Jīnzhài hóngchá (金寨红茶) is a red tea of Jinzhai County (金寨县), Lu’an prefecture-level city, in the west of Anhui Province. The county is better known for its green teas, but according to reference descriptions, people here were taught to make red tea as early as the 1950s. Its formula is short: “铜红汤，火糖香” — “copper-red liquor, an aroma of fire and sugar”. The requirements for the name are unusually detailed — down to the final hour of “old fire” at 90 °C. The name is protected twice: as an agricultural product with a geographical indication (2014) and as a geographical indication product under announcement No. 632 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (2025).
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Red tea (红茶, hóngchá) — the class is stated in the name itself, and the technology in the protection requirements is that of red tea: withering, rolling, fermentation, drying.
- Category: Red tea of Anhui Province; a geographical indication product under two protection regimes.
- Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Lu’an prefecture-level city (六安), Jinzhai County (金寨, Jīnzhài).
- Protection zone: All of Jinzhai County: all 23 townships and towns are recognized as suitable. The annex to the announcement singles out 14 where the quality is best: Meishan (梅山), Mabu (麻埠), Youfangdian (油坊店), Qingshan (青山), Zhangchong (张冲), Quanjun (全军), Taoling (桃岭), Tiechong (铁冲), Yanzihe (燕子河), Tiantangzhai (天堂寨), Gubei (古碑), Wujiadian (吴家店), Huashi (花石) and Baitafan (白塔畈).
- Geographic coordinates: 115°22′–116°11′ E, 31°06′–31°48′ N — as given in reference descriptions of the indication. In the annex to the 2025 announcement the same numbers are written with a format typo (for example, “115°221′”), but their meaning is the same.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Lu’an tea. Reference descriptions begin with the general history of Lu’an tea — from The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu to the Nongzheng Quanshu (农政全书) by Xu Guangqi; according to the Wenxian Tongkao (文献通考), a government tea station stood on the territory of the present county as early as 965. This is the history of the prefecture’s green tea, not of its red tea.
- 1950s. According to the same descriptions, specialists from the tea department of Fudan University — the predecessor of the tea faculty of Anhui Agricultural University — came to teach Jinzhai to make red tea.
- 2014. On 22 May, the Ministry of Agriculture, by announcement No. 2105, entered Jīnzhài hóngchá in the register of agricultural products with a geographical indication; the number is AGI01395.
- 2014. Anhui Province introduced the standard DB34/T 2068-2014 “Geographical indication product. Jīnzhài hóngchá”; the developers were the same county administration and Anhui Agricultural University. I have not seen the text of the standard.
- 2025. By announcement No. 632 of 9 June 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration recognized Jīnzhài hóngchá as a geographical indication product; the applicant was the county tea industry development administration.
- Name: “Jinzhai” (金寨) is the name of the county; “hóngchá” (红茶) means “red tea”.
- Cultural significance: Jinzhai is the inner mountain zone of green Lu’an Guapian; for the county, red tea is a second line of the same economy.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: According to the protection requirements — the local population variety (当地群体种, dāngdì qúntǐzhǒng).
- Harvest: The requirements are written for machine harvesting: in spring the machine goes into the garden when 80% of the shoots have reached the required size, in summer at 60%; there are 1–2 passes in spring, one in summer and 2–3 in autumn. Before the spring machine harvest, the early buds may be picked by hand — the top grade is made from them.
- Harvest standard: A description of the shoot (how many leaves per bud) is not found in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Western Anhui, a mountainous county with the Meishan (梅山) and Xianghongdian (响洪甸) reservoirs.
- Growing altitude: 300–600 m.
- Soils: Mainly brown forest soils (棕壤) and yellowish-brown soils (黄棕壤), acidic and slightly acidic, pH 5.5–6.5; organic matter not less than 2.0%.
- Climate: Numerical data are not found in the sources consulted.
- Planting: Double-row strips, 30 cm between bushes, two plants per hole — about 5,000 seedlings per mu (亩).
- Care: The basic fertilizer is applied in autumn with deep plowing; foliar feeding is stopped 10 days before harvest. Pests are controlled primarily with traps and natural enemies, and chemicals are used only to a limited extent.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements describe seven steps with parameters. This is a description of Jīnzhài hóngchá specifically, not a general scheme for the class.
