--- title: "Jīnshān shíyǔ" url: https://thetea.app/article/jinshan-shiyu lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Jīnshān shíyǔ (金山时雨) *Jīnshān shíyǔ* (金山时雨) — “timely rain from the Golden Mountain” — is a green tea of Jixi County (绩溪县), Xuancheng prefecture-level city, in the south-east of Anhui Province. Its homeland is Jinshan village near Shangzhuang town, close to the native places of Hu Shi. The tea's fame was made in the 19th century by the Shanghai trading house Wang Yutai (汪裕泰), founded by a native of Jixi. Since 2010 the name has been protected as an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI), and since 2025 as a geographical indication product in two forms: “hair bun” and “orchid”. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*), unfermented. The provincial press calls it a top-grade pan-fired green tea (特级炒青, *tèjí chǎoqīng*); the 2025 schemes are green tea schemes, with fixation. * **Category:** A historical green tea of southern Anhui; a geographical indication product. * **Origin:** China, Anhui Province (安徽, *Ānhuī*), Xuancheng prefecture-level city (宣城, *Xuānchéng*), Jixi County (绩溪, *Jìxī*). The historical core is Shangjinshan village (上金山) near Shangzhuang town (上庄镇); today Jinshan village (金山村) of the same town is named as the main area, while *Renmin Wang* (2022) calls Yuchuan village (余川村) the core of the zone. * **Protection zone:** Eight townships and towns of Jixi County: Shangzhuang (上庄镇), Chang'an (长安镇), Yangxi (扬溪镇), Jinsha (金沙镇), Fuling (伏岭镇), Jiapeng (家朋乡), Yingzhou (瀛洲镇) and Jingzhou (荆州乡). The applicant is the Shangzhuang Tea Specialized Cooperative of Jixi County. * **Geographic coordinates:** 118°20′–118°55′ E and 29°57′–30°20′ N. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **Daoguang era (1821–1850).** According to *Renmin Wang* (2022), the tea got its name in these years; its early name was “*Jīnshān míngwù*” (金山茗雾), “tea mist of the Golden Mountain”. * **The Wang Yutai trading house.** The AGI description calls the tea the “treasure” of the house founded by a native of Jixi in Shanghai in 1850; the same year is given by the intangible heritage description on the website of Xuancheng prefecture-level city (2024). According to *Renmin Wang*, by the end of the Qing the house was already the sole seller of the tea. * **1868.** According to the AGI description and the Xuancheng website, the name “*Jīnshān shíyǔ*” became attached to the tea. * **1894.** According to the AGI description, the Wang Yutai house presented the tea to the court, and the tea became a tribute tea. A reference website on tea links the presentation to the sixtieth birthday of Empress Cixi; no primary document was found in the sources consulted. * **Early Republic.** According to *Renmin Wang*, the tea was already being sold in more than ten countries and regions. * **Interruption.** According to the reference website, the technology was lost at the end of the Qing and restored in 1978; this is not officially confirmed. * **25 May 2010.** The Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC registered “金山时雨” as an agricultural product geographical indication. According to the Ministry of Commerce, it is the first tea of Anhui with such a mark. * **2013.** The Anhui local standard DB34/T 989-2013 “Geographical indication product. *Jīnshān shíyǔ* tea” was adopted (in force from 5 January 2014, replacing the 2009 edition); the full text could not be opened. * **2017.** “The technique of making green tea (*Jīnshān shíyǔ*)” was included in the fifth list of the intangible cultural heritage of Anhui Province. * **2025.** The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), by announcement No. 632 of 9 June 2025 (published on 27 June), recognized 224 geographical indication products; *Jīnshān shíyǔ* is number 18. * **Name:** 金山 — “Golden Mountain”, Jinshan village; 时雨 — “timely rain”. A reference website explains the name by the shape of the leaf, thin as threads of rain. * **Cultural significance:** The tea is associated with Hu Shi, a native of Shangzhuang; the town's tea festival is built around his name. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Variety / Cultivar:** According to the 2025 requirements — the local varieties “Jinshan” (金山种, *jīnshānzhǒng*) and “Zhuye” (槠[叶种](https://thetea.app/article/qiaomuguanmu), *zhūyèzhǒng*) and clones selected from them, propagated by cuttings. According to *Renmin Wang* and the reference website, the Jinshan variety has a spreading crown, strong buds and abundant visible down. Registration of this variety in variety registers was not found in the sources consulted. * **Harvest:** By “lifting the hand” (提手采, *tíshǒucǎi*), usually from mid-March — according to the 2025 requirements. Popular descriptions speak of picking around Guyu (谷雨), that is, around 20 April. * **Harvest standard:** The popular version is one bud with two barely opened leaves, “eagle's beak” (鹰嘴甲, *yīngzuǐjiǎ*). A note on the county website (2024) names leaf picked before Guyu as the best. