--- title: "Kǒngkēng chá" url: https://thetea.app/article/kongkeng-cha lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Kǒngkēng chá (孔坑茶) *Kǒngkēng chá* (孔坑茶) is a green tea from Ninghua County (宁化县) of Sanming prefecture-level city in the west of Fujian Province. The name comes from the old mountain garden of Kongkeng (孔坑), also known as Xiyuan (西园, “western garden”), west of Yanxiang Village (延祥村) in Quanshang Town (泉上镇); the local name of the tea is “Yanxiang tribute tea” (延祥贡茶). According to the village chronicle, in the Zhengde years of the Ming dynasty a fellow villager carried this tea to the capital. Since 2017 the name has been protected as an agricultural product geographical indication, and since 2025 as a geographical indication product. The description of the indication specifies a green tea with a chestnut aroma, but some local and tourist sources describe an oolong under the same name; the discrepancy is examined below. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The description of the indication lists fixation, rolling, shaping and drying and specifies a grey-green leaf and a yellow-green liquor; the provincial department of agriculture calls the product “孔坑绿” — “Kongkeng green”. * **Discrepancy with oolong:** Tourist guides describe an oolong technology with shaking of the leaf (做青, *zuòqīng*) and label the tea “oolong”, while the description by the Sanming bureau of agriculture (2025) gives a green-brown leaf and an orange-yellow liquor, which differs from the description of the indication. The class here is given according to the protection document; under similar names an oolong may also be found on the market. * **Category:** Agricultural product geographical indication (2017), geographical indication product (2025). * **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Sanming prefecture-level city (三明, *Sānmíng*), Ninghua County (宁化, *Nínghuà*). * **Protection zone:** The sources differ. The 2017 announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture names eight townships and towns — Cuijiang, Chengjiao, Hucun, Quanshang, Zhongsha, Helong, Shuiqian and Anyuan, 100 villages in all; a reprint of the description of the indication adds a total area of 1,300.18 km², of which 1,333.33 ha are under production, and an output of 1,600 t a year; the extreme points are Yanxiang Village in the east, Shexia (社下村) in the west, Liqi (李七村) in the south and Jingkeng (井坑村) in the north. The register summary for the 2025 entry gives the entire present territory of Ninghua County. Which boundary applies now cannot be established from the sources consulted. * **Geographic coordinates:** According to the 2017 announcement — 116°33′–117°02′ E, 26°10′–26°40′ N. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **Zhengde years (1506–1521).** According to the *Chronicle of Yanxiang Village* (《延祥村史志》), retold by the county's intangible heritage database, a native of the village holding the bagong degree (拔贡, *bágòng*) served in Jinhua Prefecture of Zhejiang Province, often traveled to the capital and took tea from Kongkeng there; the tea was liked at court, and the name “tribute” (贡茶, *gòngchá*) became attached to it. The official's name is written 杨得安 and 杨德安, his post 经历 and 经略. The Sanming bureau dates the tribute tea status to the Qing era; primary documents are not found in the sources consulted. * **September 1947.** According to archival data cited by the same database, an exhibition of local products was held in Taiwan for the second anniversary of “guangfu” (光复) — the end of Japanese rule; Xiyuan tea from Kongkeng was chosen for the Fujian pavilion. * **1955 and 1956.** The tea was sent to the All-China Agricultural Exhibition in Beijing, where it was highly rated; it was also presented to Mao Zedong on behalf of the county's residents. * **1980s.** According to the intangible heritage database, Yanxiang began to expand its plantings; its protection zone now has about 300 mu of gardens. * **2010.** The wild Xiyuan population was included in the provincial “protection zone for valuable genetic resources of the tea plant of Fujian”. * **January 2017.** By announcement No. 2486 of 10 January, the Ministry of Agriculture registered the agricultural product geographical indication (certificate AGI02021); the applicant was the Ninghua County Agronomy Society (宁化县农学会). * **2016–2018.** In 2016 the Yanxiang tea cooperative was set up; in September 2018 the “technique of making Yanxiang Kongkeng tribute tea” was entered on the county's second list of intangible heritage. * **2025.** By announcement No. 640, the China National Intellectual Property Administration recognized Kongkeng tea as a geographical indication product. * **Name:** “Kong” (孔) means “opening, hole”, “keng” (坑) means “hollow, ravine”; this is the name of a mountain plot. * **Cultural significance:** The county government website includes Kongkeng tea in the “two mi and two cha” (两米两茶) — four products of the county with state protection: Helong tribute rice, Ninghua coix, Huaitu camellia oil and Kongkeng tea. