Kèjiā chǎolǜ

Kèjiā Chǎolǜ (Kèjiā chǎolǜ, 客家炒绿) — “Hakka roasted green tea.” This is not a single tea but a category (品类, pǐnlèi) of green teas that are finished by pan-roasting in Hakka areas. The formal category name is 客家炒青绿茶 (Kèjiā chǎoqīng lǜchá), and in everyday use it is also called 客家炒茶 and 客家绿茶. According to draft standards of the Guangdong Tea Society, it is widespread in places where the Hakka live — in the prefectures of Méizhōu, Héyuán, Huìzhōu, Sháoguān, Jiēyáng, and other prefectures of Guangdong Province; a Méizhōu explanatory note draws the boundary more broadly — across the Hakka areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi. It is recognized by its roasted-rice aroma (炒米香, chǎomǐ xiāng) and a strong infusion with a long sweet return. Aged tea of this category is distinguished as a separate product, and the Hakka themselves, according to the same note, call it “a green tea that can be stored.”

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Green tea (unfermented), by drying method — roasted: 炒青绿茶 (chǎoqīng lǜchá). The explanatory note of the Guangdong Tea Society (广东省茶叶学会, 2024) defines the category as follows: tea made from buds, leaves, and tender stems of medium- and small-leaf tea bushes growing in the Hakka areas of Guangdong, which undergoes spreading, fixation, rolling, and roasting; the finished product is 炒青绿茶.
• Category: A regional category of Hakka roasted green teas — not a cultivar, not a single place, and not a brand of one producer. The explanatory note to the draft brewing standard (Méizhōu, 2025) calls 客家炒绿 “an important category of the tea industry of Méizhōu and other Hakka areas” — with a long production history, pronounced local features, a distinctive technology, and recognizable quality. The note of the Guangdong Tea Society places Hakka roasted green tea among the three main tea systems of Guangdong — alongside dāncōng and black tea.
• Origin: China, primarily Guangdong Province (广东, Guǎngdōng). Sources draw the boundaries of the area in different ways:
  • draft standards of the Guangdong Tea Society (2024) — Hakka settlement areas in the prefectures of Méizhōu (梅州, Méizhōu), Héyuán (河源, Héyuán), Huìzhōu (惠州, Huìzhōu), Sháoguān (韶关, Sháoguān), and Jiēyáng (揭阳, Jiēyáng); the list is open-ended — it ends with the word 等, “and others”;
  • the note to the draft brewing standard (Méizhōu, 2025) — the Hakka areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi (粤闽赣, Yuè Mǐn Gàn);
  • a 2026 scholarly article — the tea is “very popular” in the mountainous areas of southeastern China where the Hakka live.
• The boundary is not agreed upon: the provincial (Guangdong) and ethnic (all Hakka areas) formulations diverge. In the encyclopedia, Hakka roasted green tea is also described outside Guangdong — in Fujian (section 13).
• Geographic coordinates: The category has no single coordinates: it covers several prefectures, and the point depends on the specific tea.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • Tradition. Documents call 客家炒绿 a traditional tea with a long history: the note of the Guangdong Tea Society — “one of the traditional historical famous teas of Guangdong” (广东传统历史名茶之一), the Méizhōu note — a product with a long production history. These documents give no dates or early written evidence. The authors of a 2023 study call the Qīngliáng Mountains (清凉山, Qīngliáng shān) in Méizhōu a place where this tea has long been made.
  • Historical teas of Méizhōu. A 2025 media publication reports that of the nine historical famous teas of Méizhōu, seven belong to 客家炒绿, but it does not say which ones; the list of nine also includes oolong, so the belonging of any individual tea cannot be inferred from this phrase.
  • 2022. A draft group standard for the technology of “Hakka pure-aroma green tea” (客家清香型绿茶, Kèjiā qīngxiāngxíng lǜchá) was posted: registration — Guangdong Quality Inspection Association (广东省质量检验协会), proposed by Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering (仲恺农业工程学院). The term 客家炒绿 does not appear in the document.
  • 2024. The Guangdong Tea Society posted draft standards for the evaluation of “old green tea” (老绿茶, lǎo lǜchá) and the technology of “chilled” roasted green tea (冰鲜炒青绿茶, bīngxiān chǎoqīng lǜchá). The explanatory notes to both drafts contain the same sentence about the category, its names, and its area.
