Máchéng fúbáijú (麻城福白菊) is the Macheng white chrysanthemum “fúbái”: dried chrysanthemum flower heads from the mountains in the north of Macheng county-level city (麻城市), Hubei Province, at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains (大别山). It is not a tea made from the leaf of the tea bush but a chrysanthemum infusion drunk as one drinks tea; Chinese sources call fúbáijú a medicinal raw material that is also eaten and drunk (药食兼用). The name has been protected in China since 2008, and since 2021 also in the European Union, where it is listed in the tea group.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: A flower infusion, a tea substitute (代用茶, dàiyòng chá); there is no Camellia sinensis leaf in it, so the product has no tea class.
- EU heading: The specification for the EU register assigns the product to “other products of Annex I — tea” and translates the name as “Macheng chrysanthemum tea”. This is a commodity heading, not botany.
- Category: A geographical indication product under three Chinese regimes and in the EU (section 2).
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Huanggang prefecture-level city (黄冈, Huánggāng), Macheng county-level city (麻城, Máchéng).
- Protection zone: According to the EU specification — five towns and townships in the north of Macheng with an area of 1,520.7 km². The main area is Futianhe town (福田河镇); scattered cultivation — Huangtugang (黄土岗), Chengmagang (乘马岗), Sanhekou (三河口) and Shunheji (顺河集). The zone borders Henan in the north and Anhui in the east.
- Geographic coordinates: 114°45′–115°20′ E and 31°20′–31°40′ N (according to the specification).
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Song. Xinhua and the Mission of China to the EU write that chrysanthemum has been grown in Macheng since the Song era.
- 997, according to legend. A local account says that the flower grew wild on a summit of the Dabie Mountains, and in 997 the Taoist monks of the Chunyang Temple (纯阳寺) in Futianhe transplanted it around Mount Chunyang.
- Ming and Qing. According to the same account, with the support of natives of Macheng — the high officials Zheng Yiwei (郑以伟), Mei Guozhen (梅国桢) and Mei Zhihuan (梅之焕) — the plantings moved from courtyards into fields, and local officials began to present the chrysanthemum as tribute.
- 2008. The Ministry of Agriculture, by announcement No. 1054 of 1 July, entered the name in the register of agricultural product geographical indications — in the first batch of 28 products.
- 2009. A certification trademark; sources name different months — October and December.
- 2014. Protection as a geographical indication product, announcement No. 39 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Sources give different dates — 8 April and 5 May; an industry newspaper wrote in 2017 that the product had already passed the review of the supervisory authority on 10 December 2013.
- 2021. The agreement between China and the EU entered into force on 1 March; fúbáijú is on the first “100+100” list, in the EU register as a protected geographical indication (file PGI-CN-2746). In the same year the provincial standard DB42/T 334-2021 “地理标志产品 麻城福白菊” was issued (published on 1 April, in force from 1 June).
- Name: There are three explanations. Xinhua: for the large flower head with snow-white ray florets. The Mission of China to the EU: after Futianhe town. A local version, presented as “they say”: in the local dialect 湖北 (Húběi) sounds like 福白 (fúbái), and the “Hubei chrysanthemum” became “fúbái”.
- Cultural significance: Local materials place fúbáijú among the “three white chrysanthemums of China”, next to the Hangzhou white chrysanthemum of Zhejiang and the Yancheng white chrysanthemum of Jiangsu.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Plant: Mulberry-leaved chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum morifolium; in the patent literature — the cultivar designation C. morifolium cv. Fubaiju.
- Series: A patent, citing a 2011 article in the journal “湖北农业科学”, distinguishes a white (白菊) and a golden (金菊) series; the white one includes the “red-hearted big white” (红心大白菊) and the “small white” (小白菊).
- Other names: 福田白菊, 湖北菊, 甘菊; on the market for medicinal raw materials — “Hubei flower” (湖北花).
- Flower head: 2–5 cm; ray petals about 22–25 mm long and 5–7 mm wide (EU specification).
- Raw material: Open flower heads and unopened buds — “embryo chrysanthemum” (胎菊, tāijú).
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The mountains of northern Macheng; Futianhe lies on the watershed of the Yangtze and the Huai River, at the headwaters of the Jushui River.
