---
title: "Jiānghuá kǔchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/jianghua-kucha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Jiānghuá kǔchá (江华苦茶)

*Jiānghuá kǔchá* (江华苦茶) is the “bitter tea of Jianghua”: an old local population of the tea bush and the tea of the same name from Jianghua Yao Autonomous County (江华瑶族自治县) of Yongzhou prefecture-level city in the far south of Hunan Province. The name is protected by an agricultural product geographical indication of 2013. Tea of different classes is produced under it, and the county itself styles itself the “homeland of Chinese honey red tea” (中国蜜香红茶之乡).

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** There is no single class. The variety is suitable for red and green tea; the indication description gives the features of green tea, the 2026 press writes primarily about red tea, and one of the county's factories makes red, green and “Yao” tea (瑶茶).
* **Category:** A tea bush population and a regional brand; agricultural product geographical indication (2013).
* **Origin:** China, Hunan Province (湖南, *Húnán*), Yongzhou prefecture-level city (永州, *Yǒngzhōu*), Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. The main area is the Mengzhuling range (萌渚岭) in the Nanling mountains, at the headwaters of the Xiaoshui River (潇水), near the border with Guangdong and Guangxi.
* **Protection zone:** According to the indication description — 17 towns and townships of the county, including the county seat Tuojiang, and a state forest farm.
* **Geographic coordinates:** The protection zone — from 24°38′35″ to 25°19′43″ N and from 111°25′25″ to 112°12′35″ E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Antiquity — as retold.** The press writes that more than 2100 years ago tea from these parts was presented to the Changsha kingdom; the indication description speaks of a 2500-year history and mentions a box of “bitter tea” from the Han tombs of Mawangdui. The numbers do not agree, and the link between the find and Jianghua rests on interpretations (a reference to the Hunan Provincial Museum, the coincidence of Han maps with the range of the variety) without primary sources.
    * **1970s–1980s.** According to a brand publication, the county made broken red tea (红碎茶) from this variety for export, and in the 1980s became a base for foreign-trade tea procurement. From the end of the 1970s, according to the indication description, a special group of the Hunan Tea Research Institute worked on the variety for about thirty years.
    * **1986–1987.** The sources diverge. The brand publication: from 1986 the tea was recognized as a provincial famous tea several years in a row, and in 1987 the province recognized it as a valuable local population (优良地方群体品种). The 2026 press: in 1987 the tea entered the province's top ten famous teas.
    * **End of the 20th century.** According to the brand publication, during the general switch from red tea to green, 25 tea factories of the county closed.
    * **2013.** The Ministry of Agriculture registered “江华苦茶” as an agricultural product geographical indication, certificate AGI01326; the holder is the Yuehua (粤华) tea cooperative of Jianghua County.
    * **2016.** According to the brand publication, a geographical indication certification mark was also obtained; the indication database gives its number as 13858983.
    * **2022.** The Hunan Tea Research Institute reported that it had for the first time found theacrine (苦茶碱) in wild tea plants of the province and isolated it from Jianghua tea.
* **Name:** “Jianghua” (江华) is the name of the county; “kucha” (苦茶) means “bitter tea”. A researcher of the Hunan Tea Research Institute explained to journalists that the tea is not bitter: in the Yao language a word sounding like “苦” means “good”. But the indication description praises the tea for bitterness that turns into sweetness, and the variety description calls the green tea made from it bitter.
* **Cultural significance:** Jianghua is the only Yao autonomous county in Hunan. According to legend, the first ancestor of the Yao, Panwang (盘王), used tea to save himself from poisoning; local residents say that the Yao, when migrating, carried tea seeds with them and sowed them in the new place.

