Měnghǎi Mànxīnglóng chá

Měnghǎi Mànxīnglóng chá (勐海曼兴龙茶) is a geographical mark for the tea of the village of Manxinglong in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Publications on Bulangshan usually write the name of the village as 曼新龙 (Manxinlong) or 曼新竜, and explicitly name 曼兴龙 — the spelling used in the name of the mark — as one of the variants of its name. It is a Bulang village on Bulangshan, next to Lao Banzhang and Lao Man’e. Its tea is described as bitter and powerful, and sellers call it “the second Lao Man’e”. The document of the mark does not name the product class.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Not established: the document of the mark does not name the class. The large-leaf raw material of Menghai is made above all into sheng pu-erh (生普, shēngpǔ), but also into red and white tea. Tea publications and sellers describe Manxinlong tea as pu-erh.
Category: Tea of the old gardens of Bulangshan; geographical mark. The list does not specify its kind, and the press calls the county’s marks certification marks (证明商标).
Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (西双版纳, Xīshuāngbǎnnà), Menghai County (勐海县, Měnghǎi Xiàn), Bulangshan Township (布朗山乡, Bùlǎngshān xiāng), Xinlong village committee (新龙).
Village name: Trade descriptions of Bulangshan give four spellings for the village: 曼新竜, 曼新龙, 曼兴龙 and 曼兴竜. That the mark “勐海曼兴龙茶” refers specifically to this village is probable but not confirmed by the document.
Protection zone: The list gives Menghai County as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
Geographic coordinates: Exact coordinates are not found in the sources consulted. Menghai County lies between 21°28′ and 22°28′ N and between 99°56′ and 100°41′ E; Bulangshan is its southeastern part.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Bulangshan. Descriptions call the massif one of the places where the most old gardens have survived: about 9505 mu of cultivated old gardens. The gardens of Xinlong are in the villages of Manxinlong and Manbie (曼别).
- Resettlement. According to one description, the ancestors of the residents of Manxinlong came to Bulangshan from near Jinghong more than two hundred years ago, and the gardens behind the village were planted after the move, in the new place.
- Bitter tea. According to a trade publication, around 2011, during an additional survey of the old tea trees of Xishuangbanna, 200 mu of old garden of the 苦茶 variety (kǔchá, “bitter tea”) were found near Manxinlong.
- “Greater Banzhang”. Sellers group Lao Banzhang, Xinbanzhang, Lao Man’e, Hekai, Banpen, Zhangjia, Manxinlong and their neighbors together into the “greater Banzhang area” (大班章茶区). One of the publications warns: under this label the tea of the neighbors is sold at a price close to that of Lao Banzhang, although the taste of many of them is noticeably different.
- The Menghai marks. The umbrella mark “勐海茶” was filed in 2012 by the county tea center, registered in 2014 and put into use in 2016. In the list of Yunnan GI marks as of the end of 2019 it is followed by fifteen marks for mountains and villages; among them, besides “勐海曼兴龙茶”, are the marks of the nearest neighbors — “勐海班章茶” and “勐海老曼峨茶”. The press in 2022 speaks of sixteen marks of the county — the same number of tea marks Menghai has in the list if the umbrella mark is counted too.
Name: According to descriptions, the name of the village comes from the Dai language: “man” (曼) means “village”, “xin” means “lion”, “long” means “big”; together — “village of the big lion”. If the name is Dai, the characters only render its sound — hence, apparently, the variety of spellings.
Cultural significance: Manxinlong is a village of the Bulang people. Sellers have dubbed its tea “the second Lao Man’e” (老曼娥第二) and attribute to it the saying “the astringency goes — the aroma remains; the bitterness recedes — ten days of sweetness” (涩尽七分香，苦退十日甜).

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety / Cultivar: Local large-leaf tea; the variety is not named in the sources consulted. Descriptions single out gardens of the 苦茶 variety: its buds and leaves are bitter, but the aftertaste is sweet.
Age of the trees: According to descriptions, the old trees of Manxinlong are more than 200 years old. One description gives their size: trunk diameter at the base 0.2–0.6 m, height about 3 m.
Harvest: Timing is not given in the sources consulted.
Harvest standard: Not given in the sources consulted.
Raw material requirements: I have not seen the requirements of the mark.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Bulangshan is a massif in the southeast of Menghai County near the border with Myanmar; Manxinlong, according to descriptions, is close to Lao Banzhang and especially to Lao Man’e.
Growing altitude: According to descriptions, the gardens lie at 1500–1900 m; one description places the village itself at an altitude of more than 1800 m.
Area: Estimates diverge: more than 1000 mu of old gardens — according to data cited by sellers; 150-odd mu — according to another description.
Soils: Yellow-brown or yellow (黄棕壤、黄壤).
Gardens: The old trees grow in small patches in primary forest.
Climate: There are no data for the gardens of Manxinlong. For Bulangshan as a whole, descriptions give an average annual temperature of 18–21 °C and about 1374 mm of precipitation a year.