  • 2025, brewing standard. The Méizhōu Agriculture Bureau and the Tea Research Institute of the Méizhōu Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences proposed a group standard for brewing 《客家炒绿冲泡技术规程》, registered by the Guangdong Quality Inspection Association. According to a media report of June 6, 2025, the academy officially released the standard at a brand presentation of 客家炒绿 in Beijing; the final text and number could not be found.
  • 2025, references to group standards. The normative references of the draft brewing standard name the group standards T/GDAQI 103 “客家炒绿” and T/GDAQI 104 “陈年客家炒绿” — without a year. Their texts, dates, and status could not be found. According to a media report, the group standard 《客家炒绿》 was developed by the Méizhōu Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences together with tea companies.
  • 2025, local standard. A recommended standard for the technology “客家炒青绿茶加工技术规程” was included in the 2025 plan of Méizhōu local standards; the lead organization is the Tea Research Institute of the Méizhōu Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, with a one-year deadline. Whether it has been issued has not been established.
• Name: 客家 (Kèjiā) — Hakka, the name of the people; 炒 (chǎo) — “to roast”; 绿 (lǜ) — “green.” The note of the Guangdong Tea Society explains the name by the fact that this roasted green tea is drunk by people of the Hakka language group (客家语系, Kèjiā yǔxì). The formal name is 客家炒青绿茶; everyday names are 客家炒茶 (Kèjiā chǎochá), 客家炒绿, and 客家绿茶 (Kèjiā lǜchá); the full form with the word “tea” is 客家炒绿茶 (Kèjiā chǎolǜ chá). The name 客家绿茶 sounds like the generic “Hakka green tea” and without explanation can mean any green tea of the Hakka. English names in the documents differ: Hakka roasted green tea in the draft brewing standard, Hakka stir-fried green tea in the 2023 scholarly article, Kejia green tea in the 2026 article. “Kèjiā Chǎolǜ” is the romanized form of the Chinese name.
• Cultural significance:
  • For Méizhōu. According to the note to the draft brewing standard, the authorities of Méizhōu have set the goal of making 客家炒绿 “the number one green tea brand of Guangdong.” Media in 2025 wrote about the goal of turning it into a national brand with a geographical indication, and the newspaper “Yángchéng Wǎnbào” in 2026 named 客家炒绿 among the four pillar agricultural industries of the prefecture, designated as “四个百亿” — “four of ten billion” (the unit is not named in the text).
  • A tea that is stored. The Méizhōu note writes that 客家炒绿 can be stored for a long time, and Hakka people call aged tea “温肚茶” (wēndù chá) — “tea that warms the belly” — and “可存放的绿茶” — “a green tea that can be stored.” These are folk names, not a description of the tea’s effects.
  • Market. The authors of the 2023 study write that the “roasted-rice aroma” and sweet taste are valued on the local Hakka market, in the Hakka diaspora abroad, among tea connoisseurs, and among those who are just beginning to drink tea.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Cultivar: There is no single cultivar. According to the note of the Guangdong Tea Society, the raw material is medium- and small-leaf bushes (中小叶种, zhōng xiǎo yè zhǒng) growing in the Hakka areas of Guangdong. The authors of the 2023 study write that theoretically such tea can be made from the leaf of any cultivar, but in practice only some are used — those that give the characteristic taste and aroma.
• Cultivar changes the profile: The same study compared three batches from three cultivars: tea from the Huángdàn cultivar gave a pronounced floral aroma, from the Méizhān cultivar — a roasted-rice aroma, from a local cultivar of the Qīngliáng Mountains — a balance of roasted rice and freshness. There was one batch per cultivar, and the authors themselves ask for the conclusion to be checked on a larger sample.
• Local populations: A 2022 study (journal “Modern Food Science and Technology,” 现代食品科技) made Hakka roasted green tea from the “Guangdong Hakka small-leaf population” 仙湖茶 (Xiānhú chá). Whether it coincides with the raw material of Shàngguān Xiānhú Chá is not stated by the source.
• Plucking: Plucking dates for the category are not given in the verified sources. The samples of the 2023 study were made in the September 2020 plucking season.
• Plucking standard: According to a media report, the group standard 《客家炒绿》 establishes the norm “one bud with two to three leaves” (一芽二三叶, yī yá èr sān yè); the text of the standard has not been read. The samples of the 2026 aging study were plucked according to the standard “one bud — two leaves.”
• Raw material requirements: According to the definition in the note — buds, leaves, and tender stems. No other requirements appear in the verified sources.

