Měnghǎi Zhāngjiā chá

Měnghǎi Zhāngjiā chá (勐海章家茶) is a geographical mark for the tea of Zhangjia (章家), one of the seven administrative villages of Bulangshan Township in Menghai County (勐海县), Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The old village of Zhangjia stands near the township border, with Myanmar to its south; both of the committee’s villages that have been described are Bulang. The best known of them in the tea trade, Zhangjia Sandui, bears the nickname “little Banzhang”, although what grows there is mostly not old trees but terrace tea. Which class of tea the mark covers is not stated in the documents found.

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Not fixed by the document of the mark. The old gardens of Menghai are a source of large-leaf raw material above all for pu-erh, but red and white tea are also made from the same leaf; the register does not say which product the mark covers. The descriptions of taste found refer to raw tea for pu-erh (毛茶, máochá).
• Category: A village geographical mark of Menghai County — a collective or certification trademark.
• Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Menghai County (勐海县, Měnghǎi Xiàn), Bulangshan Bulang Ethnic Township (布朗山布朗族乡, Bùlǎngshān Bùlǎngzú Xiāng), administrative village — the Zhangjia village committee (章家村委会). The committee includes, in particular, the old village of Zhangjia (章家老寨), where the committee itself is located, and the offshoot settlement of Zhangjia Sandui (章家三队, “Zhangjia third brigade”).
• Mark zone: The provincial list names only the prefecture and the county — this is the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone, and the village boundary as the zone of the mark is not confirmed in the sources consulted.
• Geographic coordinates: Exact coordinates are not found in the sources consulted. The center of Bulangshan Township is at about 21.59° N and 100.42° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • Resettlement. According to the description, Zhangjia Sandui split off from the old village of Zhangjia several decades ago. An exact date is not found in the sources consulted.
  • 2012–2014. The county tea industry technical service center (勐海县茶叶技术服务中心) filed an application for the umbrella certification mark “勐海茶” in 2012; it was registered in 2014.
  • By 2019. The mark “勐海章家茶” is registered: the provincial list of geographical trademarks of Yunnan as of December 28, 2019 lists it in row 223, next to the umbrella mark “勐海茶” and fourteen more marks of mountains and villages of the county (the press in 2022 wrote of sixteen). The registration number, the holder, the year and the product class are not named in the sources consulted; whether the mark is currently in force is not confirmed.
• Name: “Menghai” (勐海) is the name of the county; “Zhangjia” (章家) is the name of the village and the village committee, explained in different ways: a gazetteer of place names takes it for the former name Zhangzhan (章展), distorted in pronunciation, and a trade publication for a Dai name meaning “those who can build verandas”; “cha” (茶, chá) means tea.
• Cultural significance: Bulangshan Township is the largest area of settlement of the Bulang people in China (about 64% of the inhabitants). In the tea trade Zhangjia is known by the nickname of the Sandui settlement — “little Banzhang” (小班章): its tea is compared with the tea of Lao Banzhang in the same township.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Variety / Cultivar: Not named in the sources consulted.
• Garden types: According to descriptions of Zhangjia Sandui, the main raw material there is terrace tea (台地茶, táidìchá), that is, young bush plantings, plus trees about forty years old and a few large trees (大树茶) planted when the village was founded. According to one description, there are no old trees (古茶树) in the village; according to another, the oldest are no more than forty years old. One description gives the area of young plantings — more than 3000 mu (about 200 ha).
• Harvest: Timing is not given in the sources consulted.
• Harvest standard: Not given in the sources consulted.
• Raw material requirements: The rules of the mark are not found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: The south of Bulangshan Township, near the state border. The old village of Zhangjia, according to the description, lies on gentler and lower terrain than Sandui.
• Growing altitude: Zhangjia Sandui stands on a mountaintop at about 1100 m; the gardens, according to one description, lie at 1100–1800 m. For the township as a whole — mid-altitude mountains of 1000–2200 m.
• Climate: For Bulangshan Township an average annual temperature of 18–21 °C and about 1374 mm of precipitation a year are given; the description of Sandui speaks of long sunshine and abundant fog on the open summit.
• Soils: The description of Sandui calls the soils fertile; there are no other data.
• Population: Zhangjia Sandui, according to the description, has about 130 households and 680 inhabitants, mostly Bulang.
• Distances: According to one description, Sandui lies 3 km from the village committee; according to another — 22 km from the old village.