- Withering (萎凋, wěidiāo). Natural — in a layer of about 5 cm, below 35 °C, 6–10 hours; in troughs with warm air — in a layer of about 15 cm, about 4 hours. End point: the leaf is soft and dark green, moisture 60–64%.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn). In several stages, with pressure “light — heavy — light”, 60–70 minutes in total; after the first stage the lumps are broken up and sieved. 70–80% of the cells are broken, and more than 80% of the leaf is twisted into strands.
- Fermentation (发酵, fājiào). At 25–30 °C, with an inflow of air, at a humidity above 90%, in a layer of 8–15 cm, 4–6 hours from the start of rolling. It is ready when the leaf has turned red, the grassy smell has gone and a floral-fruity one has appeared.
- First drying (毛火, máohuǒ). 110–120 °C, a layer of 1–2 cm, 10–15 minutes, to a moisture of 20–25%.
- Final drying (足火, zúhuǒ). After 30–40 minutes of cooling — 80–95 °C, 15–20 minutes, to a moisture of 4–6%: the stem breaks when bent, and the leaf is black with an oily sheen.
- “Old fire” (拉老火, lā lǎohuǒ). The cooled tea is heated for an hour at 90 °C: in the wording of the document, this fixes the shape and develops the fire aroma of the red tea.
- Finishing (整理, zhěnglǐ). Sieving, sorting and blending.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description follows the 2025 protection requirements; the wording of the source is given in parentheses.
- Dry leaf appearance: Tight thin strands, black with a sheen, with noticeable golden hairs (紧细乌润显金毫). Reference descriptions add that the strands are round and straight (圆直).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: A fire aroma with sweetness (火香带甜). Reference descriptions put it more broadly: a high, fresh, sweet aroma and a rich fiery note (甜香高鲜、火香浓郁).
- Taste: Fresh and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste (鲜醇回甘).
- Liquor color: Copper-red, bright, with an amber-golden rim at the edge (铜红明亮有琥珀金圈).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Evenly red, bright (红匀明亮).
7. Chemical Composition
The protection requirements set lower thresholds, not typical content:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Polyphenols | not less than 9% |
| Free amino acids | more than 1.5% |
| Caffeine | not less than 2% |
| Theaflavins | not less than 0.1% |
| Thearubigins | not less than 2.5% |
The polyphenol threshold is written in the document with a double sign (“大于≥9%”); the meaning is the same: not less than 9%. The description of the 2014 agricultural indication adds a threshold for water-soluble extractives — not less than 34.0%. Actual analyses of the finished tea are not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for red tea.
- Water temperature: 90–95 °C.
- Tea amount: 3–5 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Gaiwan or small teapot; in a white cup the golden rim is visible.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour in the water.
- First infusion — about a minute.
- Pour off the liquor completely.
- Three or four further infusions, each slightly longer than the previous one.
9. Storage
Class practice. In tightly closed packaging, in a dry, dark place, away from odors, at room temperature. The main thing is dryness: the tea is dried to 4–6% moisture and readily absorbs it again.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark: producers from the protection zone obtain it through the county intellectual property office.
- Check that the producer is from Jinzhai County.
- The leaf — thin, black, glossy, with golden hairs; the liquor — copper-red with an amber rim; a fiery note can be sensed in the aroma.
11. Interesting Facts
- The requirements are written for machine harvesting: hand picking is left only for the early buds for the top grade.
- The annex to the announcement not only outlines the zone but also ranks it: all 23 townships are suitable, and 14 are the best.
12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas of Anhui
- Qimen Hongcha (祁门红茶): The main red tea of the province, from southern Anhui. In the documents, the distinguishing mark of Jīnzhài hóngchá is not a floral aroma but a fiery-sweet one.
- Lu’an Guapian (六安瓜片): A green tea made from leaf blades; Jinzhai is its inner mountain zone.
- Huoshan Huang Da Cha (霍山黄大茶): A large-leaf yellow tea whose zone, according to the corpus article, also extends into Jinzhai.
In Conclusion:
Jīnzhài hóngchá is a red tea of a county known above all for green Lu’an Guapian. Its protection is set out in detail: a ranked zone, a local population variety, machine harvesting with thresholds, seven technology steps and a final hour of “old fire”. The document sums up the result in two phrases — a copper-red liquor with an amber rim and an aroma of fire and sugar.
Sources
Standards
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page