4. Terroir and Growing Characteristics

• Region: The Hakka areas of Guangdong — in the Guangdong Tea Society list these are Méizhōu, Héyuán, Huìzhōu, Sháoguān, and Jiēyáng. The 2026 scholarly article speaks of mountainous areas of southeastern China where the Hakka live.
• Méizhōu: The most detailed data are for this prefecture. Here are the Qīngliáng Mountains, which the authors of the 2023 study call a place of long-standing production, and Jiāolǐng County (蕉岭, Jiāolǐng), from which the samples of the 2026 aging study came — from one plantation, under identical growing conditions.
• Altitude, climate, soils: They are not described for the category as a whole in the verified sources. They differ from tea to tea, and should be looked up in the articles on specific teas of the category (section 13).
• Outside Guangdong: In the encyclopedia, Hakka roasted green tea is also described in Fujian — Wǔpíng Lǜchá (武平绿茶) with the product “Liángyě Chǎolǜ” (梁野炒绿, liángyě chǎolǜ). Whether primary sources assign it to 客家炒绿 is unknown; the characters 炒绿 by themselves simply mean “roasted green.”

5. Production Technology

The general chain is set by the Guangdong Tea Society note as follows: spreading — fixation — rolling — roasting. The Méizhōu note calls the distinctive technique of the category “heavy roasting” (重炒). The authors of the 2026 study describe the technique as “long, repeated roasting at high temperature”: it gives strong bitterness and astringency, a sharp, strong taste, and the “high-fire” aroma characteristic of heavily heat-treated teas. There is no single detailed scheme for the whole category in the documents read: the texts of the group standards T/GDAQI 103 and 104 have not been read, and the local technology standard was only planned in 2025. Below is the general chain and documented examples; the figures refer to specific documents and samples.

• Spreading of fresh leaf (摊青 — tānqīng): The first stage of the chain in all descriptions found. As with other green teas, the leaf is spread out in a layer so that it slightly withers. Parameters for the category are not given.
• Fixation (杀青 — shāqīng): Heating that stops leaf oxidation. For the samples of the 2026 study (Jiāolǐng County) — in a heated wok at about 220–240 °C for 3–5 minutes.
• Rolling (揉捻 — róuniǎn): For the same samples — by hand or on a roller for 15–20 minutes.
• Roasting (炒制 — chǎozhì): The main stage of the category. In Guangdong documents roasting comes after rolling and serves as drying: the 2022 draft standard defines roasting as drying stages — at an early stage its task is to drive out water, at a late stage to dry the leaf completely and roll it tightly. There can be several roastings: for the samples of the 2026 study — primary and repeated wok roasting, then final drying at 70–80 °C to moisture below 6%. According to a media report, the group standard 《客家炒绿》 counts “stage-by-stage fire management” (分段火工调控, fēnduàn huǒgōng tiáokòng) among the key parameters.
• The order is not the same everywhere: In the 2023 study, the samples were made according to the standard procedure GB/T 14456.1-2008 in this order: withering, fixation, roasting, rolling, drying, and final drying — that is, roasting came immediately after fixation, before rolling.

Example: draft standard for “Hakka pure-aroma green tea” (2022). This is a draft for one named tea, and the term 客家炒绿 does not appear in it, but it describes multi-stage roasting in the greatest detail. The chain: fresh leaf → spreading (摊青) → fixation (杀青) → rolling (揉捻) → second roasting (炒二青, chǎo èrqīng) → shaping (整形, zhěngxíng) → cooling (摊放, tānfàng) → third roasting (炒三青, chǎo sānqīng) → finish-drying (辉干, huīgān) → finished tea → sorting (分选, fēnxuǎn) → inspection, packaging, storage.

