Huòshān hóngchá · thetea.app

Huòshān hóngchá (霍山红茶) is a red tea of Huoshan County (霍山县) in the prefecture-level city of Lu’an in western Anhui Province. The county is known above all for its yellow teas — Huoshan Huangya and Huoshan Huangdacha — and red tea is a separate name here. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark: according to the Trademark Office’s 2016 annual report, its number is 12209045. According to a China National Radio report (2023), the red tea of Dongxixi Township is made from the Qimen Zhuye cultivar, brought in from the south of the province as early as the middle of the last century. Requirements for appearance and technology were not found in the sources consulted.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Red tea (红茶, hóngchá), fully fermented. The class is stated in the name; I have not seen a document with technology requirements.
Category: County red tea of Anhui; geographical indication certification mark (no later than 2016).
Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Lu’an prefecture-level city (六安, Lù’ān), Huoshan County (霍山, Huòshān).
Protection zone: Huoshan County is given as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone. The mark holder is not named in the sources consulted.
Main area according to the press: Yangsanzhai Village (杨三寨村) in Dongxixi Township (东西溪乡), on the south-eastern edge of the county — this is how a China National Radio report (2023) names it.
Geographic coordinates: According to the same report, Yangsanzhai lies at 31° N; the longitude is not found in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Mid-20th century. According to a China National Radio report (2023), since the middle of the last century Dongxixi Township has planted the tea cultivar Qimen Zhuye (祁门槠叶种, Qímén zhūyèzhǒng), brought in from southern Anhui. The report gives no exact year.
- 2016. The Trademark Office’s 2016 annual report names the geographical indication certification mark “霍山红茶” under number 12209045. I have not checked the filing and registration dates.
- 2019. According to the same radio report, the township brought in an agricultural company, and it created a proprietary red tea brand, “霍山红” (“red Huoshan”). This is a private brand, not the certification mark itself. According to Renmin Wang (2021), in the same year the company invited an inheritor of red tea heritage to refine the technology.
- 2020. Red tea entered by Dongxixi Township received a “four-star” gold award at the first Yangtze River Delta famous tea competition.
- 2022. The county proposed applying for recognition of Huòshān hóngchá as a geographical indication product. The outcome of the application is not found in the sources consulted.
- 2023. At the 16th Anhui International Tea Expo in Hefei, the same tea won gold in the red tea section of the “2023长三角斗茶大赛” competition. In the same year the county government confirmed the “霍山红茶” mark; whether protection is in force now is not confirmed.
Name: “Huoshan” (霍山) is the name of the county; “hongcha” (红茶) means red tea. In Chinese, what the West calls black tea is called red.
Cultural significance: In a county whose fame rests on yellow teas, red tea is an industry that Dongxixi Township, according to a 2023 report, is building as a pillar of rural revitalization: gardens, a workshop, a brand and tea tourism.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety / Cultivar: According to a China National Radio report (2023), the Qimen Zhuye cultivar (祁门槠叶种), brought in from southern Anhui, grows in Dongxixi. According to reference descriptions of the cultivar, Qimen Hongcha is made from it, it was introduced to other tea areas, and in 1984 it was recognized as a national cultivar under the name “祁门种” — “Qimen cultivar”. Which cultivars the mark permits is not found in the sources consulted.
Raw material: A raw material standard is not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest: Harvest dates are not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest standard: Data not found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Western Anhui; the main area according to the press is Yangsanzhai Village on the south-eastern edge of the county.
Topography and climate: According to the 2023 report — high mountains and ridges, dense forest, clouds and mist all year round; the weather is cool and humid, with a large difference between day and night temperatures. The local company calls its tea “high-mountain red”.
Growing altitude: No requirements. According to a representative of the company making red tea in Yangsanzhai (Renmin Wang, 2021), the gardens lie at 600–800 m on average.
Soils: Data not found in the sources consulted.
Scale: According to the radio report, a cooperative took over 150 mu of gardens from 31 households of Yangsanzhai Village. In 2022, according to the same report, red tea brought the village collective economy about 300,000 yuan. These are figures for one village, not for the whole county.

