Jīngshān máofēng (京山毛峰) is a tea of Jingshan county-level city (京山市), Jingmen prefecture-level city, in the central part of Hubei Province, whose name has been protected since 2015 by a geographical indication certification mark. The holder of the mark is the Jingshan tea association. This is where the documented part ends: the sources consulted name neither the class of the tea, nor the bush variety, nor the technology, nor the appearance. “Máofēng” (毛峰) is a word about the shape of the leaf, “downy tips”, not about the class, so the article stands among the categories rather than among the green teas.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: The class is not established by any document. The word 毛峰 (máofēng) most often appears in the names of green teas, as in Anhui’s Huangshan Maofeng, but it also occurs in red teas — for example, Yunnan Hong Maofeng. Deriving the class from a single word would be a substitution; the mark’s register entry says only “茶叶” — “tea”.
- Category: Geographical indication certification mark (证明商标) of Hubei, class 30 of the International Classification of Goods.
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Jingmen prefecture-level city (荆门, Jīngmén), Jingshan county-level city (京山, Jīngshān).
- Zone: The provincial register gives Jingshan county-level city as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder. I have not seen a legal boundary of the production zone.
- Geographic coordinates: The center of Jingshan is at about 31.0° N and 113.1° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 2015. The name “京山毛峰” was registered as geographical indication certification mark No. 15844613. According to the register of geographical indications of Hubei (data as of May 2020, published on 23 June 2020), the goods are tea (茶叶), the holder is the Jingshan County Tea Association (京山县茶叶协会), and the term of the exclusive right runs from 28 December 2015 to 27 December 2025.
- 2025. The first ten-year term of the mark expired on 27 December 2025. I have not checked whether the mark has been renewed: information later than the 2020 register is not found in the sources consulted.
- Earlier history of tea in Jingshan. No data in the sources consulted.
- Name: “Jīngshān” (京山) is the name of the county-level city; “máofēng” (毛峰) means “downy peaks”, the name of a form made of a bud with downy young leaves.
- Administrative detail: In the register line the holder is recorded under the county name (京山县), and the area already as a county-level city (京山市). This is a trace of the change in Jingshan’s status, not two different places.
- Cultural significance: In the 2020 register this is Jingshan’s only tea geographical indication mark; Jingshan’s three other marks in the same list are the rice 京山桥米 and 京山米 and the pueraria root starch 京山葛粉.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties / Cultivars: No data in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: No data in the sources consulted. The word “máofēng” itself usually means plucking a bud with one or two young downy leaves, but I have not seen the requirements for this tea.
- Harvest time: No data in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Jingshan county-level city in the central part of Hubei Province.
- Altitude, climate, soils: No data in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
I have not seen a document describing the technology of Jīngshān máofēng, and the class of the tea is not established. If it is a green máofēng — and this is how the word is most often used — the general scheme for green tea is as follows:
- Spreading the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng): The leaf gives off part of its moisture.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heat stops oxidation.
- Light rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): The leaf is lightly twisted, preserving the down.
- Drying (烘干, hōnggān): Final drying with hot air.
This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of Jīngshān máofēng.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
- Dry leaf appearance: No data in the sources consulted.
- Dry leaf aroma: No data in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: No data in the sources consulted.
- Taste: No data in the sources consulted.
- Liquor color: No data in the sources consulted.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No data in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
Physico-chemical data are not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice — the class is not established, so the parameters depend on which tea is in hand.
- If it is a green máofēng: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a glass tumbler or a white gaiwan, first infusion 40–60 seconds, then two or three repeat infusions, leaving part of the liquor.
- If it is a red máofēng: 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot, first infusion about a minute, several infusions with increasing time.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; drink within a year. Red — in a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “京山毛峰” (No. 15844613) and check whether it has been renewed after 27 December 2025.
- Check that the producer is from Jingshan county-level city and is authorized to use the mark by its holder — the Jingshan tea association.
- Do not confuse it with Huangshan Maofeng: the characters 京山 and 黄山 differ in the first character, and the products differ in province.
11. Interesting Facts
- The names “京山毛峰” and “黄山毛峰” differ by one character, but the first refers to Hubei and the second to Anhui.
- The term of the mark and the register that reports it have diverged in time: the 2020 register gives the term until the end of 2025, and more recent information about the mark is not found in the sources consulted.
- In the 2020 provincial register Jingshan has four geographical indication marks, and only one of them is for tea.
12. Comparison with Other Maofeng Teas
- Maofeng (毛峰): An overview article about the word that occurs in the names of teas of different classes.
- Huangshan Maofeng (黄山毛峰): A green tea of Anhui, one of the ten famous teas of China; the best-known bearer of the word “máofēng”.
- Emei Maofeng (峨眉毛峰): A green tea of Sichuan — another máofēng named after a mountain.
- Yunnan Hong Maofeng (云南红毛峰): A red tea of Yunnan in the máofēng form — an example showing that the word does not set the class.
In Conclusion:
Jīngshān máofēng is for now more a name than a described tea: a 2015 geographical indication certification mark, the holder — the Jingshan tea association, the goods — tea. The sources consulted do not name the class, the variety, the technology or the appearance, and the first term of the mark expired at the end of 2025. All a buyer needs to know now is the mark number and its renewal; everything else is yet to be found in primary sources.