• Second roasting: wok at 200–220 °C, about 15–30 minutes, mainly by tossing (抛炒, pāochǎo), until the tea becomes “seven-tenths dry” and begins to prick the hand slightly; by this point the leaf shape is largely fixed.
• Cooling: the tea is spread out at room temperature for 1–4 hours.
• Finish-drying: with the manual method — wok at 100–120 °C, 6–10 hours, first with greater effort, then with less, to moisture below 6%. The draft also permits finish-drying in a drum machine.
• Sorting in this chain comes after finish-drying, not between roastings.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Below are the reference points set by the draft brewing standard (2025) and descriptions from the notes to the standards. This is a description of the category as a whole; a specific tea may differ — depending on cultivar and age.

• Dry leaf appearance: Tight, even, gray-green with luster (紧结、匀整、灰绿润). The grayish coating on the leaf — “灰白” or “frost” (起霜, qǐshuāng) — the draft compares to matte platinum and calls this color “金砂” (jīnshā), and the yellow-green base of the leaf — “翠” (cuì).
• Dry leaf aroma: There is no separate description in the verified sources. The draft brewing standard prescribes evaluating the dry aroma (干香, gānxiāng) in a warmed teapot immediately after three light shakes (section 9).
• Infusion aroma: High and fresh sweet roasted-rice aroma (炒米甜香, chǎomǐ tiánxiāng) with a dense sweet or honey tone — according to the draft standard. The Méizhōu note adds that in some cultivars floral and honey aromas are noticeable, and the aroma is high and persistent; the category formula in the note is “high aroma and sweet aftertaste” (高香甜韵, gāo xiāng tián yùn). The sources do not specify whether the description refers to the dry leaf or the infusion.
• Taste: Strong, dense, soft, with a strong sweet return (浓强、醇厚、回甘力强) — according to the draft standard; the Méizhōu note writes of a strong infusion and a long sweet return (回甘, huígān). Fresh tea is noticeably bitter and astringent: the authors of the 2026 study link this to long roasting at high temperature and note that to many outside the Hakka areas this taste seems too bitter and sharp.
• Infusion color: Green with a yellow tint — green predominates — bright and clear (汤色绿色为主，黄色为辅，明亮清澈).
• Wet leaf: There is no description in the verified sources. The draft brewing standard only requires that after three infusions the integrity of the leaf be no lower than 90%.

Aged tea is a separate profile: see section 10.

7. Chemical Composition

There are no quantitative data on the composition of teas of this category in the verified sources. As with most green teas, the leaf contains catechins, amino acids (including L-theanine), and caffeine; how much of them is present in Hakka roasted teas is not given in the materials read.

Three scholarly works have studied the composition of these teas:

• Aging study (2026). Scientists from South China Normal University and the Tea Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences compared fresh, 10-year, and 20-year tea from Jiāolǐng County using liquid and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. During storage, bitter and astringent substances decreased, and the taste became milder; “high-fire” substances with a roasted aroma weakened — for example, 2-ethoxy-3-methylpyrazine and 2-ethylbenzaldehyde — while nutty and woody tones strengthened.
• Cultivar study (2023). It compared taste and aroma substances of Hakka roasted green tea from three cultivars; the authors describe the result through sensory terms (section 3).
• Processing study (2022). It tracked how during processing — spreading, fixation, rolling, roasting, finish-drying — the main substances and aroma composition changed in tea from the 仙湖茶 population.

8. Health Properties

There are no verified data on the effects of teas of this category. Local documents and media report folk beliefs about the benefits of aged tea; in the materials read these are not supported by research, and the encyclopedia does not repeat them as properties of the tea.

9. Brewing

This category has its own brewing standard (2025), but only its draft has been read; below are the draft parameters. It applies to both fresh and aged 客家炒绿.