5. Production Technology

No technology requirements for Huòshān hóngchá were found in the sources consulted. The 2023 report says only that the township invested more than 1.7 million yuan in the industry — in workshops, a separate fermentation workshop and equipment — and invited a master, an inheritor of the Qimen Hongcha heritage, to raise the technology and quality.

Below is the general scheme for red tea, not a description of Huòshān hóngchá:

Withering (萎凋, wěidiāo): The leaf loses part of its moisture and becomes soft.
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): The leaf cells are broken and the juice comes to the surface.
Fermentation (发酵, fājiào): Oxidation turns the green leaf copper-red.
Drying (干燥, gānzào): Heat stops oxidation and fixes the aroma.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

No appearance requirements for Huòshān hóngchá were found in the sources consulted. Below is a description of one Yangsanzhai company’s product at a 2021 tea expo, according to Renmin Wang, not a norm of the mark; the source’s wording is given in parentheses.

Dry leaf appearance: Thin, tight strips with visible down (条索紧细，茶毫显露).
Dry leaf aroma: Data not found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Not described separately; in the mouth the source notes a sweet aroma blended with a floral-fruity one (入口甜香、花果香交融).
Taste: A noticeable sweet aftertaste (回甘生津明显); the tea withstands many infusions (经久耐泡). The company sums up its character in the formula “一甜、二糖、三如蜜” — “sweetness, sugar, like honey”.
Liquor color: Orange-yellow, clear, amber (汤色橙黄透亮，呈琥珀色).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Even, unfurled, lively and tender (叶底均匀舒展，鲜活细嫩).

7. Chemical Composition

No physicochemical data were found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Standard practice for red tea as a class.

Water temperature: 90–95 °C.
Tea amount: 3–5 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: Gaiwan or porcelain teapot.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Add the tea.
3. First infusion — 10–20 seconds.
4. Pour the whole infusion into a sharing pitcher.
5. Further infusions, adding 5–10 seconds each time.
6. The tea usually withstands four to six infusions.

9. Storage

Standard practice for the class. In a dry, cool place, in a tightly closed opaque container, away from odors and moisture. Red tea does not need a refrigerator.

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data were found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “霍山红茶”.
- Check that the producer is from Huoshan County.
- Do not confuse the mark with the private brand “霍山红”: one company’s brand does not replace the certification mark.
- Do not confuse it with the county’s yellow teas: Huoshan Huangya and Huoshan Huangdacha have their own marks and their own technology.

11. Interesting Facts

In a county of yellow teas, red tea is made from a cultivar brought in from the Qimen Hongcha zone.
The certification mark “霍山红茶” and the private brand “霍山红” are different things: the mark is mentioned in the 2016 report, the brand was created in 2019.
Both awards — of 2020 and 2023 — went to the tea of a single township, Dongxixi.

12. Comparison with Other Anhui Teas

Qimen Hongcha (祁门红茶): The famous red tea of the south of the province; its Qimen Zhuye cultivar also grows in Dongxixi.
Jinzhai Hongcha (金寨红茶): Red tea of Jinzhai County in the same Lu’an prefecture-level city.
Huoshan Huangya (霍山黄芽): Yellow tea from buds — the county’s chief fame.
Huoshan Huangdacha (霍山黄大茶): Large-leaf yellow tea of the same county, with long smothering and strong heating.

In Conclusion:

Huòshān hóngchá is the red tea of a county that the whole tea world knows for its yellow teas. The documents on it are sparse: the number of the certification mark in the 2016 report, the county’s confirmation in 2023, and a 2022 application for geographical indication product status whose outcome is unknown. The press adds the key point about the raw material — the Qimen Zhuye cultivar in the mountains of Dongxixi Township — while the appearance is known only from a description of one company’s product; requirements for appearance and technology were not found in the sources consulted.