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Region:** The south-east of Anhui, the junction of the Huangshan and Tianmu mountains, on the border with Zhejiang (according to the AGI description and *Renmin Wang*). * **Growing altitude:** **500–900 m** — the slopes and gorges of the core area, according to *Renmin Wang* (2022) and the reference website. The same reference website, in an adjacent sentence, places the gardens above 1,500 m — this contradicts the other data. * **Soils:** According to the 2025 requirements — rich in organic matter, with a pH mostly of 5.8–6.5. The reference website: dark, sandy, fertile soils with a deep profile. * **Area and output:** The area of the gardens was not found in the sources consulted. According to the local press, in 2023 output was 1,060 t worth about 188 million yuan. **5. Production Technology:** The traditional manual technology, according to *Renmin Wang*, is fixation, rolling, drying. The intangible heritage description on the Xuancheng website (2024) breaks it down into eight operations: fixation, rolling, firing of the first base (炒头坯), repeated rolling (复揉), firing of the second base (炒二坯), spreading, shaping in the pan (掰老锅, *bāi lǎoguō*) and sorting; the whole cycle takes about six hours. The 2025 requirements give two schemes, one for each form; parameters were not found in the sources consulted. 1. **“Hair bun” form (发髻形, *fàjìxíng*):** spreading of fresh leaf (摊放, *tānfàng*), fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*), base preparation (毛坯, *máopī*) — tumbling in a drum or partial drying, cooling (摊凉, *tānliáng*), shaping (做形, *zuòxíng*) — in the pan the strands are straightened and curled, cooling again, “full fire” (足火, *zúhuǒ*), sifting out the crumbs (去碎末, *qù suìmò*). 2. **“Orchid” form (兰花形, *lánhuāxíng*):** spreading, fixation, straightening (理条, *lǐtiáo*) instead of rolling, cooling, shaping, cooling, “full fire”, sifting out the crumbs and, at the end, heating for aroma (提香, *tíxiāng*). The 2010 AGI scheme matches the first one. **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** * **Dry leaf appearance:** “Hair bun” — tightly rolled, resembling a knot of hair (形似发髻紧结); “orchid” — straight, natural strands resembling an orchid flower (形似兰花条直自然). Reference descriptions of the classic form: thin, tight strands “like threads of rain”, dark green (乌绿), with a visible bud tip (锋苗, *fēngmiáo*). * **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description was found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** For both forms — floral, high and long-lasting (花香高长持久). * **Taste:** Mellow and brisk (滋味醇爽) — for both forms. According to reference descriptions — with a sweet aftertaste, fading from the sixth infusion. * **Liquor color:** Clean, clear and bright (汤色清澈明亮). Reference descriptions — yellow-green. * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Not described in the 2025 requirements. Reference descriptions: unfolded, with a golden tint. **7. Chemical Composition:** The 2025 requirements contain no physico-chemical norms. The AGI description writes that polyphenols and caffeine are “respectively 25% and 3.5% and above”, and amino acids from 3.2%; these are descriptive figures of a reference text, not norms of a standard. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** The practice of the class for green tea; the temperature, the leaf ratio and the topping up are suggested by the reference website. * **Water temperature:** 85–90 °C. * **Tea amount:** 1 g per 50 ml, that is, 3 g per 150 ml. * **Teaware:** A glass tumbler. * **Process:** 1. Warm the glass. 2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side of the glass. 3. The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds. 4. Drink until a third is left in the glass. 5. Top up with water. 6. Usually it is brewed three times. **10. Storage:** The practice of the class. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year. **11. Price and Counterfeits:** According to a note on the county website (2024), the top grade costs 800–1,000 yuan per jin (500 g). * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Look for the special geographical indication mark. * Check that the producer is from the eight named townships and towns of Jixi County. * Know both protected forms; the aroma is floral and high, the liquor clear and bright. **12. Interesting Facts:** * The 2025 protection recognizes two forms of one tea. According to a note on the county website (2024), the “hair bun” is the traditional form with four grades, and the “orchid” a new one with two. * Sources give different figures for the number of buds per kilogram: about 5,000 — *Renmin Wang* (2022), about 2,000 — the heritage description on the Xuancheng website (2024); whether these figures refer to fresh or finished leaf is not specified. * The 2024 tea festival opened in Shangzhuang on 21 April; its motto linked the tea with Hu Shi — “visit Hu Shi's homeland and taste *Jīnshān shíyǔ*”. **13. Comparison with Other Green Teas of Southern Anhui:** * **Huangshan Mao Feng ([黄山毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/huangshan-mao-feng)):** The famous tea of the neighboring Huangshan massif. * **Tunlü ([屯绿](https://thetea.app/article/tunlu)):** A pan-fired green tea of old Huizhou; Jixi is among its counties. * **Songluo Cha ([松萝茶](https://thetea.app/article/songluo-cha)):** A historical pan-fired tea of Xiuning County. * **Yongxi Huo Qing ([涌溪火青](https://thetea.app/article/yongxi-huo-qing)):** A green tea of Jing County, rolled into tight pellets. **In Conclusion:** *Jīnshān shíyǔ* is a green tea of Jixi County that 19th-century Shanghai trade made famous: the “treasure” of the Wang Yutai house and a tribute to the court in 1894. The 2025 requirements recognize its two forms — the tight “hair bun” and the straight “orchid” — with a shared floral, high aroma, a clear liquor and a mellow, brisk taste.