• Water temperature: 100 °C. This is hotter than what is customary for most delicate green teas.
• Amount of tea: A tea-to-water ratio of 1:20, that is, 5 g per 100 ml.
• Teaware: A teapot of 110–180 ml made of 朱泥紫砂 (zhūní zǐshā) clay or porcelain, or a gàiwǎn (盖碗, gàiwǎn); cups of 40 ml each, made of white porcelain.
• Process:
  1. Warm the teapot, pitcher, and cups with boiling water (温壶烫盏, wēn hú tàng zhǎn).
  2. Add tea at a ratio of 1:20, shake the warmed teapot lightly three times, and inhale the dry aroma (三叠摇香法, sān dié yáo xiāng fǎ).
  3. Rinse the tea: quickly pour boiling water to the top and pour it off immediately (洗茶, xǐchá).
  4. First infusion — 10 seconds, second — 20, third — 30; each time pour the infusion out completely, leaving no water on the leaf (沥尽不留底, lì jìn bù liú dǐ).
  5. How many more infusions the tea can withstand the draft does not say; as with most green teas, increase the time thereafter until the infusion weakens.

10. Storage

• A tea that can be stored. The Méizhōu note writes that 客家炒绿 can be stored for a long time; the note of the Guangdong Tea Society notes that Hakka roasted green tea stores easily and withstands aging. In this it differs from most green teas, which are customarily drunk fresh.
• Aged tea as a separate product. For aged 客家炒绿 the draft brewing standard refers to a separate group standard T/GDAQI 104 “陈年客家炒绿” (chénnián Kèjiā chǎolǜ); the aging threshold and requirements from it are unknown. The Guangdong Tea Society draft for the Méixiàn area (梅县, Méixiàn) calls “old green tea” (老绿茶) roasted green tea that has been stored under suitable conditions for three years or more, and describes the aroma of good samples as “a wild note, a dense woody or aged aroma, persistent” (野韵、木香/陈香浓郁、持久).
• What the study showed. The 2026 work compared fresh, 10-year, and 20-year tea from one supplier in Jiāolǐng County, from one plantation; it was stored at 10–25 °C, relative humidity below 50%, in a warehouse without light. These are the storage conditions of the samples, not a recommendation. According to sensory evaluation and electronic tongue data, bitterness and astringency decreased during storage, and the taste became softer; according to the conclusions of the work, green, roasted, and scorched “high-fire” notes weakened. The 10-year tea received the highest total score from a panel of 11 experts. Compared with the 20-year tea, its aroma was stronger and more persistent, and its taste was softer, so “the older, the better” was not confirmed for these samples.
• Where sources diverge. The general conclusions of the same work say that storage strengthened sweet, fruity, floral, and woody tones, while the sensory evaluation section says that the fruity aroma is stronger in fresh tea. The sensory evaluation ranks the aroma of the 10-year tea above the 20-year tea, while volatile analysis shows that ten aromatic attributes, including woody, are more pronounced in the 20-year tea.
• Caveats. The authors of the study themselves write that the value of aging this tea remains largely folk tradition, and the mechanisms of changes during storage have not been studied; their samples are three batches from one producer. The encyclopedia articles on some teas of the category — Jiēyáng chǎo chá, Méixiàn Lǜchá, Jiāolǐng Lǜchá — advise drinking the tea fresh. Aging is possible but not obligatory for every tea of the category.
• Fresh tea: Like most green teas, fresh 客家炒绿 should be stored in tightly sealed packaging, away from light, moisture, and foreign odors, in a cool place.

11. Price and Counterfeits

There are no price data in the verified sources.

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Ask for the specific tea and prefecture. 客家炒绿 is the name of a category, not of a single product; according to Guangdong documents, these are Méizhōu, Héyuán, Huìzhōu, Sháoguān, Jiēyáng, and other prefectures.
  • The inscription 客家绿茶 on a package may mean any Hakka green tea, and 炒绿 without 客家 — any roasted green tea.
  • The names of individual teas of the category are protected: for example, Méixiàn Lǜchá and Jiāolǐng Lǜchá are described in their articles as teas with geographical indications. For such names, look for the mark on the package.
  • The age of a tea cannot be verified by its appearance: ask for the year of production and storage conditions, and accept claims of decades of aging only from sellers whose trustworthiness you have reason to believe.
  • Compare the tea with the reference points of the draft standard: tight, even, gray-green leaf with luster, roasted-rice aroma, bright clear infusion. A suspiciously low price for an “aged” tea is a reason for caution.

