---
title: "Lāgōu gōnggǎn yáochá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/lagou-gonggan-yaocha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Lāgōu gōnggǎn yáochá (拉沟公敢瑶茶)

*Lāgōu gōnggǎn yáochá* (拉沟公敢瑶茶) is a tea from the old tea trees of Gonggan Mountain in Daping Village (大坪村), Lagou Township (拉沟乡), Luzhai County (鹿寨县) of Liuzhou prefecture-level city, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. There is no geographical indication. In April 2026 an ordinary trademark “公敢” was registered, while the county is still preparing an application for a geographical indication certification mark, and the documents write the name of the future mark in different ways — “拉沟公敢瑶茶” or “拉沟公敢茶”. The class is not fixed by any document: the main product of the “公敢瑶茶” factory is, according to descriptions of its production, a red tea, but green tea is also made under the name “公敢”, and from the leaf of adopted trees, according to 2026 reports, white tea can be made as well.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Not established. There is no standard, no quality requirements and no mark document that would fix the class, and official reports describe several classes under one name. Red: the Liuzhou city bureau of agriculture reported that in 2023 specialists helped develop a red tea from old trees ([古树](https://thetea.app/article/gushu-dashu-taidi-yesheng)红茶), and in spring 2024 more than 4,000 jin of red tea were made from the leaf of the old Lagou trees; a 2023 township report calls the liquor red, reports from 2025 and 2026 describe withering, rolling and fermentation at the factory, and a July 2025 report of the county consultative conference speaks of a “traditional red tea technique” (传统红茶技艺). Green: in 2017 the township wrote that the tea of the old Gonggan trees was made by hand “in the village way” (土法) — by fixation (杀青), rolling and drying; in April 2025 milk tea was made at the factory from “公敢红茶” and “公敢绿茶”, and a report by a student team from July 2026 names fixation (杀青) in the workshop. White: according to April 2026 reports, someone who adopts a tree can make green, red or white tea from its leaf at the factory, and a guest from an agricultural university said he had tasted Gonggan tea of all three classes.
* **Category:** Tea from the old tea trees of Guangxi; the name of a place, not of a class.
* **Protection status:** Not a geographical indication. An ordinary trademark “公敢” is registered to the agricultural service center of Lagou Township; the certificate was handed over on 22 April 2026. According to the county market supervision bureau in the same April, an application for a geographical indication certification mark is still being prepared; a filed application and a declared zone are not found in the sources consulted. In the county's final review for 2021–2025 (August 2026), only one of the county's registered geographical marks is named — “寨沙头菜”, a vegetable.
* **Name of the future mark:** Not settled. The county's reply published in February 2026 speaks of collecting materials for “拉沟公敢瑶茶”; the proposal to the county consultative conference itself and the report of the market supervision bureau of April 2026 speak of the mark “拉沟公敢茶”. County reports call the tea now “公敢瑶茶”, now “公敢茶”, now “公敢[古树茶](https://thetea.app/article/gu-shu-cha)”.
* **Origin:** China, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西, *Guǎngxī*), Liuzhou prefecture-level city (柳州, *Liǔzhōu*), Luzhai County (鹿寨, *Lùzhài*), Lagou Township (拉沟, *Lāgōu*), Daping Village, Gonggan Mountain.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Lagou Township — about 24.6° N and 110.0° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Age.** A proposal by a member of the county People's Political Consultative Conference (the county's reply was published in 2026) gives the age of the trees as “hundreds and even thousands of years”, without measurements, and the history of the tea as more than three hundred years. County reports are more modest: in 2017 the trees were described as a hundred years old, 4–5 m tall, and after a survey, according to a 2026 report, 40 trees older than a hundred years were counted in the garden. A proposal by a deputy to the Liuzhou city assembly (2024) dates the start of cultivation — the transplanting of wild seedlings onto Gonggan Mountain — to 150 years ago.
    * **2015.** According to a township report of February 2015, Daping Village registered the trademarks “公敢古树茶” and “古报尾茶”; work on the application began in April 2013. At that time the village had 200 mu of each garden, “公敢古树茶” gave more than 500 kg a year, and the best was sold for up to 1,000 yuan per kilogram.
    * **2023.** According to the proposal to the county consultative conference, the development of the old Gonggan trees became a key proposal of the city consultative conference, and in Lagou “for the first time in history” “公敢瑶茶” was developed. According to a township report, in the same year local entrepreneurs founded a tea enterprise; the spring tea yielded more than 1,600 jin. The city bureau of agriculture, in its reply to a proposal of the city consultative conference (June 2023), writes that the company 广西柳州茗芊农林科技有限公司 was set up in the township with the assistance of agricultural agencies, and that specialists helped develop one product — a red tea from old trees.
    * **2024.** The technique of Gonggan tea (鹿寨公敢茶制作技艺) entered the sixth batch of the county's intangible cultural heritage list — county government decree of 19 January 2024 (鹿政发〔2024〕1号), section “traditional techniques”; the class of the tea is not named in it. According to a county report of April 2024, this is the only surviving garden of old tea trees in Luzhai, it lies in the Lagou Nature Reserve, and the factory produces about 1,600 jin (about 800 kg) of dry tea a year. According to the reply of the city bureau of agriculture (June 2024), the company 茗芊 built a 470 m² workshop and leased 700 mu of the old garden, and in spring 2024 more than 4,000 jin of red tea were made from about 40,000 jin of fresh leaf from the old Lagou trees. The sources do not explain the discrepancy with the county figure.
    * **2025.** A report by the county media center (April): the core of the garden is 450 mu on Gonggan Mountain above 1,200 m, the workshop is 470 m². The report on an off-site meeting of the county consultative conference in July says that the tea is made by the traditional red tea technique and is being nominated for the city heritage list and for state protection as a geographical indication product (国家地理标志保护产品); later documents speak only of a certification mark. In November the county opened a heritage workshop “鹿寨公敢茶制作技艺”.
    * **Mark.** According to the county's reply, experts recommended first registering the ordinary mark “公敢”; the applicant was the township agricultural service center. On 29 August 2025 the China National Intellectual Property Administration rejected the application: the mark was found similar to a mark of the company 茗芊农林科技有限公司, which remained under protection until 27 September. A repeat application passed preliminary examination on 27 December 2025, and on 22 April 2026 the county market supervision bureau handed over the certificate. For the geographical mark the county is collecting materials; the future mark is called now “拉沟公敢瑶茶”, now “拉沟公敢茶”.
    * **2026.** The technique of Lagou Gonggan old-tree tea (拉沟公敢古树茶制作技艺) entered the tenth batch of the intangible cultural heritage list of Liuzhou prefecture-level city — according to a county report of 10 January 2026. Since April the old trees can be adopted.
* **Name:** “Lagou” (拉沟) is the name of the township; “Gonggan” (公敢), according to a 2015 township report, is the name of a locality in Daping Village, and the mountain bears the same name; the sources do not explain the meaning of the characters themselves. *Yáochá* (瑶茶) — “Yao tea”: a county report calls Lagou a Yao township (瑶乡). The word refers to the people, not to the class of tea.
* **Cultural significance:** At an off-site discussion in 2024, members of the county consultative conference proposed collecting the history, customs, songs and techniques of Gonggan tea (茶俗、茶歌、茶技). The records themselves are not found in the sources consulted.

