Lípíng quèshé (黎平雀舌) is a flat green tea of Liping County (黎平县) in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in the southeast of Guizhou Province. “雀舌” means “sparrow’s tongue”: in China this is the name for tea whose bud resembles a small flat tongue. Reference descriptions class Lípíng quèshé among flat pan-fired green teas and say that it is made from a single bud picked before the Qingming festival. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark: the holder is the Liping County agricultural industry association, and in the provincial list the mark is dated 14 April 2018. I have not found documents with requirements for the tea itself, so the appearance and technology below are taken from reference descriptions.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), flat, with fixation and drying in a wok (扁形炒青绿茶, biǎnxíng chǎoqīng lǜchá) — according to reference descriptions. In the mark documents I have seen, the class is not named.
- Category: A flat bud green tea of the “sparrow’s tongue” type; geographical indication certification mark (2018).
- Origin: China, Guizhou Province (贵州, Guìzhōu), Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (黔东南, Qiándōngnán), Liping County (黎平, Lípíng).
- Zone: Liping County is given as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder. I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
- Geographic coordinates: Liping County — about 26° N and 109° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Early history. No data in the sources consulted. I do not give dates or chronicles about Lípíng quèshé: I have not seen a single one in open text.
- 2011. According to a reference description, the tea received the highest gold award of the 2011 World Green Tea Contest (世界绿茶评比会).
- 2018. The mark “黎平雀舌” was approved on 14 April 2018 — this is the date given in the list of all geographical marks of Guizhou attached to a notice of the provincial intellectual property administration. The holder is the Liping County agricultural industry association (黎平县农业产业协会). A month later, on 21 May 2018, the same association received a second mark — for Liping camellia oil (黎平山茶油).
- 2022. The notice of the Guizhou intellectual property administration of 22 August 2022 on reminding holders about renewing their marks includes “黎平雀舌” in the general list of the province’s marks. It did not make the list of marks whose term is about to expire.
- 2025. According to a report in Zhongguo Lüse Shibao (中国绿色时报), shortly before its publication on 24 January 2025 three more companies of the county received the right to use the special mark “黎平雀舌”; in all, there were now four such companies.
- Name: “Liping” (黎平) is the name of the county. Quèshé (雀舌) means “sparrow’s tongue”: according to reference descriptions, the tea is named for its shape — the flat straight bud resembles a bird’s tongue.
- Cultural significance: According to the same 2025 report, ten companies in the county use geographical indication marks — on quèshé, camellia oil and “xianghe” glutinous rice (黎平香禾糯); together they use about 473,000 marks a year. The report presents this as a way to raise the profile of local brands.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: No data in the sources consulted.
- Raw material: A single bud (单芽), tender and whole (细嫩完整) — according to a reference description.
- Harvest time: Before the Qingming festival (清明, Qīngmíng), that is, before early April.
- Harvest standard: One bud without leaves. I have not seen a document that fixes this.
- Raw material requirements: No data in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Southeastern Guizhou, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
- Growing altitude: No reliable data. One reference page gives 500–800 m, but I have not found confirmation.
- Soils and climate: No data in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
A reference description gives a machine technology with parameters. This is a description from a reference, not the mark’s requirements; it does not name stages of spreading and cooling the leaf.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): A drum machine, leaf feed 15 kg per hour, temperature about 100 °C. Where exactly the temperature is measured, the source does not specify.
- Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng): A multifunction machine with troughs; load 1.25–1.50 kg, trough temperature about 90 °C. After it, according to the same description, the leaf becomes flat.
- Third stage — in the same machine: Trough oscillation frequency 130 times per minute, temperature about 80 °C. The source gives no name for the stage; in substance it is final drying.
For comparison, the general scheme of flat green tea: spreading the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng), fixation, flattening and drying. This is the scheme of the class, not a description of this particular tea.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description below is from reference descriptions.
- Dry leaf appearance: Even, resembling a sparrow’s tongue, flat and straight; the color is green with a sheen (条索匀整，状如雀舌，干茶色泽绿润，扁平挺直).
- Dry leaf aroma: No data in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Clean and high (香气清高).
- Taste: Fresh and brisk (滋味鲜爽).
- Liquor color: Bright (汤色明亮); for the top grade, according to one reference page, tender green and bright (嫩绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender, even, the buds open into “flowers”, bright (叶底嫩匀成朵明亮).
The same page divides the tea into three grades — top, first and second — by the evenness of the “strands”, the liquor color and the strength of the aroma. It does not say which document this scale is taken from.
7. Chemical Composition
A reference description only writes that the tea has “comparatively high” levels of water extract, polyphenols, amino acids and caffeine. Figures and norms are not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C. Reference pages on Lípíng quèshé advise 85–90 °C and a tea-to-water ratio of 1:50.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler — in it one can see the buds stand up.
- Process:
- Warm the tumbler.
- Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving about a third of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Two or three repeat infusions.
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
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “黎平雀舌”. As of January 2025, four companies of the county had the right to use it.
- Check that the producer is from Liping County.
- The leaf is a flat straight bud without leaves, green with a sheen.
11. Interesting Facts
- The same county association received the mark for the tea and the mark for camellia oil a month apart.
- Three of the four companies with the right to the mark received it shortly before the January 2025 report.
- There are many “sparrow’s tongues” in China, and they are all different: the name speaks of the shape of the bud, not of the variety or place.
- The county also has another tea name — Liping Xiang Cha (黎平香茶); this is a separate product.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Liping Xiang Cha (黎平香茶): A green tea of the same county; described separately in the encyclopedia corpus.
- Meitan Cui Ya (湄潭翠芽): A flat green tea of another part of Guizhou — Meitan County.
- Pujiang Que She (蒲江雀舌): A Sichuan “sparrow’s tongue”.
- Jintan Que She (金坛雀舌): A “sparrow’s tongue” from Jiangsu Province.
- Que She (雀舌): An overview article on the “sparrow’s tongue” form itself.
In Conclusion:
Lípíng quèshé is a flat bud green tea of southeastern Guizhou: single buds before Qingming, machine fixation and shaping, a flat straight leaf, a clean high aroma and a fresh taste. Little about it is verified — mostly the history of the mark: approval in 2018 for the county association and four companies with the right to the mark by 2025. Everything about the leaf and taste so far rests on reference descriptions.