12. Interesting Facts

• According to the note to the draft brewing standard, in 2024 Méizhōu produced 18.5 thousand tonnes of 客家炒绿 — 55.94% of all its tea.
• The draft standard describes the color of the dry leaf almost in jeweler’s terms: the grayish “frost” on the leaf is “金砂,” “golden sand,” the color of matte platinum, and the yellow-green base is “翠.”
• Three documents about the same category give three different English names: roasted, stir-fried, and simply Kejia green tea.
• The Hakka call aged tea of this category “a green tea that can be stored” — a name rare for a class usually valued for freshness.
• In the aging study, the best was not the oldest tea: the 10-year-old outperformed the 20-year-old.

13. Types and Classification

By age and name:

• Fresh 客家炒绿 — tea of the current season; profile — roasted-rice aroma, strong taste with bitterness and astringency.
• Aged 客家炒绿 (陈年客家炒绿) — under this name the draft brewing standard refers to a separate standard T/GDAQI 104; this is a subtype, not a synonym.
• Old green tea (老绿茶) of the Méixiàn area — according to the Guangdong Tea Society draft, roasted green tea stored for three years or more; the term 客家炒绿 does not appear in its definition.
• Hakka pure-aroma green tea (客家清香型绿茶) — a separate name with its own draft technology standard (2022). Whether the document assigns this tea to 客家炒绿 is not visible from the text.
• “Chilled” roasted green tea (冰鲜炒青绿茶) — a draft technology standard of the Guangdong Tea Society (2024) for Méizhōu; it has nothing to do with the aging tradition.
• Neighboring words: 炒绿 by itself is the generic “roasted green,” and without 客家 it does not point to the Hakka tradition; 客家炒青 (Kèjiā chǎoqīng) occurs in the article on Liánpíng Gāoshān Chá, while in primary sources it appears only as part of the formal name 客家炒青绿茶.

Teas of the category in the encyclopedia. Primary sources name prefectures but do not list named teas. The assignment below is editorial, by prefecture and technology; for some teas it is debatable, and this is noted.

• Huìdōng Lǜ Chá (惠东绿茶) — Huìzhōu. Its article itself assigns the tea to 客家炒绿 and calls this technology the main one.
• Méixiàn Lǜchá (梅县绿茶) — Méizhōu. “Roasted green tea of Hakka Méizhōu,” in its article — a tea with a geographical indication (2025); the article also describes a second rise of aroma about 30 days after the first drying.
• Qīngliángshān Chá (清凉山茶) — Méizhōu, Qīngliáng Mountains. Media include the tea of the Qīngliáng Mountains among the nine historical teas of Méizhōu. Its article assigns the tea to the 客家炒绿 tradition, but describes it as 烘青 (hōngqīng, hot-air drying) with elements of roasting — this diverges from the definition of the category as 炒青.
• Qīshējǐng Chá (七畲径茶) — Méizhōu. The technology in the article is called 客家炒茶; the identity of this word with 客家炒绿 is not directly established by the sources, although the note of the Guangdong Tea Society gives 客家炒茶 as an everyday name of the category.
• Mǎtú Lǜ Chá (马图绿茶) — Méizhōu, roasted green tea of a Hakka village; media include Mǎtú green tea among the nine historical teas of Méizhōu.
• Jiāolǐng Lǜchá (蕉岭绿茶) — Méizhōu, Jiāolǐng County, from which the samples of the aging study came. In its article — a tea with a geographical indication (2016), the word “Hakka” does not appear in it, and aging is called unnecessary there.
• Kānghé Chá (康禾茶) — Héyuán. A Hakka tea with a roasted-rice aroma; according to its article — with a 做青 (zuòqīng) stage, closer to the border with oolong.
• Shàngguān Xiānhú Chá (上莞仙湖茶) — Héyuán. A Hakka tea with a roasted-rice aroma; according to its article — 烘青 with final heat drying.
• Jiēyáng chǎo chá (揭阳炒茶) — Jiēyáng. A local style of the Hakka mountain counties within the category’s area, not a synonym for 客家炒绿; its article advises drinking the tea in the first months.
• Liánpíng Gāoshān Chá (连平高山茶) — Héyuán. A county name without a single class — both green and black tea; a bearer of the neighboring word 客家炒青.
• Wǔpíng Lǜchá (武平绿茶) — Fujian. A Hakka roasted green tea outside Guangdong; primary sources neither assign it to the category nor exclude it.
• Gǔláo Chá (古劳茶) — Hèshān. Its article calls the tea a symbol of Hakka tea culture of Guangdong; whether it is assigned to 客家炒绿 is unknown.

