resting (回潮, huícháo): Moisture evens out within the leaf.
Hot-air drying (烘干, hōnggān).
Packing.

Machine tea (机制茶):

Fixation (杀青).
Fanning (清风).
Cooling (摊凉).
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Breaking up lumps (解块).
First drying (毛火, máohuǒ) and cooling.
Final drying (足火, zúhuǒ) and cooling down.
Sorting (拣剔) and packing.

No temperatures or times for the operations are found in the sources consulted.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The geographical indication description distinguishes manual and machine tea; below is the manual tea, with the machine tea in brackets.

Dry leaf appearance: Fairly tight strips, tender green, with noticeable down (条索较紧，嫩绿显毫). The machine tea — flat, straight and unfolded, bright green (扁直舒展，翠绿鲜活).
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Tender, clean and sweet (嫩香清甜). The machine tea — clean, with a floral tone (清香带花香). The mountain’s administration assigns the tea to the chestnut type (栗香型).
Taste: Fresh, brisk, with a sweet return (鲜爽回甘). The machine tea — fresh, mellow, with a sweet return (鲜醇回甘).
Liquor color: Tender green and bright (嫩绿明亮). The machine tea — green and bright (绿亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender green, even, bright (嫩绿匀亮). The machine tea — tender, soft, green and bright (嫩软绿亮).

Popular descriptions paint a slightly different picture: the leaf is even, tender green with a yellowish tinge, covered with down; during brewing, steam rises above the cup; the liquor is emerald and clear; the spent leaves are yellow-green, with many buds. This description does not coincide word for word with the normative one.

7. Chemical Composition

Requirements of the geographical indication:

Moisture: not more than 7.0 %.
Total ash: not more than 6.5 %.
Broken leaves and dust: not more than 6.0 %.
Water-soluble substances: not less than 37.0 %.
Crude fiber: not more than 14.0 %.

No data on catechins, amino acids or caffeine found in the sources consulted.

8. 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. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. First infusion — 40–60 seconds.
4. Drink, leaving a third of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Two or three further infusions.

9. Storage

Class practice. In airtight opaque packaging, in the refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from moisture, light and odors. A seasonal tea: best drunk within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Do not confuse it with Huangshan Mao Feng: máofēng is a generic word, and it is the place name that decides.
- Look for the geographical indication mark and a producer from Lingyang or Zhubei town in Qingyang County.
- Manual tea — tight tender green strips with down; machine tea — a flat, straight, bright green leaf.
- The liquor is green and bright, with a tender sweet aroma.

11. Interesting Facts

The protection zone is described on two levels — a general zone and a core delineated down to the production group.
According to the classification of the mountain’s administration, two schools of máofēng coexist on Jiuhuashan: the chestnut Huangshixi and the orchid Minyuan.
The norm for water-soluble substances is not less than 37 %; for Jingxian Lanxiang Cha (泾县兰香茶), protected in the same year, it is 35 %.
Two technologies and two appearances — manual and machine — are described at once for a single name.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Jiuhua Fo Cha (九华佛茶): The umbrella name for the teas of Mount Jiuhuashan; Huángshíxī máofēng is a separate protected name within this family.
Huangshan Mao Feng (黄山毛峰): The best-known Anhui máofēng, from Mount Huangshan; the same generic word, a different mountain and a different name.
Yongxi Huo Qing (涌溪火青): A southern Anhui green tea of Jing County, rolled into tight pellets — the opposite of the straight máofēng.

In Conclusion:

Huángshíxī máofēng is a mountain green tea of the Jiuhuashan massif: a local variety, acidic soils, a chestnut aroma type and a norm for water-soluble substances of not less than 37 %. Its protection zone is delineated down to the production group, and its appearance is set out for two technologies — manual and machine. The story of the 1915 Panama medal rests on the data of the mountain’s administration; the rest of this portrait consists of the norms and descriptions of the geographical indication.

Sources

Geographical indication

Full list — on the Sources page