Lǒngnán lǜchá (陇南绿茶) is a green tea of Longnan prefecture-level city (陇南市) in the south of Gansu Province. Longnan is the only tea region of Gansu: the gardens lie in a triangle where Wen County, Wudu District and Kang County meet, at the junction with Sichuan and Shaanxi. The name is prefecture-wide, but the zone is narrow — 13 townships and towns, and the protection announcement counts it down to villages and households: 158 administrative villages, 755 rural communities, 19,300 farming households. The protection requirements recognize two forms of the tea — flat and curled — with a chestnut aroma. The name was entered in the register of agricultural product geographical indications in 2016.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is stated in the name; all the descriptions of appearance and processing found are of green tea.
- Category: Prefectural regional public brand (区域公用品牌, qūyù gōngyòng pǐnpái) and agricultural product geographical indication (2016).
- Origin: China, Gansu Province (甘肃, Gānsù), Longnan prefecture-level city (陇南, Lǒngnán): Wen County (文县, Wénxiàn), Wudu District (武都区, Wǔdū qū), Kang County (康县, Kāngxiàn).
- Protection zone: According to announcement No. 640 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) — Wen County: Bikou (碧口镇), Zhongmiao (中庙乡), Fanba (范坝乡), Liujiaping (刘家坪乡); Wudu District: Luotang (洛塘镇), Yuhe (裕河乡), Fengxiang (枫相乡), Wuma (五马乡); Kang County: Yangba (阳坝镇), Lianghe (两河镇), Tongqian (铜钱乡), Baiyang (白杨乡), Sanhe (三河乡). The applicant is the prefectural extension station for industrial crop technology. The description of the agricultural indication, with the same 13 townships and 755 communities, names not 158 but 148 villages.
- Geographic coordinates: 104°41′–106°08′ E, 32°42′–33°48′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Tea on the road to the nomads. According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (2019), under the Eastern Han, tea from Ba and Shu was carried through Chengdu to Wudu and sold to the nomads of the northwest, and under the Song, state tea-horse markets (茶马场) operated here. I have not seen the documents on which these claims rest.
- 2016. According to a China.com.cn report (2019), the name passed expert review in August, and on November 2 the Ministry of Agriculture, by announcement No. 2468, entered it in the register of agricultural product geographical indications; the number is AGI01999.
- 2018. In December, according to the same report, the Longnan tea association admitted eight companies to the mark and issued 100,000 traceable anti-counterfeit labels.
- 2025. By announcement No. 640, CNIPA recognized 1409 names as geographical indication products; Lǒngnán lǜchá is among them.
- Name: “Longnan” (陇南) — “south of Long”, where Long (陇, Lǒng) is the traditional short name of Gansu. “Lǜchá” (绿茶) — green tea.
- Cultural significance: The Gansu press calls Longnan “陇上江南” — “Jiangnan in the land of Long”. For the prefecture, tea is a mainstay of the mountain villages: according to a 2019 report, in some tea villages it provided more than 60 % of the income of poor families. A feature in Zhongguo Gansu Wang (2023) writes that in Longnan people still brew guànguàn chá (罐罐茶) — tea in a small clay pot.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: The protection requirements name a small-leaf population variety (小叶群体种, xiǎoyè qúntǐzhǒng) and describe its propagation by seeds and cuttings. According to a 2019 report, the clonal varieties Longjing 43 (龙井43, Lóngjǐng 43), Zhongcha 108 (中茶108, Zhōngchá 108) and Huangjin Ya (黄金芽, Huángjīn yá) have also been introduced into the prefecture.
- Raw material: According to the protection requirements — a single bud or a bud with one or two leaves (单芽或一芽一、二叶); the shoots are described there as “heavy and firm” (芽叶重实).
- Harvest: According to the protection requirements, early varieties begin to be picked after March 20, the small-leaf population variety after April 1; about seven pickings are made in a year, and in early September the garden is closed. According to the 2023 feature, in Liziba village (李子坝) of Wen County picking takes place after the Yushui season (雨水, yǔshuǐ), one bud with a leaf at a time.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: A triangle at the junction of Wen County, Wudu District and Kang County, in the Yangtze basin. The main gardens, according to the 2023 feature, are near the towns of Bikou, Yuhe and Lianghe.
- Place in tea geography: The northern edge of the Jiangbei tea region (江北茶区, Jiāngběi cháqū) — the tea lands north of the Yangtze.
- Climate: According to the description of the agricultural indication — transitional between northern subtropical humid and warm temperate humid. The protection requirements note long daylight hours, a large difference between day and night temperatures, fogs and abundant diffused light.
- Growing altitude: According to the protection requirements — mountains below 1400 m; the 2019 report gives 600–1200 m.
- Soils: Acidic sandy loams, yellow-brown (黄棕壤) and brown (棕壤) soils, pH 4.6–6.5 — as given in the protection requirements.