5. Production Technology

The technology fixed by the mark is not described in the sources consulted. The general scheme of the class for raw pu-erh according to the standard GB/T 22111-2008, not a description of Zhangjia tea specifically: the fresh leaf is spread out (摊放, tānfàng), fixed by heating (杀青, shāqīng), rolled (揉捻, róuniǎn), the clumps are broken up and the leaf is dried in the sun (日光干燥, rìguāng gānzào). The result is “sun-dried raw tea” (晒青毛茶, shàiqīng máochá); for raw pu-erh it is sorted, steamed, pressed and dried, without pile fermentation (渥堆, wòduī).

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

These are descriptions from trade publications of the raw tea of Zhangjia Sandui — mostly from terrace gardens; there is no laboratory tasting behind them.

• Dry leaf appearance: Tightly twisted, with an oily sheen; “black leaf, white bud” (叶黑芽白).
• Dry leaf aroma: According to one trade tasting — fresh, floral and sweet.
• Liquor aroma: According to the same tasting — a thick honey aroma; the floral one stays in the background.
• Taste: Strong bitterness and a thick, dense liquor — “bitter, thick, deep” (苦大稠深). The sweet return (回甘, huígān) is quick and powerful, a slight astringency remains; bitterness and sweetness are in harmony. The “tea energy” is strong, but, according to the same description, not as sharp and long-lasting as that of Lao Banzhang.
• Liquor color: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions in the sources consulted.

7. Chemical Composition

Physicochemical data on Zhangjia tea are not found in the sources consulted. For reference — the norm of the class, not a measurement: the standard GB/T 22111-2008 requires of raw pu-erh no less than 28.0% polyphenols and 35.0% water extract, with moisture no higher than 13.0%.

8. Brewing

Class practice — for raw pu-erh, to which the descriptions found refer; red or white tea from the same leaf is brewed differently.

• Water temperature: 95–100 °C.
• Tea amount: 5–7 g per 100 ml.
• Teaware: Gaiwan (盖碗, gàiwǎn) or a clay teapot.
• Process:
  1. Warm the teaware and add the tea.
  2. Rinse the leaf with hot water for 5–10 seconds and pour it off.
  3. First infusion — 5–10 seconds.
  4. Pour out through a fairness pitcher.
  5. Repeated infusions with a gradual lengthening of time.

9. Storage

Class practice. A dry, clean, ventilated place without odors or direct light, a paper wrapper or a box. Raw pu-erh allows long aging; over the years its appearance and taste change.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Prices are not found in the sources consulted. The main raw material of Sandui, according to descriptions, is terrace tea, “which many do not want to mention”.

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Check the mark “勐海章家茶” and that the producer works in Menghai County. The mark says nothing about either the class of the tea or the age of the trees.
  • The nickname “little Banzhang” is a comparison of taste, not of origin: Zhangjia tea is not Banzhang tea.
  • The words “古树” (old trees) together with a Zhangjia origin call for special checking: according to descriptions, there are few or no old trees in Sandui.
  • A price close to that of Banzhang for Zhangjia raw material is a reason to ask the seller what justifies it.

11. Interesting Facts

• Zhangjia is one of the seven administrative villages of a township where the Bulang make up about two thirds of the inhabitants.
• The Sandui settlement is named after the number of a brigade — “Zhangjia third brigade”.
• The trade gives the nickname “little Banzhang” to more than one village: for example, the tea of Naka on Mengsong Mountain is called the same.

12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas

• Lao Banzhang (老班章): A village of the same Bulangshan Township, the benchmark of powerful raw pu-erh; the description of Zhangjia tea measures it specifically against Lao Banzhang and admits that the “energy” of Zhangjia is weaker.
• Bulangshan (布朗山): The mountain massif and township to which Zhangjia belongs.

In Conclusion:

Měnghǎi Zhāngjiā chá is a mark for the tea of a Bulang village near the southern border of Bulangshan Township. Its offshoot settlement of Sandui, on an open summit at about 1100 m, is known by the nickname “little Banzhang” and for a bitter, dense raw tea with a quick sweetness. The descriptions honestly acknowledge that this is mostly terrace leaf and that it falls short of the strength of Lao Banzhang. The mark confirms the name of the place, but neither the class of the tea nor the age of the trees.

Sources

Standards

• GB/T 22111-2008

Full list — on the Sources page