---
title: "Lǎoyīng chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/laoying-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Lǎoyīng chá (老鹰茶)

*Lǎoyīng chá* (老鹰茶), “old eagle tea”, is an infusion of the buds and young leaves of the 毛豹皮樟 tree (*Litsea coreana* var. *lanuginosa*) of the laurel family. The tea bush *Camellia sinensis* plays no part here, and in China this drink is called “the tea that is not tea” (非茶之茶). It is drunk in the mountains of Sichuan and Chongqing, but as a geographical indication product the name is protected for Shimian County (石棉县) of Sichuan Province — since 2012; the current product requirements were approved in August 2026. The main hallmark is a dense camphor aroma (樟香浓郁).

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Not tea in the botanical sense and none of the six classes of Chinese tea. Popular materials classify it as a tea substitute (代用茶, *dàiyòng chá*).
* **Category:** An infusion not from the tea plant; geographical indication product (since 2012, requirements of 2026).
* **Origin:** China, Sichuan Province (四川, *Sìchuān*), Ya'an prefecture-level city (雅安, *Yǎ'ān*), Shimian County (石棉, *Shímián*).
* **Protection zone:** Under the 2026 announcement — six townships and towns of Shimian County within their current boundaries: Meiluo (美罗乡), Fengle (丰乐乡), Wajiao (挖角乡), Caoke (草科乡), Liziping (栗子坪乡) and Xinmian (新棉镇). The document gives no coordinates.
* **Other names:** In Wulong District (武隆区) of Chongqing — “big tree tea” ([大树茶](https://thetea.app/article/da-shu-cha)) and 老荫茶. According to the Baidu reference, because of the whitish underside of the leaf it is also called “white tea” (白茶) — this has nothing to do with the baicha class.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Antiquity, according to local texts.** The Wulong District website traces the drink back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, calls it a Tang tribute tea and interprets the Song “coarse tea” (粗茶), which was traded for horses, as *lǎoyīng chá*. There are no references to documents — this is local legend and the website's interpretation.
    * **The *Bencao Gangmu*.** According to Chinese Wikipedia, the name 老鹰茶 already appears in this treatise; the treatise itself has not been checked.
    * **Chronicles.** The Wulong District website quotes the Republican-era *Chronicle of Hanyuan County* (汉源县志): in the county this tea comes only from Huangnibao (黄泥保), and also from 顺河八谷山, where “the taste is the strongest”. According to the website's explanation, the second place is the present Meiluo and Fengle townships of Shimian County, that is, the land of the present protection zone. The same site quotes the *Chronicle of Qingxi County* (清溪县志) of 1799 — on the tea and horse trade.
    * **1935.** In the memorial museum of the crossing of the Dadu River at Anshunchang in Shimian County a copper kettle is on display in which, according to the exhibition, Red Army soldiers boiled *lǎoyīng chá*.
    * **2012.** According to the 2026 list, the name was already protected as a geographical indication product by announcement No. 111 of 2012 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; the text of that document is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2019.** The traditional production technique of *lǎoyīng chá* of Wulong District (武隆老鹰茶传统制作技艺) was included in the sixth list of intangible cultural heritage of the city of Chongqing; Haokou Township has preserved it most fully. According to the website of Wuxi County, its technique has also been included in Chongqing's heritage list.
    * **2026.** Announcement No. 687 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (signed on 3 August, published on 12 August) approved new product requirements in place of the 2012 requirements — item 39 of 58. The applicant is the People's Government of Shimian County.
* **Name:** The explanations are folk ones: the trees grow where only an eagle can fly — for the Gelao people it is a totem bird (Wulong District); the seeds sprout only after passing through an eagle's stomach (Wuxi County); the name supposedly became distorted from the similar-sounding 捞阴茶 — “taken out of the water and dried in the shade”.
* **Cultural significance:** Different places lay claim to *lǎoyīng chá*: Shimian holds the protected name, Wulong District calls the Daloushan mountains the homeland of the drink, and Wuxi County calls itself the largest area of wild *lǎoyīng chá* in the southwest.

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

* **Plant:** According to the protection document — 毛豹皮樟 of the laurel family (樟科), *Litsea coreana* Lévl. var. *lanuginosa* (Migo) Yang et P.H.Huang. Chinese Wikipedia writes that this tree grows mainly high in the mountains of Sichuan; an article in the journal *Sichuan Linye Keji* (2013) gives a wider range — Sichuan, Guizhou and Anhui.
* **Appearance:** According to the Baidu reference — an evergreen tree with thick elliptical leaves, green above and whitish below. A popular author interprets the name of the plant as follows: “mao” (毛) is the pubescence of the leaf, “baopi” (豹皮, “leopard skin”) the spotted bark, “zhang” (樟) the camphor smell.
* **Raw material:** Under the requirements — wild and transplanted trees.
* **Harvest standard:** From March to June — from a single bud to a bud with three leaves. It is forbidden to pick leaves in the rain or wet with dew, and to pick purple leaves or leaves damaged by pests.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Growing altitude:** **1500–3000 m** — under the product requirements. In Wuxi in Chongqing, according to the county website, the trees grow above 600 m, and the “king of the eagle trees” is more than 300 years old.
* **Soils:** Under the requirements — pH 5.0–7.5, organic matter no less than 2.0 %.
* **Region:** According to popular descriptions — a mountain county on the middle reaches of the Dadu, at the junction with the Liangshan Yi and Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefectures, with dense forests, gorges and fogs. Climate figures are not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