- Scale: According to China.com.cn, by the end of 2018 the gardens of the prefecture covered 174,000 mu, with output of 1388 t; Zhongguo Gansu Wang in 2021 gave 179,000 mu and more than 1400 t. This is all the tea of the prefecture, not only the products under the mark.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements set only a basic scheme. The fresh leaf is spread in the workshop for 3–8 hours in a layer no thicker than 15 cm, but for no longer than 12 hours; then fixation (杀青, shāqīng) — rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn) — drying (干燥, gānzào). The document gives no temperatures or times for these steps.
The 2023 feature describes the flat “mountain Longjing” of Liziba village: the leaf is processed on the day of picking, without leaving it overnight.
- Spreading (摊晾, tānliàng).
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heating stops oxidation.
- Shaping flat (扁形, biǎnxíng).
- Removing the down (去毫, qùháo).
- Repeated pan-firing (回锅, huíguō).
- Sorting (精选, jīngxuǎn).
- “Raising the aroma” (提香, tíxiāng).
This is a description of one village tea, without parameters, not the requirements of the mark.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The protection requirements divide the tea into flat (扁形) and curled (卷曲形). Below is the flat one; in parentheses, the wording of the document.
- Dry leaf appearance: Bud and leaves flat, straight and smooth, emerald green or yellow-green (芽叶扁平，挺直光滑，翠绿或黄绿).
- Dry leaf aroma: No data in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Chestnut, or tender or clean (栗香或嫩香、清香).
- Taste: Fresh, brisk, rich and mellow (鲜爽浓醇).
- Liquor color: Green or yellow-green, bright (绿亮或黄绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Yellow-green, the shoots open “like a flower” (黄绿成朵).
The curled tea is tight, green with a sheen (紧结卷曲，色泽绿润), with a tender green liquor, a high chestnut or clean aroma (floral in some batches), a fresh mellow taste and soft yellow-green spent leaves. The general formula “青翠透金，栗香甘醇” — emerald with a golden glint, chestnut aroma, mellow sweetness — according to a 2019 report, was given by a researcher of the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
7. Chemical Composition
The protection requirements set thresholds: water-soluble extractives not less than 34.0 %, tea polyphenols not less than 11.0 %, catechins (in the text — “儿茶酚”) not less than 7.0 %, moisture not more than 7.0 % (for sun-dried tea — 9.0 %), crude fiber not more than 16.0 %.
Xinhua (2024) gives the following figures for Lǒngnán lǜchá:
| Indicator | Content |
|---|---|
| Gallocatechin gallate (GCG) | 1.03 % |
| Catechin (C) | 0.26 % |
| “精氨酸” (arginine) | 0.21 g per 100 g |
| Tea polysaccharides | 0.90 g per 100 g |
| Calcium | 2479.92 mg/kg |
| Iron | 143.10 mg/kg |
The publication names no method, sample or year, and does not spell out the superiority over “similar products”. There is also an inconsistency: the sentence begins with theanine, but the figure is attributed to arginine. This is a reference point with attribution, not a norm; I draw no health conclusions.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Two or three repeated infusions; the protection requirements call the tea “高香耐泡” — aromatic and able to withstand repeated infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. It is better to drink it 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 mark and the traceable anti-counterfeit label.
- Check that the producer is from the 13 townships and towns of the zone: the prefecture is large, and the mark covers only this part.
- The flat leaf is smooth, straight, emerald or yellow-green; the curled leaf is tight and green; the aroma is chestnut or clean.
- Local flat tea in Longnan is called “Longjing”; this is a Gansu tea, not Xihu Longjing (西湖龙井).
11. Interesting Facts
- According to the 2023 feature, in Bikou rapeseed blooms as early as January, while in the colder counties of the prefecture it blooms only at the end of April or the beginning of May.
- Besides green tea, Longnan has mastered red tea and pressed fuzhuan (茯砖茶, fúzhuānchá), a 2019 report writes.
12. Comparison with Other Northern Green Teas
- Longshen Cha (龙神茶) and Bikou Longjing (碧口龙井): Green teas of southern Gansu described in the corpus; the town of Bikou is part of the Lǒngnán lǜchá zone.
- Hanzhong Xian Hao (汉中仙毫): Green tea of neighboring Shaanxi Province.
- Ziyang Mao Jian (紫阳毛尖): Historical green tea of Ziyang County in Shaanxi.
- Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶): Green tea of Shandong — the northeastern edge of Chinese tea-making, as Longnan is the northwestern one.
In Conclusion:
Lǒngnán lǜchá is the tea of the only tea corner of Gansu: 13 townships near the junction of three provinces, mountains below 1400 m, a small-leaf population variety and introduced clones, flat and curled leaf with a chestnut aroma. The technology in the protection requirements is given only as a scheme, but the zone is described in rare detail — down to the village, the community and the household.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page