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety:** Old tea trees of a local population; neither the cultivar nor the botanical variety is named in the sources consulted. According to the secretary of the Daping Village Party branch in a 2017 report, the trees of the garden grew from self-sown seeds of old bushes. On the township's trial plot in 2024, 30 lines selected from the local population were planted.
* **Area:** According to the proposal, there are more than 1,300 mu of old trees, of which 274 mu have been taken into use; the core of the garden in other reports is 200 mu (2015 and 2017), about 400 mu (2023), about 350 mu (proposal by a deputy to the city assembly, 2024), 450 mu (2025); the company 茗芊 leased 700 mu in 2024.
* **Harvest:** A 2023 township report puts the start of picking at a month after Qingming (清明). Leaf picked in the morning is brought to the factory still damp from the mist — according to a 2025 report. A harvest standard is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material requirements:** No data found in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Growing altitude:** The garden on Gonggan Mountain lies above 1,200 m — according to reports from 2023, 2025 and 2026. A 2017 report gives Gonggan Mountain a height of just over 900 m. The sources do not explain the discrepancy.
* **Nature reserve:** According to a county report, the garden lies in the Lagou Nature Reserve (拉沟自然保护区).
* **Environment:** The county calls Lagou an “oxygen zone” (天然氧吧) and a land of medicinal herbs; a report calls it a garden in clouds and mist.
* **Climate and soils:** The descriptions speak only of a mild climate and fertile soil; figures are not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

There is no approved technology — neither a standard nor quality requirements. County sources describe different processes, and they do not add up to a single class.

**Red tea of the factory.** The main product of “公敢瑶茶” according to reports from 2025 and April 2026; according to the July 2025 report of the county consultative conference, it is made by the traditional red tea technique.

1.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*):** The report gives no parameters.
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** On a rolling machine for about an hour and a half — until about 90% of the leaf is twisted into strands (成条率) and about 80% of the cells are broken.
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** The key stage. The leaf is kept in a room with suitable temperature, humidity and access to oxygen; there are no figures.
4.  **Drying (烘干, *hōnggān*):** “Fixes the aroma” (烘干定香).
5.  **Aroma finishing (提香, *tíxiāng*):** Named in a 2026 report without parameters.

This is the red tea sequence: oxidation comes after rolling, and there is no heat fixation before it.

**Green tea.** In April 2025, at a class for schoolchildren at the factory, milk tea was made from “公敢红茶” and “公敢绿茶”. A report by a student team of the Guangxi Agricultural Vocational University (July 2026) names fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), rolling and drying (干燥, *gānzào*) in the workshop of the “公敢瑶茶” factory — the green tea sequence; there are no parameters.