5. Production Technology

The technology of the tea under the mark is not described in the sources consulted. For sheng pu-erh from old trees the usual sequence is as follows:

Plucking (采摘, cǎizhāi).
Cooling the leaf (摊晾, tānliàng).
Fixation in a pan (杀青, shāqīng).
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Sun drying (晒干, shàigān): The result is loose maocha (晒青毛茶, shàiqīng máochá).
Pressing (紧压, jǐnyā): Optional.

This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of Měnghǎi Mànxīnglóng chá.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The descriptions below are given by sellers for pu-erh from the old trees of Manxinlong. No one has officially linked them to the product under the mark.

Dry leaf appearance: There are no detailed descriptions; sellers write that in appearance the tea resembles Lao Banzhang tea.
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Rich and dense, with a sweet tinge (馥郁、浓厚，偏甜香) — according to sellers, more lavish than that of Lao Banzhang. In one tasting note — a high, fresh “flower pollen” aroma (花粉清香) and a long cold aroma at the bottom of the cup.
Taste: The bitterness is strong, the aroma dense (苦重香浓). The bitterness is clean, at the root of the tongue, but goes away quickly; the sweet return is fast, salivation is strong, the liquor is full and long-lasting (苦回甘快，生津强烈，饱满持久). The general manner of the “greater Banzhang area” is described with the words “strong, powerful, thick” (浓强酽). According to a seller’s note, the tea withstands ten infusions.
Liquor color: Yellow, bright (汤色黄亮); in the tasting note — golden yellow (金黄明亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions in the sources consulted.

7. Chemical Composition

Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice. The mark does not name the class; the guidelines below are for sheng pu-erh, which is how tea publications describe Manxinlong tea.

Water temperature: 95–100 °C; for bitter young raw material the temperature can be lowered slightly.
Tea amount: 5–8 g per 110–150 ml.
Teaware: Gaiwan or a clay teapot.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Add the tea; break pressed tea apart carefully, without crumbling the leaf.
3. Briefly rinse the leaf with boiling water and pour it off.
4. First infusions — 5–10 seconds: the bitterness quickly gains strength.
5. Pour out the liquor completely.
6. Lengthen the time with each infusion.

9. Storage

Class practice. Sheng pu-erh is stored in a dry, clean, ventilated place away from light and foreign odors, in breathable packaging. Such tea changes over the years, and it is often aged on purpose.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the mark “勐海曼兴龙茶” and check that the producer is from Menghai County.
- Do not confuse the mark with the “greater Banzhang area”: that is a trade label, not a protected name.
- Keep the spellings in mind: 曼新龙, 曼新竜, 曼兴龙 and 曼兴竜 in descriptions denote one village.
- Do not take Manxinlong for Lao Banzhang or Lao Man’e: the neighbors have their own marks — “勐海班章茶” and “勐海老曼峨茶”.

11. Interesting Facts

The village has four spellings of its name; the mark took 曼兴龙, while descriptions of Bulangshan more often write 曼新龙.
The name in the Dai language means “village of the big lion”.
Around 2011, 200 mu of old garden of the bitter tea 苦茶 were described near Manxinlong.
Sellers call the tea of the village “the second Lao Man’e”.

12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas

Lao Man’e (老曼峨): The neighbor closest in character; descriptions write that when compared, their bitter teas are hard to tell apart.
Lao Banzhang (老班章): The benchmark of Bulangshan; according to sellers, Manxinlong has a more lavish aroma, but lower purity and freshness.
Banzhang (班章): The group of villages with which Manxinlong is combined into the “greater Banzhang area”.
Bulangshan (布朗山): The massif where the village lies; our encyclopedia mentions Manxinlong among its micro-areas.

In Conclusion:

Měnghǎi Mànxīnglóng chá is the mark of the Bulang village of the “big lion” on Bulangshan, whose name is written in four ways. Gardens at 1500–1900 m amid forest, the bitter tea 苦茶 and the reputation of “the second Lao Man’e” — that is what is known about it from descriptions. The mark does not name the product class, and I have not found any data on the mark itself beyond its line in the provincial list.