In conclusion:

Kèjiā Chǎolǜ is not a cultivar and not a place, but the common language of a whole region: the Hakka tea growers of Méizhōu, Héyuán, Huìzhōu, and neighboring prefectures finish green leaf by long roasting in a wok, and the tea comes out dense, gray-green, with a roasted-rice aroma and a strong taste in which bitterness is balanced by long sweetness. It is a green tea that does not fear time: the Hakka call it a tea that can be stored, and distinguish aged 客家炒绿 as a separate product, although science is only beginning to sort out what happens to it over years of storage.

The category is now living through a time of standards — brewing, processing, and aging are receiving their own documents, and Méizhōu is building a brand on it. For those accustomed to delicate spring green teas, Kèjiā Chǎolǜ will show another side of the class — strong, fiery, and patient.

Sources

Standards

• GB/T 14456.1-2008
• T/GDAQI 103
• T/GDAQI 104

Documents and publications

1. 团体标准《客家炒绿冲泡技术规程（征求意见稿）》编制说明 — 标准编制工作组（提出：梅州市农业农村局、梅州市农林科学院茶叶研究所；立项：广东省质量检验协会）
2. 团体标准 客家炒绿冲泡技术规程 Technical specification for Brewing Hakka roasted green tea（征求意见稿）, T/ XXXXX—XXXX — 广东省质量检验协会
3. 广东省茶叶学会团体标准 T/44GDTS XXXX—2024 老绿茶品质评价技术 Quality Evaluation Techniques for aged roasted green tea（征求意见稿）+《老绿茶品质评价技术》编制说明 — 广东省茶叶学会
4. 广东省茶叶学会团体标准 T/44GDTS XXXX—2024 冰鲜炒青绿茶加工技术规程（征求意见稿）+编制说明 — 广东省茶叶学会
5. 团体标准 客家清香型绿茶加工技术规程（草案） — 广东省质量检验协会
6. 2025年梅州市地方标准制修订计划项目 — 梅州市人民政府 (meizhou.gov.cn)
7. Study on bitterness reduction and aroma enrichment of Kejia green tea based on storage duration through UPLC-MS/GC–MS technology — Food Chemistry: X, vol. 35 (2026), article 103867; DOI 10.1016/j.fochx.2026.103867; PMID 42040320; Tea Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences)
8. The Cultivar Effect on the Taste and Aroma Substances of Hakka Stir-Fried Green Tea from Guangdong — Foods (MDPI), 2023, 12(10):2067; DOI 10.3390/foods12102067; PMID 37238885
9. 客家炒青绿茶加工过程中品质成分的动态变化 (Dynamic Changes of Quality Components in Hakka Roasted Green Tea during Processing) — 现代食品科技 (Modern Food Science and Technology), 2022, 38(6):248-256; DOI 10.13982/j.mfst.1673-9078.2022.6.0562
10. 千年茶香传古韵 汉茶化石启新章 2025梅州客家炒绿品牌推介会在京圆满举办 — 投资界 (pedaily.cn), 2025-06-06
11. 客家茶脉里的文明基因：一片绿叶的千年火工与文明回甘 — 看点时报, 2025-05-28
12. Pre-Qingming Tea in Guangdong | Meizhou: Hakka Green Tea — GDToday / newsgd.com, 2022-04-02
13. 客都好物进北京！梅州优质农特产品亮相总台美食文化周 — 羊城晚报, 2026-06-12

Full list — on the Sources page