Láifèng téngchá (来凤藤茶) is the “vine tea” of Laifeng County (来凤县) in the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province. It is not the leaf of the tea bush Camellia sinensis: the raw material comes from the young stems, tendrils and leaves of the vine 显齿蛇葡萄 (Ampelopsis grossedentata) of the grape family, and researchers at the prefecture Academy of Agricultural Sciences call the product a substitute tea (代用茶, dàiyòng chá). Its main hallmark is a gray-white coating on the dry leaf, “like frost”. Since 2013 it has been a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Not tea in the botanical sense and none of the six classes of Chinese tea. The requirements for the protected product name 显齿蛇葡萄, of the genus Ampelopsis of the grape family, as the raw material.
- Category: An infusion not made from the tea plant; a geographical indication product (2013) and a geographical indication certification mark.
- Food status: The agri.cn portal writes that tengcha is not on the “medicine and food of the same origin” list (药食同源) and belongs to foods from new resources (新资源食品); advertising texts call it a dual-use product. The sources disagree.
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Enshi Prefecture (恩施, Ēnshī), Laifeng County (来凤, Láifèng), the Wuling Mountains (武陵山, Wǔlíng shān); Chinanews places the county at about 30° N.
- Protection zone: According to the 2013 announcement — the towns of Lüshui (绿水镇), Baifusi (百福司镇) and Dahe (大河镇), and the townships of Manshui (漫水乡), Jiusi (旧司乡), Geleche (革勒车乡) and Sanhu (三胡乡) within their current boundaries. In a 2023 article Jiusi and Geleche are already called towns.
- Other names: “Dragon whisker tea” (龙须茶, lóngxū chá) and “mountain sweet tea” (山甜茶, shān tiánchá); in English — vine tea.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Ancient mentions. Local publications refer to the Shijing, Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea, the Jiuhuang Bencao (救荒本草) and the Zhiwu Mingshi Tukao (植物名实图考). These references have not been checked against the primary sources.
- 1996–2000. According to Xinhua, a rural doctor from Dahe Town carried out thousands of experiments in 1996–1998, adjusting the duration of fixation and the force of rolling, brought the product to market in 1998, and around 2000 registered the county’s first company to produce it.
- 2003. According to Xinhua, the work on semi-wild cultivation and processing passed expert appraisal; according to the provincial newspaper Hubei Ribao, the variety “凤鸣藤茶” was approved at the same time.
- 2004. The Hubei local standard DB42/T 289-2004 “来凤藤茶” was issued (in force from 1 October 2004; repealed on 11 April 2024). Xinhua also dates the protected product status to 2004 — this conflicts with the 2013 protection announcement.
- 2008. According to Xinhua, the planting technique was improved — Hubei Ribao names the switch to propagation by cuttings: previously it took three years from planting to harvest, now picking is possible in the year of planting, and cultivation costs fell by 80%.
- 2013. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (质检总局), by Announcement No. 41 of 15 March 2013, placed Láifèng téngchá under protection as a geographical indication product.
- Later. A standards database lists the editions DB42/T 289-2014 and DB42/T 289-2025 “地理标志产品 来凤藤茶” and the industry standard NY/T 3562-2020 “藤茶生产技术规程”; their texts are not available in the sources consulted. A reference database of geographical indications lists certification mark No. 25031830 under the name; according to the trade press, it was registered in 2018.
- 2021–2025. Tengcha was served as a welcome drink at the “ambassadors’ dinner” of the 4th China International Tea Expo (2021). At the 1st International Tengcha Congress (2023) the county received the title “中国藤茶之乡”, and at the 3rd congress (2025) — “世界藤茶之乡”.
- Name: “Laifeng” (来凤) — the name of the county; “teng” (藤) — “vine”; “cha” (茶) — tea in the broad sense.
- Cultural significance: For Laifeng, tengcha is an industry of mountain villages; sources give different plantation areas — from 72,000 mu (2022) to 102,000 mu (2025).
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Plant: 显齿蛇葡萄 (xiǎnchǐ shépútáo, Ampelopsis grossedentata (Hand.-Mazz.) W. T. Wang), grape family (葡萄科). According to Xinhua, in the wild it spreads over rocks and stony slopes and is noticeably lower than the tea bush.
- Variety: “凤鸣藤茶” (Fèngmíng téngchá), approved in 2003; a description of the variety was not found in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: According to the product requirements, the top grade is “一须二芽” (a tendril and two buds), the first grade — from a bud with one leaf to a bud with two, the second — a bud with two leaves. Pick with an upward pinch (提手采), without stripping, separately by grade (分级采摘).
- Harvest time: From April to September.
- “Dragon whiskers”: The most tender tips (龙须, lóngxū) are the most valuable grade of raw material; the rest is “ordinary leaf” (普叶, pǔyè). According to a 2023 report, the “whiskers” from one plot were picked four times in a season.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Altitude and soils: According to the requirements — 400–800 m, slope no steeper than 45°, sandy loam with pH 5.5–6.5 and organic matter of 1.5–2.0%.
- Climate: According to a Chinanews report — about 1,400 mm of precipitation a year, forest cover 56.5%.