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Variety / Cultivar:** The sources do not name a registered variety. The Sanming bureau of agriculture describes the source plant as a local wild tea of the county: a small tree with a trunk, medium-leaved, mid-season; the shoots are long-elliptical and yellow-green, the leaf is soft. * **Raw material:** The description of the indication speaks of fresh leaf from the county's tea bushes grown in its particular conditions. * **Harvest time:** According to the provincial department, picking takes place once a year, on clear days after the Guyu season and before Lixia (谷雨 — 立夏), that is, around late April to early May. * **Harvest standard:** Not found in the sources consulted. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Historic garden:** According to a publication by the provincial department (2025) — an altitude of about 700 m, morning mists, deep fertile soils, slopes facing east. * **Another description:** The Sanming bureau writes that the tea grows near Lianhuazhang Peak (莲花掌), in clouds and mist, on soils rich in selenium and organic matter. Whether this is the same place as Xiyuan the sources do not specify. * **Scale:** According to the Sanming bureau, in 2023 the tea gardens of the whole of Ninghua County covered 38,600 mu, output was 7,154 t, revenue 226 million yuan; the core of Kongkeng tribute tea is more than 1,500 mu, with more than 2,000 mu of standardized gardens around it. **5. Production Technology:** The description of the indication lists four operations: fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*), shaping (做形, *zuòxíng*) and drying (烘干, *hōnggān*). The provincial department writes of manual work following a traditional scheme: withering, fixation, rolling, drying. None of the sources gives parameters — temperatures, times, moisture. Tourist guides describe something else — a technology with shaking of the leaf (做青), that is, an oolong technology. This scheme does not match the description in the protection document. **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** The reference is the description of the indication in the register summary. * **Dry leaf appearance:** Thin, tight, curled strands, grey-green with a sheen (条索细紧卷曲，色泽灰绿润). * **Dry leaf aroma:** A separate description is not found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** Rich, with a distinct chestnut note (香气浓郁、栗香显). * **Taste:** Mellow, full, sweetish and fresh (滋味醇厚甘爽). * **Liquor color:** Yellow-green (汤色黄绿). * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Fairly tender and even (叶底尚嫩匀). The provincial department confirms the main points: curled grey-green leaf, chestnut aroma, mellow taste. The description by the Sanming bureau is different — a green-brown leaf and an orange-yellow liquor. **7. Chemical Composition:** Physicochemical data checked against the primary source are not found in the sources consulted. An encyclopedic retelling of the description of the indication gives figures, but the amino acids in it are given as a number implausible for tea, which looks like a transcription error, so the whole block is not used here. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** Class practice for green tea. * **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C. * **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml. * **Teaware:** A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan. * **Process:** Warm the teaware, pour the water down the side, the first infusion after 40–60 seconds, then two or three more infusions, leaving part of the liquor. **10. Storage:** Class practice. 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:** Price data are not found in the sources consulted. * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Look for the geographical indication mark and check that the producer is from Ninghua County. * Compare the appearance with the description of the indication: grey-green thin curled strands, a yellow-green liquor, a chestnut aroma. A dark, heat-treated tea with an oolong aroma under the name “孔坑贡茶” does not match the description of the indication. * Do not confuse it with the similar-sounding Jiukeng Cha ([鸠坑茶](https://thetea.app/article/jiukeng-cha)) from Zhejiang. **12. Interesting Facts:** * According to the intangible heritage database, the historic Kongkeng garden is only a few dozen mu. * In 1947 tea from the village garden represented Fujian at an exhibition in Taiwan. * Of the county's “two cha” that received state protection, only one is a tea: the second “cha” is camellia oil. **13. Comparison with Other Teas:** * **Jiukeng Cha (鸠坑茶):** Green tea of Chun'an County in Zhejiang; the shared character 坑 is only a coincidence of place names. * **Qijing Cha ([七境茶](https://thetea.app/article/qijing-cha)):** Pan-fired green tea of Luoyuan County on the Fujian coast, also with a chestnut note and also recognized as a geographical indication product in 2025. * **Wuping Lücha ([武平绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/wuping-lucha)):** Green tea of Wuping County in western Fujian. **In Conclusion:** *Kǒngkēng chá* is a mountain green tea of western Fujian that grew out of a single old garden near Yanxiang Village: thin curled grey-green strands, a yellow-green liquor, a chestnut aroma. Its history rests on the village chronicle and archival mentions from 1947 and the 1950s, its protection on the registrations of 2017 and 2025. An oolong is also found under the same name, and what makes the tea green is the protection document.