- Altitude: Sources disagree: the EU specification — 200–800 m, a reprint of the 2014 announcement — 600–1,000 m.
- Soils: Yellow-brown, deep, moisture-retaining; organic matter 1.5%, pH 6.0–7.5 (specification).
- Climate: Mean annual temperature 13–16 °C, 1,634–2,249 hours of sunshine, precipitation 1,112.2–1,688.7 mm, a frost-free period of 237 days; the 2014 announcement adds large day-night temperature differences.
- Scale: The figures vary: an industry newspaper in 2017 — more than 100,000 mu, the Mission to the EU in 2021 — 80,000 mu, Xinhua in 2023 — about 2,000 ha.
5. Production Technology
- Harvest: According to a report in Hubei Ribao (November 2023), the peak of picking flower heads and buds is in November; the flower head is pinched off by holding the stalk between the thumb and the index finger.
- Primary processing (ibid., the workshop of Yantouyuan village, Huangtugang town):
- Sorting by grade and removal of impurities.
- Line processing referred to as “fixation and detoxification” (杀青脱毒).
- The first drying at high temperature — it dries the outer layer of the flower head.
- Cooling.
- The second drying.
- Finishing: At factories in the city the semi-finished product is disinfected, packed and labeled.
- Old method: According to a local report, at the beginning of the reforms families steamed the flowers into “cakes” and dried them in the sun; later microwave and steam fixation spread.
- Standard: The technology is set by the provincial standard DB42/T 334-2021; its text has not been read, and its parameters are not given.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The reference description is one and the same in the 2014 announcement, in Xinhua and in the EU specification.
- Dry leaf appearance: There is no leaf; the product is flower heads: large and fleshy (朵大肥厚), the petals jade-white (花瓣玉白), the center dark yellow (花蕊深黄).
- Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Clean, light (气清香).
- Taste: Sweet and mellow (味甘醇美).
- Liquor color: Clear, golden yellow with a greenish tinge (汤液清澈、金黄带绿).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
| Indicator | EU specification | 2014 announcement |
|---|---|---|
| Total flavonoids | 3.0–8.2% | not less than 5% |
| Chlorogenic acid | 0.18–0.35% | not less than 0.25% |
The lower ends of the ranges are below the 2014 minimums; how this is reconciled in the 2021 standard cannot be established without its text.
8. Health Properties
There are no verified data on the effects of this particular product. The formulas of traditional medicine (“clears heat”, “brightens the eyes”) are not retold here as established.
9. Brewing
The practice of the class — for a chrysanthemum infusion. 3–5 g of flower heads per 200–250 ml of water at 85–95 °C, a glass tumbler or a gaiwan, 2–4 minutes for the first infusion, two to four infusions.
10. Storage
The practice of the class. Dry, dark, in a tightly closed container, away from odors: flower raw material is hygroscopic and quickly loses its aroma.
11. Price and Counterfeits
No price data were found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark; producers in the zone obtain the right to it from the Macheng chrysanthemum industry association.
- Check that it comes from the five towns in the north of Macheng.
- Compare the appearance with the reference: a large fleshy flower head, white petals, a dark yellow center.
12. Interesting Facts
- One name is protected by four instruments: the register of agricultural products, a trademark, the regime of the supervisory authority and the EU register.
- In the English specification the holder is called the “blessed chrysanthemum association”: the character 福 was translated as “blessing”.
- Sources count the age of the crop differently: “since the Song era” and “almost 1,500 years” (as written by Hubei Ribao in 2023 and Nongmin Ribao in 2024); the second figure does not agree with the Song dating.
13. Comparison with Other Chrysanthemums and Teas
- Chrysanthemum tea (菊花茶): The corpus overview article on chrysanthemum infusion in general.
- Huangshan Gongju (黄山贡菊): The chrysanthemum of Shexian County, Anhui Province, also with a geographical indication.
- Macheng Guishan Lücha (麻城龟山绿茶): A true green tea of the same county-level city.
In Conclusion:
Máchéng fúbáijú is a large white chrysanthemum with a dark yellow center from five mountain towns in the north of Macheng. There are more documents about it than about many teas, but they disagree on the altitude of the zone and on the norms for chlorogenic acid, and the product itself is not a tea but a chrysanthemum infusion.
Sources
Standards
Full list — on the Sources page