---
title: "Línxiāng hēichá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/linxiang-heicha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Línxiāng hēichá (临湘黑茶)

*Línxiāng hēichá* (临湘黑茶) is a dark tea of the county-level city of Linxiang (临湘市) in Yueyang prefecture-level city, on the northeastern edge of Hunan Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze near the border with Hubei. The name “临湘黑茶” is geographical mark No. 13859303 for tea: in the Trademark Office's annual report for 2014 its holder is recorded as the Linxiang City Tea Industry Association (临湘市茶叶行业协会), and the Hunan government's list of 2024 counts it among the province's marks. The county is an old brick tea district: according to the chronicle of the county history office, from the late 18th century green brick (青砖茶, *qīngzhuānchá*) was made in the Yanglousi area, and according to a reference from the administration of neighboring Chibi in Hubei, under the Ming and Qing Linxiang *lǎoqīngchá* ([老青茶](https://thetea.app/article/lao-qing-cha)) was taken to Yangloudong. Which product form the mark itself is tied to is not stated in the sources consulted.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Dark tea (黑茶, *hēichá*). The class is named in the name of the mark; in addition, in 2021 the Hunan government entered the technique of Linxiang green brick in the list of provincial intangible heritage specifically as a dark tea technique — “黑茶制作技艺（临湘青砖茶制作技艺）”.
* **Form:** Not established for the mark. According to the county chronicle, in different centuries basket tea (篓茶, *lǒuchá*), green brick (青砖, *qīngzhuān*), *mǐzhuān* (米砖) and, from 1969, *fúzhuān* (茯砖) were pressed here. Which of these forms the mark covers, the sources do not say.
* **Category:** Dark tea with a geographical mark; whether the mark is collective or certification is not stated in the sources consulted.
* **Origin:** China, Hunan Province (湖南, *Húnán*), Yueyang prefecture-level city ([岳阳](https://thetea.app/article/yueyang-huangcha-zhixiang), *Yuèyáng*), Linxiang county-level city (临湘, *Línxiāng*).
* **Zone:** The holder of the mark according to the 2014 report is the association of Linxiang city, and the Hunan list of 2024 also names Linxiang as an administrative affiliation, not as the legal boundary of a zone; a document with the boundary is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 29.5° N and 113.45° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **923 — tribute to the Later Tang.** According to the chronicle of Linxiang tea, which the county history office (临湘史志办) published on the county government website in 2016, in 923 the ruler of Chu, Ma Yin (马殷), having recognized himself as a vassal of the Later Tang, also sent Linxiang tea to the court as tribute.
    * **936 — Wangchaochang, a tea collection point.** The same chronicle writes that in 936, the third year of the Qingtai era, Ma Yin's son Ma Xifan (马希范) separated part of Baling County and established Wangchaochang (王朝场), “so that households could conveniently hand in their taxes”; the place produced tea. A reference on the history of administrative division on the Linxiang government website (2021) gives the Qingtai years, 934–936, for this and specifies: it was the northeast of the county that was separated, and the point was set up in Lucheng (陆城) to collect and distribute the tea of northern Hunan and southern Hubei. In 994 Wangchaochang became Wangchao County, and in 996 the county received the name Linxiang.
    * **Discrepancy between references.** The short part of the same reference and the general information page on the county website write that Wangchaochang was established in 934–936 by Ma Yin himself. This could not be so: Ma Yin died in 930, after which Chu was ruled by his sons — Ma Xisheng, then Ma Xifan (according to *Changsha Wanbao*, 2016). Therefore Ma Xifan is named here as the founder, as in the detailed part of the reference and in the chronicle; the short part apparently gives the name of the dynasty's founder.
    * **Yuan and Ming — tea licenses and tribute in buds.** According to the county chronicle, in 1367–1450 two offices for checking tea licenses (批验茶引所) operated on the county's land — at Yalan (鸭栏) and near Chenglingji (城陵矶). The chronicle cites the Yuezhou prefectural gazetteer of 1488: in 1391 the county was assigned a tribute to the court — 16 jin of tea buds. According to the chronicle itself, buds from the Longjiao Mountains (龙窖山) went as tribute from then until 1910. The gazetteer of the Longqing era, which the county culture bureau quotes, writes of the tea of the Longjiao Mountains: “thicker in taste than that of Baling”. This is tribute in buds, that is, not in dark tea.
    * **Qing — brick tea for the north.** According to the chronicle, under Kangxi (1662–1722) people in the Yanglousi (羊楼司) area began making *lǎoqīngchá* and pressing basket tea, and at the end of the 18th century, under Qianlong and Jiaqing, flat square slabs of green brick. An article in *Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Bao* (2020) includes the mountain gardens of Linxiang in the brick district centered on Yangloudong and draws on mid-Qing Shanxi merchants' rules for buying tea in Yangloudong and Yanglousi: no later than the first half of the 19th century the district was an important source of tea for the Great Tea Road to Mongolia and Russia. According to the Chibi reference, *lǎoqīngchá* from Linxiang was brought to Yangloudong, made into “hat-box tea” (帽盒茶, *màohéchá*) and taken to Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Russia.
