---
title: "Lánxī máofēng"
url: https://thetea.app/article/lanxi-maofeng
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Lánxī máofēng (兰溪毛峰)

*Lánxī máofēng* (兰溪[毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/maofengcha)) is a green tea from Lanxi county-level city (兰溪市) of Jinhua prefecture-level city in the center of Zhejiang Province. *Máofēng* means “downy peaks”: the name describes the look of a hairy bud with a leaf, not the class. The class is set by the technology in the protection requirements: fixation, rolling, drying — without oxidation. The requirements also name the main hallmark: “orchid shape, sweet orchid aroma, sweet and fresh taste”. The name is protected twice — by an agricultural product geographical indication since 2017 and by recognition as a geographical indication product in a 2025 announcement of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The protection requirements describe a green tea technology, and at competitions the tea is entered in the green tea category.
* **Category:** Zhejiang green tea of the maofeng type; geographical indication product.
* **Origin:** China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, *Zhèjiāng*), Jinhua prefecture-level city (金华, *Jīnhuá*), Lanxi county-level city (兰溪, *Lánxī*). According to a 2025 newspaper, the main gardens are in the mountain townships of Baishe (柏社乡) and Huangdian (黄店镇).
* **Protection zone:** 16 townships, towns and subdistricts of Lanxi — Lanjiang, Yunshan, Shanghua, Yongchang, Chixi, Nübu, Youbu, Zhuge, Huangdian, Xiangxi, Majian, Meijiang, Hengxi, Lingdong, Shuiting She Ethnic Township and Baishe — with 330 administrative villages.
* **Geographic coordinates:** 119°13′30″–119°53′50″ E, 29°05′20″–29°27′30″ N — according to the protection requirements.
* **Applicant:** The Lanxi City Center for the Extension of Special Crop Technologies (兰溪市经济特产技术推广中心).

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Early mentions.** According to a publication in the Jinhua prefecture newspaper (2025), written mentions of Lanxi tea go back to the Tang era, and Ming and Qing local chronicles speak of tea from Muchengyuan (穆澄源) and from Lingdongshan Mountain (灵洞山). I have not seen the chronicles themselves.
    * **1971–1972, the story of the gift.** The newspaper retells an article by a local tea researcher. In 1971, preparing for the visit of US President Nixon, the State Council instructed Zhejiang to find a tea as a gift for the guests. There was not enough West Lake Longjing, and a native of Lanxi at the provincial tea company proposed Lanxi: the gardens there, by his argument, stand at an altitude of 700–800 m and start growing early. In spring 1972 a “云雾毛峰” tea group made about 100 jin on the model of Huangshan Maofeng. From that time, the newspaper writes, the story of the gift “spread among the people”; I have not seen a document on its presentation.
    * **1973 — the name.** From 1973 “云雾毛峰” came to be called *Lánxī máofēng*. The Lanxi agricultural chronicle, according to the same newspaper, puts it differently: in 1973 this tea was “first created” by peasants of Xiachen and Zhujia townships. The sources do not reconcile the two versions.
    * **2017.** The Ministry of Agriculture registered the agricultural product geographical indication, number AGI02184.
    * **2025.** By announcement No. 640 (signed 16 July, published 13 August), the China National Intellectual Property Administration recognized *Lánxī máofēng* as a geographical indication product — line 435 in a list of 1,409 products — and approved the requirements for its protection.
* **Name:** “Lanxi” (兰溪) is the name of the city, literally “orchid stream”; *máofēng* (毛峰) means “downy peaks”. Huangshan Maofeng and Huangshi Xi Maofeng have the same type of name.
* **Cultural significance:** The technique of “making maofeng tea” has been entered on the intangible heritage lists of Lanxi city and Jinhua prefecture.

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

* **Varieties:** According to the protection requirements — the local population (本地[群体种](https://thetea.app/article/qunti-zhong)), Yingshuang (迎霜), Longjing 43 (龙井43号) and Wuniu Zao ([乌牛早](https://thetea.app/article/wuniu-zao)).
* **Old bushes:** According to the head of a maofeng factory in Xiachen Village, many of the bushes on the slopes were planted in 1980; their yield is small, but the taste is good.
* **Harvest standard:** From one bud with one barely unfolded leaf to one bud with two opened leaves. Diseased leaves, purple buds, “fish leaves” (鱼叶) and bud scales are not taken.
* **Harvest time:** The requirements say “in good time”, without dates.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Central Zhejiang; a tea reference portal places the tea in the mountains in the northwest of the county.
* **Growing altitude:** The requirements do not name an altitude. The figure of 700–800 m appears only in the retold argument of 1971.
* **Soils:** Yellow or yellow-red, pH 4.5–6 — according to the protection requirements.
* **Agronomy under the protection requirements:**
    * **Planting:** in spring — from mid-February to early March, in autumn — from late October to late November.
    * **Fertilizers:** for young gardens mainly nitrogen; chlorine-containing compound fertilizers are prohibited.
    * **Pruning:** shaping — the first at 15–20 cm above the ground, then each time 15–20 cm higher; deep — after the spring harvest, in late April to early May, at a height of 40–55 cm; old gardens are rejuvenated by heavy pruning or by cutting the bush back.

