Jiāngxià bìfǎng · thetea.app

Jiāngxià bìfǎng (江夏碧舫) is a flat green tea of Jiangxia District (江夏区) of Wuhan city, Hubei Province. Its gardens lie in eight villages and farms of Wulongquan subdistrict, by Liangzi Lake. The name means “emerald boat”: according to descriptions in the Wuhan press, the brewed leaf floats in the glass like a little green boat. According to a local newspaper, the tea was created in the 1980s on the basis of the Fuding Dabai variety and others; since 2021 it has been protected as an agricultural product geographical indication, and since 2025 as a geographical indication product.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), flat, of the pan-fired type (炒青, chǎoqīng). The protection requirements do not name the class in words, but they describe green tea technology — fixation, straightening and shaping of the leaf, pan-firing — without withering for oxidation and without sealed yellowing. A Wuhan Radio and Television story (2022) on the website of the city agricultural administration explicitly calls it a pan-fired green tea.
Toponym trap: Wulongquan (乌龙泉, “spring of the black dragon”) is only the name of the subdistrict; 乌龙 coincides with the name of oolong but says nothing about the class of the tea.
Category: Flat green tea of Wuhan; agricultural product geographical indication (AGI03368, 2021) and geographical indication product (2025).
Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Wuhan city (武汉, Wǔhàn), Jiangxia District (江夏, Jiāngxià), Wulongquan subdistrict (乌龙泉街).
Protection zone: Eight units of Wulongquan subdistrict: the villages of Qunjian (群建), Qingshan (青山), Changling (长岭), Tuanjie (团结), Zhifu (致富), Jianshe (建设), Sihua (四化) and the horticultural farm (园艺场). The applicant is the agricultural technology extension center of Jiangxia District.
Geographic coordinates: 114°30′–114°44′ E, 30°13′–30°25′ N — the zone boundaries according to the protection requirements.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Early history. According to a Wuhan Radio and Television report (2022), tea has been grown in Jiangxia since the Ming era (明). The local newspaper traces it back to The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu (陆羽), where the tea of Ezhou (鄂州) is named, and links Ezhou with Jiangxia; this is the newspaper’s interpretation, not a document about the tea itself.
- 1956. According to Changjiang Ribao (2025), a state horticultural farm of Wuchang County was founded on wasteland near Tuditang (土地堂); according to the newspaper, 800 mu were plowed in two months, and the farm became a base for fruit and tea.
- 1980s. According to the same newspaper, technologists drew on Fuding Dabai (福鼎大白茶) and other varieties and on traditional pan-firing technology to create a flat green tea, and named it Jiāngxià bìfǎng.
- 1992. A bronze award at the first All-China Agricultural Exhibition and the title of “famous tea of Hubei” — according to Changjiang Ribao.
- Decline and revival. When the gardens were handed out under household contracts, the tea, according to the newspaper, began to be pan-fired household by household, and quality became uneven; since 2010 the brand has been restored by a local company together with a cooperative.
- 2021. In June the Ministry of Agriculture registered Jiāngxià bìfǎng as an agricultural product geographical indication (number AGI03368).
- 2024. According to Changjiang Ribao, the tea was entered in the national index of “farming and farm products memory” (农耕农品记忆索引名录).
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration, by announcement No. 640, recognized the tea as a geographical indication product and published the requirements for it.
- Discrepancy. The same newspaper writes in December 2025 that the tea received the status of geographical indication product as early as 2016. I have not found a 2016 document; according to the documents found, protection begins in 2021.
Name: “Jiangxia” (江夏) is the name of the district; “Bifang” (碧舫) means “emerald boat”: 碧 — emerald, azure; 舫 — a boat, a painted pleasure boat (画舫). In the glass, the flat leaf, according to descriptions, resembles a little boat and a new crescent moon.
Cultural significance: According to Changjiang Ribao, the Jiāngxià bìfǎng making technology has been on the district intangible heritage list since 2024.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: According to the protection requirements, the main varieties are Fuding Dabai (福鼎大白茶) and Zhongcha 108 (中茶108).
Harvest standard: The protection requirements do not set the number of leaves. According to a Wuhan Radio and Television report (2022), one bud with one leaf is usual for the famous teas of Wuhan; a 2026 Changjiang Ribao report from the brand’s garden specifies — one bud with a just-unfolded leaf, the bud longer than the leaf. For the expensive line, according to Changjiang Ribao, single buds are picked before Qingming.
Harvest time: According to Changjiang Ribao (April 2025), the buds are picked after the spring equinox.
Raw material requirements: The leaf is even, with no reddened or purple buds and leaves, none damaged by diseases and pests, none picked in the rain.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The lakeside hills of southern Wuhan. According to the protection requirements, the zone lies in the protected wetland area of Liangzi Lake (梁子湖); waters of quality classes I and II occupy more than 85 % of its area. The climate, according to descriptions, is mild and humid, forest cover is 85 %.
Growing altitude: No data found in the sources consulted.
Soils: Predominantly red soils (红壤), pH 4.7–5.7, a fertile layer deeper than 1 m, organic matter in the plow layer more than 2 %, with good drainage and irrigation.
Cultivation practices under the requirements: The garden is tilled three to four times a year — shallowly in spring and summer, deeply before winter. Irrigation is combined with fertilizing, and the system is managed through a cloud platform.
Scale: According to a Wuhan Radio and Television report (2022), the garden area of the zone is 160 ha, output is 60 t of dry tea a year. According to Changjiang Ribao (2025), the brand’s gardens, united by a company and a cooperative, occupy over 1,200 mu, of which 200 mu are an organic garden.