According to the requirements for the protected product:

1.  **Sorting of the fresh leaf (分选, *fēnxuǎn*).**
2.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*):** In a layer of 3–5 cm, 4–8 hours, with airing; the leaf is protected from mechanical damage and from reddening when heated.
3.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** 120–150 °C, 1–2 minutes, to a moisture content of 55–65 %.
4.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** Or no rolling — the document allows both ways.
5.  **Drying (烘干, *hōnggān*):** 110–130 °C, 40–50 minutes, moisture of the finished product below 8 %.
6.  **Selection and packaging (精选、包装).**

The Baidu reference also describes a folk method — twigs with leaves are simply dried in the sun.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The description is according to the requirements for the protected product; the product can be bud tea (芽茶) or leaf tea (叶茶).

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Bud tea — whole downy buds, brownish-red, rounded, large and firm, “like jade bamboo shoots”. Leaf tea (from a bud with a leaf to a bud with three leaves) — brownish-red, even.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** Not described in the requirements; popular materials call the smell camphor-like, sometimes “the fragrance of orchid and musk” (兰麝之香).
* **Liquor aroma:** In the requirements the aroma is included in the taste formula: a rich camphor aroma (樟香浓郁).
* **Taste:** Mellow, refreshing, with a sweet return (滋味醇和爽口、回甜). The Baidu reference: first astringent, then sweetish, strong.
* **Liquor color:** For bud tea — yellow and bright, for leaf tea — yellow-green. Other sources write of an amber, golden and pale yellow liquor; for aged raw material it is, according to the Wulong District website, wine-red.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Product requirements: moisture no more than 8.0 %; water-soluble extractives for bud tea no less than 30 %, for leaf tea no less than 25 %. Wuxi County writes of 17 amino acids, including eight essential ones, and of the absence of caffeine; the flavonoid content in its publications of different years diverges — 25.6 % in one and 1.65 % in another. The Wulong District website, on the contrary, writes of “a certain amount” of the alkaloid (茶碱). There are no analysis reports in the sources.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular product. In folk practice the infusion is drunk in summer to quench thirst; the healing promises of websites are not repeated here.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice. Brewing regimes for *Lǎoyīng chá* are not found in the sources consulted; below are the usual parameters for herbal infusions from large leaves.

* **Water temperature:** 90–100 °C.
* **Amount:** 2–3 g per 150–200 ml; according to the Baidu reference, little leaf is needed, and it yields a lot of infusion.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
* **Process:** The first infusion — 2–3 minutes, then several infusions with lengthening times.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry dark place, away from foreign odors. According to local descriptions, the ready infusion does not spoil overnight in summer.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Retail prices and output data for the protection zone are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * The protected name applies only to the six townships and towns of Shimian; look for the geographical indication product mark. *Lǎoyīng chá* from Chongqing is the same drink of a different origin.
    * Brownish-red dry leaf or downy buds, a yellow or yellow-green liquor, a distinct camphor note.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The protection document allows the product to be made both with rolling and without it.

**13. Comparison with Other Infusions Not from the Tea Bush:**

* **Pingle Shiya Cha ([平乐石崖茶](https://thetea.app/article/pingle-shiya-cha)):** A Guangxi infusion from the leaf of a tree of the genus *Adinandra*, three times pan-fired and rolled; the liquor is yellow-green and sweet.
* **Yongshun Meicha ([永顺莓茶](https://thetea.app/article/yongshun-meicha)):** A Hunan infusion from a vine of the grape family, with a silvery coating on the leaf.
* **Kuding ([苦丁茶](https://thetea.app/article/kuding-cha)):** A bitter infusion from the leaves of holly or privet; *lǎoyīng chá* has a sweet return and camphor.

**In Conclusion:**

*Lǎoyīng chá* is a drink of the mountains of southwest China made from the leaf of a laurel tree with spotted bark. The protected name belongs to Shimian County on the Dadu River, where it is made by a short process — withering, fixation, drying — and valued for its brownish-red leaf and dense camphor aroma. It is “tea” in the popular sense of the word, and it is not worth measuring it by tea standards.