**5. Production Technology:**

The protection requirements name the “special technique” of *Lánxī máofēng*: pan-firing in a tilted wok with a bamboo whisk (斜锅竹丝炒) and rolling in a flat heated wok (平锅加温揉). The requirements give no temperatures or times.

**Manual method:**

1.  **Spreading the fresh leaf (摊青, *tānqīng*).**
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** heating stops oxidation.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
4.  **First drying (初烘, *chūhōng*).**
5.  **Final drying (足烘, *zúhōng*).**

**Machine method:** spreading (摊青) → fixation (杀青) → straightening the leaf (理条, *lǐtiáo*) → first drying (初烘) → drying (干燥, *gānzào*).

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

According to the protection requirements:

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Straight, with visible down, “resembling an orchid flower”; the color is green, with a sheen (挺直显毫，形似兰花，色泽绿润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** The requirements give no separate description.
* **Liquor aroma:** Orchid, with sweetness (兰香带甜).
* **Taste:** Fresh, brisk, sweet and mellow (鲜爽甘醇).
* **Liquor color:** Tender green, bright (嫩绿明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Tender, even, opening into a flower, green with a sheen (嫩匀成朵，绿亮).

The set formula is “兰花形、甜兰香、甘鲜味”: orchid shape, sweet orchid aroma, sweet and fresh taste.

A tea reference portal gives the grades “特级”, “一级”, “二级” with a different description — a thick leaf in silvery down, yellow-green — and in the same place calls the leaf “thin and curled”. The portal does not name its primary source; this differs from the protection requirements.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical protection requirements:

| Indicator | Norm |
| :--- | :--- |
| Amino acids | not less than 3% |
| Tea polyphenols | 18–25% |
| Water-soluble extractives | not less than 38% |
| Total ash | not more than 6.5% |

The requirements do not name caffeine or other indicators.

**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 — in it you can see the leaf open like a flower.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the tumbler, put in the tea, pour the water down the side.
    2. The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    3. Drink, leaving a third of the liquor, and top up — two or three times.

**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:**

The head of the factory in Xiachen told the newspaper that when he started trading, *Lánxī máofēng* cost about 100 yuan per jin (500 g), and in 2025 more than 700 yuan. According to the same publication, the city has 23,000 mu of tea gardens, with a production value of 85 million yuan.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the special geographical indication mark: the right to it is granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on the recommendation of the provincial authority.
    * Check that the producer is from Lanxi.
    * The leaf — straight, downy, green with a sheen; the liquor — tender green and bright; the aroma — orchid with sweetness.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* In 2025 *Lánxī máofēng* won gold at the “All-China Tour of Zhejiang Green Tea” in Taiyuan — for the third year in a row, according to the newspaper — and the title of “tea king” among green teas at the first Jinhua tea competition.
* On the basis of this tea, new scented teas are made in Lanxi — jasmine and gardenia maofeng.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Huangshan Maofeng ([黄山毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/huangshan-mao-feng)):** The famous maofeng of Anhui Province; according to the story, the first Lanxi batch was made on its model.
* **Huangshi Xi Maofeng ([黄石溪毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/huangshixi-maofeng)):** An Anhui maofeng from Jiuhuashan Mountain — the same type of name, a different province.
* **Wuyang Chunyu ([武阳春雨](https://thetea.app/article/wuyang-chun-yu)):** Green tea of Wuyi County of the same Jinhua prefecture.
* **Pan'an Yunfeng ([磐安云峰](https://thetea.app/article/panan-yun-feng)):** Green tea of Pan'an County of Jinhua prefecture.

**In Conclusion:**

*Lánxī máofēng* is a green tea of central Zhejiang with protection requirements that are unusually detailed for a local tea: four varieties, soils, pruning, picking up to two leaves, pan-firing with a bamboo whisk in a tilted wok, and a formula for its appearance — orchid shape, sweet orchid aroma, sweet and fresh taste. The story of the 1972 gift remains a story, while the tea itself is described in documents.