Lǎomǔdēng chá (老姆登茶) is a green tea made from Yunnan large-leaf varieties, grown in the canyon of the Nujiang River, in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Yunnan. The name comes from a village of the Nu people in Fugong County; in the Nu language “laomudeng”, according to the translation by the provincial department of agriculture, means “a place where people love to come”. Local texts call the plantations here “snow tea gardens”: in winter frost and snow settle on them. The name has been protected as an agricultural product geographical indication since 2020 and under announcement No. 646 (2025) of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) from large-leaf varieties. The protection requirements call the processing an improved green-tea method and give three variants of it; the quality indicators are written for “Laomudeng green maocha” (老姆登绿茶毛茶). Reference descriptions cite the standard GB/T 14456.2-2018 for large-leaf green tea.
- Caveat: Other classes are also sold under the same brand: at a 2023 presentation experts tasted red, green and raw pu-erh “老姆登茶”. The protected indication describes only the green one.
- Category: Yunnan large-leaf green tea; geographical indication product.
- Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture (怒江傈僳族自治州), Fugong County (福贡县, Fúgòng), Pihe Nu Ethnic Township (匹河怒族乡), Laomudeng Village.
- Protection zone: Under the 2025 requirements — 21 townships, towns and urban subdistricts, 171 administrative villages in Fugong County (seven units), Lushui county-level city (ten), Gongshan County (two) and Lanping County (two). In the description from the time of the agricultural registration, the same 171 villages were divided into 20 units.
- Geographic coordinates: 98°09′–99°39′ E, 25°33′–28°23′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- The village. According to the magazine Minzu Huabao (2020), Laomudeng is home to the Nu, Lisu, Dulong and Bai peoples; the Nu make up 85 % of the residents. The magazine translates the name slightly differently — “a desired place”.
- The tea road. According to a 2023 report, the Yunnan–Tibet branch of the Tea Horse Road passed through Fugong; material from the department of agriculture (2024) calls the neighboring old town of Zhiziluo (知子罗) an important station and market on this road. Documents on the tea of Laomudeng itself before the end of the 20th century are not found in the sources consulted.
- 1980s. According to the magazine, a local resident began planting tea in the village in the 1980s: at first about ten mu, by 2020 — more than a hundred.
- 2010. In November, eleven residents founded the Laomudeng high-mountain tea cooperative; by 2020 it had 125 households.
- 2020. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs registered Lǎomǔdēng chá as an agricultural product geographical indication; the certificate number is AGI03061.
- 2022. Under the guidance of the provincial department of agriculture, the county carried out a program to protect the indication — propagation of varieties, establishment of bases, quality control, labeling; the prefecture presented the regional image of the brand.
- 2025. By announcement No. 646 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration of 23 September 2025, the tea was recognized as a geographical indication product. The applicant is the prefecture agricultural technology extension center.
- Name: “Laomudeng” (老姆登) is a phonetic rendering of a word of the Nu language; the characters carry no meaning.
- Cultural significance: The department of agriculture (2022) calls the tea a tourist souvenir of the county; under Shanghai’s assistance program, agritourism was set up at the village tea factory.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties under the protection requirements: Varieties and lines that have passed national or provincial evaluation, for example 勐库大叶种 (Měngkù dàyèzhǒng), 凤庆大叶种 (Fèngqìng dàyèzhǒng) and the 云抗 (Yúnkàng) series; at the 2023 presentation the county also named the new 佛香 (Fóxiāng) series. There are no local varieties in the requirements.
- Harvest timing: Spring — March–May, summer — June–August, autumn — September–October.
- Plucking norms: Tender plucking — a single bud or a bud with one leaf; medium — a bud with two or three leaves; mature — a shoot with five or six leaves together with paired leaves without a bud (对夹叶).
- Taste feature: The county (2023) says that the introduced varieties gave a taste here “more fragrant and softer” than ordinary large-leaf tea — this is the assessment of the promoting party.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The Nujiang canyon between the Biluoxueshan and Gaoligongshan ranges, in the core zone of the World Heritage Site “Three Parallel Rivers” (三江并流).
- Altitude: Under the protection requirements — 1100–2300 m. At the 2023 presentation a belt of about 1100–2500 m on both banks of the Nujiang was named, the core at about 1800 m, the peaks above 2400 m.