- Cultivation practice per the requirements: Cuttings from one- to two-year-old shoots 0.2–0.4 cm thick; 1,000–1,100 plants per mu; weeding every 30 days until mid-July, and in October no less than 2,000 kg of manure per mu. A support is put in when the plant reaches 30–50 cm, and the tip is pinched every ten days.
5. Production Technology
The requirements for the protected product set out a sequence similar to green tea, but with resting in a pile:
- Spreading of the leaf (摊青, tānqīng): A layer no thicker than 5 cm, moisture loss of 15–20%.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): 180–200°C, from 20 minutes to an hour.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
- Resting in a pile (自然堆放, zìrán duīfàng): Under film, 6–12 hours.
- Drying and final drying (烘干、复干, hōnggān, fùgān).
- Sorting, sterilization (灭菌, mièjūn) and packaging.
The product comes in five forms: “whiskers” (须, xū), “buds with leaf” (芽叶, yáyè), “pearls” (珠, zhū) — balls of 1.5–2 mm, “curve” (曲, qū) — spindles, and “dew” (露, lù) — rolled leaf.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description follows the requirements for the protected product; for all five forms it is the same in everything except appearance.
- Dry leaf appearance: “Whiskers” — gray flakes with a white coating; “buds with leaf” and “dew” — gray-white with a greenish tinge; “pearls” — yellow-green; “curve” — dark green. The Ministry of Agriculture writes of a gray-white “frost” (灰白披霜).
- Dry leaf aroma: The requirements call the smell “clean” (气清香), without specifying whether of the dry leaf or the liquor.
- Liquor aroma: Clean, fresh (清香).
- Taste: Slightly bitter at first, then sweet (微苦回甜); the Ministry of Agriculture adds that the sweet return is lasting (回甘持久).
- Liquor color: Yellow-green (黄绿).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
In a 2023 study, twelve samples from six townships and towns received from 85.42 to 92.59 points from tasters.
7. Chemical Composition
Requirements for the protected product:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Water-soluble extractives | not less than 28.0% |
| Total flavonoids (as dihydromyricetin) | not less than 20.0% |
| Selenium | 5–100 µg per 100 g |
The main flavonoid is dihydromyricetin (二氢杨梅素): in the Academy’s study the tasters’ score rose with it and fell with the turbidity of the liquor. The article states that there is no caffeine or theophylline in tengcha — which is expected for a plant not of the camellia genus.
8. Health Properties
There are no verified data on the effects of this particular product. The effects of flavonoids listed in the Academy’s article are taken from a review of other researchers’ work and are not a medical recommendation.
9. Brewing
Class practice. Neither the product requirements nor the press give brewing parameters for Láifèng téngchá; below are the usual parameters for herbal infusions from rolled leaf.
- Water temperature: 90–100°C.
- Amount: 2–3 g per 150–200 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
- Process: Warm the teaware, the first infusion — 2–3 minutes, then several infusions of increasing length.
10. Storage
Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry, dark place, away from odors. The white coating is a property of the raw material, not mold.
11. Price and Counterfeits
Retail prices were not found in the sources consulted. According to a 2023 report, a picker sold 5 kg of fresh “dragon whiskers” to a village factory for 220 yuan.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication product mark or the certification mark “来凤藤茶”.
- Check that the producer is from the seven townships and towns of the zone. A drink from the same vine is also made elsewhere — for example, in Zhangjiajie prefecture with its mark “张家界莓茶”.
- Leaf in one of the five forms, with a gray-white coating; the liquor yellow-green, the bitterness quickly giving way to sweetness.
12. Interesting Facts
- The coating is explained in different ways: the agri.cn portal attributes it to crystals of dihydromyricetin, Xinhua to “fermentation”. A verified explanation of the second version was not found in the sources consulted; resting in a pile is indeed part of the production rules.
- The main quality figure in the requirements is not aroma but flavonoids: no less than 20%.
13. Comparison with Other Infusions Not from the Tea Bush
- Xupu Yaocha (溆浦瑶茶): A “sweet tea” of Hunan from the leaves of the tree 木姜叶柯 of the beech family, also a geographical indication product.
- Kuding (苦丁茶): A bitter infusion from the leaves of evergreen plants; in tengcha the bitterness immediately turns into sweetness.
- Zhangjiajie Cha (张家界茶): True tea of Zhangjiajie prefecture; a mark for a drink from the same vine is registered alongside it.
- Enshi Xicha (恩施硒茶): An umbrella mark of the same Enshi prefecture; its list of brands includes a brand with the word “藤茶” in its name, whose composition has not been verified.
In Conclusion:
Láifèng téngchá is an infusion from the stems and leaves of a vine of the grape family that grew in the Wuling Mountains from wild gathering into a county industry: a variety since 2003, protection since 2013, its own rules for picking, fixation and resting in a pile. A gray-white “frost” on the leaf, a yellow-green liquor and a light bitterness quickly giving way to a long sweetness are its hallmarks. It is “tea” in the popular sense of the word, and its quality is measured by flavonoids, not by tea leaf.
Sources
Full list — on the Sources page