    * **Nieshi and Russian merchants.** According to the county chronicle, in 1859 Rong Hong (容闳) twice came to Nieshi (聂市) to study the production and sale of dark tea and described the trip in his memoirs; in 1861 the Yuezhou prefect Ding Baozhen (丁宝桢) put up a stone notice on keeping order at the Nieshi tea market, where merchants from Shanxi, Jiangxi and Guangdong traded. According to the same chronicle, in 1864 Russian merchants from Hankou began making *mǐzhuān* in the Yanglousi area and the following year shipped it by water along the Yangtze to Tianjin, and from there overland to Kyakhta. In 1908–1917, according to the chronicle, Linxiang sold 1,035 t of green brick, gongfu red tea (功夫红茶, *gōngfu hóngchá*) and *mǐzhuān* to Russia.
    * **20th century.** The chronicle cites the *Gazetteer of Chinese Industry* (中国实业志) of 1935: of 184 tea factories in Hunan, 36 stood in Linxiang, second place in the province, and among them were 26 dark tea factories. In 1968 the county switched from *lǎoqīngchá* to dark tea, in 1969 the Linxiang Tea Factory began producing *fúzhuān* for Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu, and in 1978 Linxiang became one of the 25 base counties for border tea.
    * **2014–2015 — the mark.** The Trademark Office's annual report “中国商标战略年度发展报告（2014）” includes “临湘黑茶” in the list of geographical marks registered or preliminarily approved in 2014: No. 13859303, holder — the Linxiang City Tea Industry Association, goods — tea. According to the county chronicle, on 20 April 2015 in Changsha the provincial administration for industry and commerce, on behalf of the state administration, handed Linxiang a certificate for “临湘黑茶”. The chronicle calls it a certificate of a product under geographical indication protection, but it was handed over by the agency that handled trademarks, and in the Hunan lists “临湘黑茶” appears as a mark.
    * **2021 — heritage.** By notice of the Hunan government 湘政函〔2021〕167号 of 30 December 2021, “黑茶制作技艺（临湘青砖茶制作技艺）” — the technique of Linxiang green brick — entered the extended list of the fifth batch of provincial intangible heritage.
    * **2024.** The Hunan government's list of 2024 counts “临湘黑茶” among the province's 250 geographical collective and certification marks. It is not in the separate list of 82 geographical indication products, while Anhua Hei Cha is in both.
* **Name:** “Linxiang” (临湘) means “by the waters of the Xiang”, the name of the county-level city. According to the county government's reference, until 1899 its land reached Chenglingji, where the waters of the Xiang enter the Yangtze through Dongting Lake, hence the name. *Hēichá* (黑茶) means “dark tea”, after the class.
* **Cultural significance:** For the history of tea, Linxiang matters as a raw material and production district of brick tea on the route to Mongolia and Russia. The county government calls Linxiang one of the two southern starting points of the Great Tea Road, and calls green brick and *lǎoqīngchá* former signature brands of the industry. The old street of Nieshi, according to the state dictionary of geographical names on the county website, had more than 200 shops under Guangxu and was called “little Hankou”. According to the same reference, in 2011 the National Cultural Heritage Administration included Linxiang, thanks to Nieshi, among the node cities of the Hunan section of the Great Tea Road's world heritage bid, and in 2012 Nieshi became a historic town of the province.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Varieties are not named in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material:** No data for the mark. Historically, according to the Chibi reference, the county supplied *lǎoqīngchá* — a semi-finished product for pressed dark tea.
* **Harvest standard and timing:** No data for the mark. According to the county chronicle, from 1955 in Linxiang leaf was picked in spring for green tea and in summer for *lǎoqīngchá* for border tea.
* **Raw material requirements:** No data in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The northeastern corner of Hunan, the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze; to the east and north the county borders Hubei Province. The county's area is 1,760 km² according to the dictionary of geographical names on the county website; other references give about 1,719 km².
* **Growing altitude:** No data on the altitude of the gardens. The county's elevation, according to the same dictionary, ranges from 23 m by the Yangtze to 1,261.1 m on Mount Yaogu (药姑山), the highest point of the county.
* **Climate and soils:** No data relating to tea. According to the dictionary of geographical names, the county's mean annual temperature is 16.8 °C, the January mean 4.2 °C, the July mean 28.8 °C, with about 1,469 mm of precipitation a year.
* **Garden area:** No current data for the mark zone. According to the county chronicle, in 1979 the gardens covered 112,178 mu, about 7,500 ha — more than in any previous year after 1949.