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

* **Variety:** *Jiānghuá kǔchá*, also known as gaojiao cha (高脚茶, *gāojiǎo chá*, “tall-legged tea”) — a seed-propagated population (有性群体品种), according to the Hunan tea press one of the five representative populations of the tea bush in the province. Its native ranges are the townships of Liangchahe, Daxi, Haojiang and Xiangjiang of Jianghua County; it also occurs in neighboring counties.
* **Appearance:** A small tree with a distinct trunk, branching 40–90 cm above the ground, growing to 3–4 m, individual trees — above 5 m. The leaf is large, elliptic, yellow-green, thin and glossy, with an elongated tip. Mid-season; the shoots are thick and stay tender for a long time, the buds are almost without down. Flowers in October — November, sets few seeds.
* **Old trees and new varieties:** According to a local producer, the county has more than a thousand tea trees over a hundred years old. Three national-level varieties have been bred from the county's wild plants and registered, and all of them have entered Hunan's top ten main varieties for red tea; their names are not found in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest:** According to the press, the buds open around Qingming, and the spring harvest in the gardens of one of the county's companies lasts about 20 days. No harvest standard in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Topography:** According to the brand publication, in the south, north and east of the county the altitudes are usually above 600 m, in the west there are basins and hills at 200–400 m.
* **Climate and soils:** Humid subtropical monsoon climate. The press: forest cover of the county 78%, frequent fog, little direct sun, a large diurnal temperature range, loose soils rich in selenium.
* **Scale:** According to the indication description — 1500 ha and 1500 t a year. According to the 2026 press — 72,000 mu of gardens, 3600 t of dry tea, a brand value of 523 million yuan.

**5. Production Technology:**

There is no single processing method under the name: the class determines it.

* **Traditional Yao method:** According to the brand publication, the leaf was briefly withered in the sun, pan-fired in a wok, rolled by hand into strands, dried in the sun, wrapped in paper and hung over the hearth.
* **Green tea:** There is a group standard for it, “江华苦茶 绿茶加工技术规程”; its text could not be opened. The variety description warns that during fixation the leaf gives off a lot of juice and dries with difficulty.
* **Red tea:** The variety historically went into broken red tea; today the county promotes honey red tea (蜜香红茶). Parameters are not found in the sources consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Green tea, according to the indication description — tightly rolled, round and straight, emerald green (紧圆挺直，色泽翠绿纯润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Green — tender, high and long-lasting. Red, according to a tasting in the press — sweet, floral and fruity, interwoven with honey.
* **Taste:** Green — fresh and rich (鲜爽醇厚), bitterness first, then a sweet return; the indication description writes that its aroma is higher than that of kuding cha ([苦丁茶](https://thetea.app/article/kuding-cha)), and there is no deep astringency. Red — a slight bitterness on the tip of the tongue, quickly turning into sweetness.
* **Liquor color:** Green — tender green and bright. Red — golden orange and clear.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Green — tender green and even. No data for red.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

| Indicator | Value | Source and object |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Polyphenols | 39.21% | Variety description, summer fresh leaf |
| Extractives | 48.50% | Variety description, summer fresh leaf |
| Polyphenols | 15–30% | Brand publication, tea |
| Amino acids | 2–4% | Brand publication, tea |

According to the variety description, there are many simple catechins in the leaf, as in the wild large tea of Menghai. No figures for theacrine in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice — the parameters depend on the class of the tea in hand.

* **Green:** 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a glass tumbler or gaiwan, first infusion 40–60 seconds, two or three repeat infusions.
* **Red:** 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a gaiwan or porcelain teapot, first infusion about a minute, several infusions with increasing time.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. Green — airtight, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, drink within a year. Red — in a dry dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

There are no general price data. The press writes that the best old-tree tea of one of the county's companies costs more than 4000 yuan per kilogram.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * The packaging, according to the indication description, must carry both the name “江华苦茶” and the common agricultural product geographical indication mark.
    * Check that the producer is from the protection zone; according to the 2026 press, 15 companies use the brand.
    * Check the class: red, green and “Yao” tea are sold under one name.
    * Do not confuse it with kuding cha (苦丁茶) — that is a different plant.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* In the 1970s, according to the brand publication, Jianghua broken red tea was the only one in the province to reach the national export standard of the second set.
* The brand publication says that the Yao picked tea by climbing the trees, and even trained monkeys to do it.

**13. Comparison with Neighboring and Related Teas:**

* **Chengbu Dongcha ([城步峒茶](https://thetea.app/article/chengbu-dongcha)) and Rucheng Baimao Cha ([汝城白毛茶](https://thetea.app/article/rucheng-baimaocha)):** Together with the Jianghua population — the southern group of the five Hunan representative populations.
* **Baojing Huangjin Cha (保靖黄金茶):** A population of the northwest of the province from the same five.
* **Kaishan Baimao Cha ([开山白毛茶](https://thetea.app/article/kaishan-baimao-cha)):** Green tea of neighboring Guangxi, on the other side of the border peak Matanding.

**In Conclusion:**

*Jiānghuá kǔchá* is a variety and a brand under one name: a population of tall trees of the Yao mountains that gave export broken red tea, the emerald green tea of the indication description and today's honey red tea. The ancient dates rest on retellings; the botany of the variety is described in detail.