- Soils: Red and yellow, loose, deep (no less than 60 cm), rich in organic matter; slopes of 15–35°. Reference descriptions give pH 4.5–6.5.
- Climate under the requirements: Mean annual temperature — 13.3–18.4 °C; frost-free period — 230–278 days; sunshine hours — 1239–2200 a year; precipitation — 700–2845 mm; air humidity — 75–90 %. Reference descriptions give narrower figures: 13.8–15.8 °C and about 1360 mm of precipitation.
- Care under the requirements: Terraces along the contours, shade from alder, cherry and green-manure crops; autumn fertilizing — 1000–2000 kg of manure per mu; a mature bush — about 90 cm.
- Scale: According to reference descriptions — 1800 ha and 810 t of dry maocha a year. According to 2023 data, Fugong County has about 50,000 mu of tea.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements divide the tea by drying method into three kinds, and by shape into the maofeng type (毛峰型) and the curled downy type (曲毫型). The beginning is the same for all: spreading (摊青, tānqīng), fixation (杀青, shāqīng), rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn), breaking up clumps. Then:
- Sun drying (晒青, shàiqīng): instead of breaking up clumps, straightening of the leaf (理条) is allowed, then drying in the sun.
- Baked drying (烘青, hōngqīng): first drying with straightening or shaping (毛火), cooling, final drying (足火).
- Pan drying (炒青, chǎoqīng): drying and shaping in the pan (毛火), cooling, final drying in the pan (足火).
The requirements give no temperatures or times.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
- Dry leaf appearance: Under the protection requirements — tightly and firmly rolled, with abundant down, even and clean, with sharp tips; tender green with an oily sheen (色泽嫩绿匀润，光泽油润).
- Dry leaf aroma: Rich (芳香浓郁) — under the protection requirements.
- Liquor aroma: Clean (清香) — according to the description from the time of the agricultural registration.
- Taste: According to the same description — rich and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste and salivation, with strong astringency (滋味浓醇，回甘生津，收敛性强).
- Liquor color: Yellow-green, clear and bright (汤色黄绿清澈明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender and even (叶底嫩匀).
7. Chemical Composition
The protection requirements for Laomudeng green maocha:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 18 % |
| Extractives | no less than 46 % |
| Caffeine | no less than 1.80 % |
| Free amino acids | no less than 1.40 % |
| Moisture | no more than 7 % |
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea. According to the description, the tea has strong astringency, so it is better not to overheat the water.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
- Process: Pour the water down the side, the first infusion — after 40–60 seconds, then two or three more infusions, leaving part of the liquor.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
According to the magazine Minzu Huabao (2020), the local green tea sold for about 300 yuan per jin, the red for 400. Later prices are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark and a producer from Fugong, Lushui, Gongshan or Lanping.
- Under the mark is green tea; red tea and pu-erh under the same brand are not described as the protected product.
- The leaf is tightly rolled, downy, tender green with a sheen; the liquor is yellow-green and clear.
11. Interesting Facts
- In winter snow settles on the Laomudeng plantations — the department of agriculture calls them one of the few “snow” tea gardens of Yunnan.
- Representatives of the prefecture stress that the core of the plantations lies at about 1800 m, whereas ordinary mountain tea grows at about 1000 m.
12. Comparison with Other Yunnan Teas
- Yunnan Lücha (云南绿茶): The common name of Yunnan green tea from large-leaf raw material; Laomudeng is its high-mountain version from the Nujiang canyon.
- Tengchong Lücha (腾冲绿茶): A green tea of Tengchong county-level city in the west of Yunnan, also with a geographical mark.
- Mengku Dayezhong Cha (勐库大叶种茶): The name of a raw material — the Mengku variety, the first in the list of permitted varieties for Laomudeng.
In Conclusion:
Lǎomǔdēng chá is a large-leaf green tea of the Nujiang canyon that has grown from village plantings of the 1980s into a protected name with a zone in four counties. The protection requirements describe it precisely: three processing methods, a tender green downy leaf, a yellow-green liquor and strict thresholds of composition. The rest is snow gardens at an altitude of about 1800 m and a village to which, by its name, people want to come.
Sources
Standards
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page