**5. Production Technology:**

A mark document with the technology is not found in the sources consulted, nor is a description of the technology of *Línxiāng hēichá*. The provincial heritage list of 2021 assigns Linxiang green brick to dark tea technique but does not describe the technique itself.

Below is the general scheme of the neighboring Hubei green brick as described by the Chibi administration, not a description of the technology of *Línxiāng hēichá*:

1.  **Primary processing:** Picking, fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*) and drying in the sun or in a dryer yield *lǎoqīngchá*.
2.  **Piling and aging:** Piling with fermentation ([渥堆](https://thetea.app/article/wodui), *wòduī*) and aging (陈化, *chénhuà*).
3.  **Refining and blending:** Reprocessing and assembling the batch.
4.  **Pressing and drying:** Pressing (压制, *yāzhì*) and drying the finished bricks.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

There is no document with requirements for the appearance, and there are no descriptions of this tea in the sources consulted either.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Taste:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor color:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physico-chemical data on *Línxiāng hēichá* are not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for dark tea; if the tea is pressed, it is first broken into flakes with a knife or pick.

* **Water temperature:** 95–100 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 5 g per 100–150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A gaiwan, a clay teapot or a kettle for boiling tea.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea.
    3. Rinse with boiling water and discard.
    4. First infusion — 10–20 seconds.
    5. Pour out completely.
    6. Many repeat infusions, each one longer; the spent tea can be boiled.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In a dry, ventilated place without light or odors, in paper or cardboard packaging, at room temperature; stored this way, dark tea tolerates aging over many years.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical mark “临湘黑茶” No. 13859303; in the 2014 report its holder is recorded as the Linxiang City Tea Industry Association.
    * Check that the producer is from Linxiang.
    * Do not confuse it with the brick tea of neighboring Chibi ([赤壁青砖茶](https://thetea.app/article/chibi-qingzhuancha)): according to its administration's reference, this is a separate national geographical mark of Hubei, although historically Linxiang *lǎoqīngchá* also went into Yangloudong tea.
    * Do not confuse it with Anhua Hei Cha: it comes from another county of Hunan, and in the 2024 list it has both a mark and protection as a geographical indication product.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* Linxiang County grew out of Wangchaochang — a point that, according to the county government's reference, was established to collect and distribute the tea of northern Hunan and southern Hubei.
* According to the county chronicle, in 1875 the county magistrate put up a stone notice banning performances of huagu opera (花鼓戏, *huāgǔxì*) at the height of the tea season.
* According to the Chibi reference, Linxiang raw material went beyond the provincial border and was sold as Yangloudong pressed tea, under another name.
* In the Hunan list of 2024 Linxiang also has a second mark — “临湘浮标” (fishing floats); the tea and the floats stand next to each other in the list.
* In the same Yueyang prefecture-level city, both lists, of marks and of indication products, include “[岳阳黄茶](https://thetea.app/article/yueyang-huangcha)”, while “临湘黑茶” is only in the list of marks.
* Until 1930 the county seat of Linxiang stood on the Yangtze itself, in Lucheng (陆城), and only later moved to Chang'an.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Hubei Qing Zhuan ([湖北青砖](https://thetea.app/article/hubei-qing-zhuan)):** The green brick of neighboring Hubei; according to the Chibi reference, under the Ming and Qing Linxiang raw material was also taken to Yangloudong.
* **Lao Qing Cha (老青茶):** A semi-finished product for pressed dark tea, which Linxiang historically supplied to Yangloudong.
* **Fu Zhuan Cha ([茯砖茶](https://thetea.app/article/fu-zhuan-cha)):** A brick dark tea; according to the Linxiang chronicle, from 1969 the Linxiang Tea Factory also produced it — for Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu.
* **Anhua Hei Cha ([安化黑茶](https://thetea.app/article/anhua-heicha)):** The main dark tea of Hunan; in the 2024 list it is both a mark and a geographical indication product, *Línxiāng hēichá* only a mark.
* **Yueyang Huang Cha (岳阳黄茶):** A yellow tea of the same prefecture-level city, also in both Hunan lists.
* **Taolin Lü Cha ([桃林绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/taolin-lucha)):** A green tea of the town of Taolin in the same Linxiang County.

**In Conclusion:**

*Línxiāng hēichá* is a dark tea of the northeastern corner of Hunan with geographical mark No. 13859303: in the Trademark Office's list for 2014 its holder is recorded as the Linxiang City Tea Industry Association, and in 2024 the mark appears in the province's list. The product form, technology and appearance of the tea are not found in the mark documents. The county's history, however, is well documented: the county itself grew out of a tea collection point which, according to the county chronicle, Ma Xifan established in the 930s; under the Qing, Linxiang *lǎoqīngchá* and green brick went via Yangloudong and Hankou to Mongolia and Russia; and in 2021 the technique of Linxiang green brick became provincial intangible heritage.