5. Production Technology

The protection requirements set the following chain:

Picking of fresh leaf (采摘, cǎizhāi).
Spreading (摊放, tānfàng).
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
Cooling and moisture regain (冷却回潮, lěngquè huícháo).
Straightening of the leaf (理条, lǐtiáo).
Cooling (摊凉, tānliáng).
Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng) — the leaf becomes flat; then cooling again.
Final pan-firing to dryness (辉干, huīgān).
Aroma development (提香, tíxiāng).

The requirements do not set temperatures. According to Changjiang Ribao, when made by hand the leaf is pan-fired in an iron wok at 200 °C, while the workshop runs a production line.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The description below is from the 2025 protection requirements.

Dry leaf appearance: Broad, flat and straight, with pointed ends, emerald green (外形宽扁平直，两头尖削，色泽碧绿).
Dry leaf aroma: No separate description found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Clean and lasting (清香持久).
Taste: Fresh and brisk, with a sweet aftertaste (滋味鲜爽回甘).
Liquor color: Tender green and bright (汤色嫩绿明亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Green, bright and even (叶底绿亮匀齐).

7. Chemical Composition

The protection requirements set lower thresholds for three indicators:

Indicator	Requirement
Water-soluble extractives	not less than 42 %
Tea polyphenols	not less than 22 %
Free amino acids (total)	not less than 1.8 %

These are norms, not a batch measurement. Data on caffeine were not 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, where the “little boat” of the leaf can be seen, or a white gaiwan.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Put in 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 repeat 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.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data were not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication product mark or the agricultural indication mark.
- Check that the producer is from Wulongquan subdistrict of Jiangxia District.
- The leaf is broad, flat and straight, with pointed ends, emerald; the liquor is tender green.
- Do not take the word “乌龙” in the address for a sign of oolong: this is a green tea.

11. Interesting Facts

The gardens stand in the protected wetland area of Liangzi Lake.
According to the local newspaper, the history of the brand goes back not to an old village but to the state horticultural farm founded in 1956.

12. Comparison with Other Wuhan Teas

Baiquan Lücha (柏泉绿茶): A flat green tea of Dongxihu District at the other end of Wuhan.
Jiangxia Guangming Cha (江夏光明茶): The second tea of Jiangxia District, which received the status of geographical indication product by the same 2025 announcement.
Huangpi Lücha (黄陂绿茶): A green tea of Huangpi District in the north of Wuhan.

In Conclusion:

Jiāngxià bìfǎng is a flat green tea of southern Wuhan, created, according to the local newspaper, in the 1980s and named after the shape of the leaf — “emerald boat”. The protection documents describe it precisely: eight villages and farms by Liangzi Lake, the Fuding Dabai and Zhongcha 108 varieties, a broad flat emerald leaf, a clean lasting aroma and a fresh taste with a sweet aftertaste.

Sources

Geographical indication

Full list — on the Sources page