**Tea of tree owners.** According to April 2026 reports, someone who has adopted a tree can make green, red or white tea from its leaf at the factory themselves.

**The old way.** A 2015 township report shows the leaf being pan-fired in an iron wok on a clay stove (铁锅土灶炒茶青) and calls the former local tea a simple “土茶” with a smoky smell. A 2017 township report lists manual fixation (杀青), rolling and drying “in the village way” (土法); according to the 2024 proposal by a deputy to the city assembly, local residents have long picked and pan-fired tea (炒制).

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Below is only what is said in county reports of 2023 and 2025, and it refers to the factory's red tea. Descriptions of green and white “公敢” tea are not found in the sources consulted.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** Rich, dense (馥郁) — according to a report.
* **Liquor aroma:** The report speaks of an interweaving of floral, fruity, honey and lotus notes (花香、果香、蜜香、莲香), without separating the dry leaf and the liquor.
* **Taste:** Full and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste (醇厚回甘).
* **Liquor color:** Red, bright (红亮鲜明) — according to a 2023 township report.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted. The proposal speaks of the tea's “rich composition”, a 2026 report of a high content of tea polyphenols, both without figures. The county has signed a contract with a testing company for the future application; there are no test results. In summer 2026 a student team of the Guangxi Agricultural Vocational University checked samples on site with portable instruments and, according to the report, found no pesticide residues; this is a rapid test, not a laboratory analysis.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice — the parameters depend on which tea under this name is in hand.

* **Red:** 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, gaiwan or porcelain teapot, first infusion about a minute, then several infusions with increasing times.
* **Green:** 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, glass tumbler or gaiwan, first infusion 40–60 seconds, two or three more infusions.
* **White:** 85–90 °C, 3–4 g per 150 ml, gaiwan, first infusion about a minute, then several infusions with increasing times.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. Red tea — in a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors. Green — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, to be drunk within a year. White — in tight packaging in a dry, dark place at room temperature, away from odors.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

According to a 2024 county report, a jin (about 500 g) of the factory's dry tea is valued at 600–1,000 yuan. Since 2026 a tree can be adopted for 1,000–3,000 yuan, for a term of a year or more, with its tea going to the adopter.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * There is no geographical mark. The ordinary mark “公敢” was registered in April 2026 to the township agricultural service center: it tells who owns the name, but sets no requirements for the tea and names no class.
    * Under the name “公敢” both red and green tea are made — check the class on the packaging.
    * Check that the producer is from Lagou Township, Luzhai County.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The village already had a mark with the word “公敢”: in 2015 Daping Village registered “公敢古树茶”. According to the replies of the city bureau of agriculture, since 2023 the processing of the old trees has been carried out by the company 广西柳州茗芊农林科技有限公司, and in a July 2026 report the process at the “公敢瑶茶” factory is explained by its head. In 2025 the county's application for “公敢” was rejected because of similarity to the mark of a company that the county's reply calls “茗芊农林科技有限公司”. Whether this is the same company, what its mark was and whether it is connected with the village mark, the sources do not say directly.
* The county decided to write the link between the quality of the tea and the nature and culture of the place into the yearbook *Luzhai 2024* (鹿寨年鉴2024) — as a basis for the future application for a geographical mark.
* Pickers used to carry the leaf down the mountain on foot for more than three hours; now it is brought down by drones in 15 minutes — according to a 2026 county report. Bringing the leaf down by drone is already mentioned in the caption to a 2023 township photograph.

**13. Comparison with Other Guangxi Teas:**

* **Damiaoshan Hongcha ([大苗山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/damiaoshan-hongcha)):** Red tea of the same Liuzhou prefecture from old trees and wild tea, but already with a protected name.
* **Jinxiu Hongcha ([金秀红茶](https://thetea.app/article/jinxiu-hongcha)):** Red tea of Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in the Dayaoshan Mountains; the name has been protected since 2014.
* **Baise Hongcha ([百色红茶](https://thetea.app/article/baise-hongcha)):** Prefecture-wide red tea of western Guangxi, near the border with Yunnan and Vietnam.
* **Nanshan Baimao Cha ([南山白毛茶](https://thetea.app/article/nanshan-baimao-cha)):** A Guangxi tea with a geographical indication: the protection document describes a green tea technology, although “白毛” in the name hints at white tea. *Lāgōu gōnggǎn yáochá* does not yet have such a document.

**In Conclusion:**

*Lāgōu gōnggǎn yáochá* is a tea that is only just getting its name, and the name itself is still written in two ways. It has old trees in a nature reserve on Gonggan Mountain, a technique recognized as heritage by the county and the city, and a factory whose main product, according to the descriptions, is a red tea with an aroma of flowers, fruit, honey and lotus. But there is no document that would fix the class: green tea is made under the same name, and white tea can also be made from the leaf of adopted trees. There is as yet no geographical mark, no quality requirements, no analyses: only the ordinary mark “公敢” has been registered, and the county is still collecting materials for the geographical one.