Nánjiāng dàyè chá (南江大叶茶), “the large-leaf tea of Nanjiang”, is at once a local variety of the tea bush and the protected name of a green tea of Nanjiang County (南江县) of Bazhong prefecture-level city in the north-east of Sichuan, on the border with Shaanxi. The protection requirements set two types — flat and needle-shaped: a tender green leaf with down, a tender green bright liquor, a rich chestnut aroma with a note of down, a full, refreshing taste. The name is protected by a certification mark and an agricultural product geographical indication (both 2009), and since 2025 also as a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The protection requirements set a technology without oxidation. According to an agricultural reference book, the variety also yields a good red tea, but the protected product is green.
- Name: 南江 (Nánjiāng) is the name of the county, 大叶 (dàyè) means “large leaf”, 茶 (chá) means tea. The name of the variety and the name of the product coincide.
- Category: Flat and needle-shaped green tea; geographical indication product (2025).
- Origin: China, Sichuan Province (四川, Sìchuān), Bazhong prefecture-level city (巴中, Bāzhōng), Nanjiang County (南江, Nánjiāng).
- Protection zone: 48 townships and towns of the county with 171 natural villages (自然村), including 汇滩乡, 流坝乡, 贵民乡, 杨坝镇, 光雾山镇, 南江镇, 长赤镇 and the provincial Yuandingzi tea farm (四川省元顶子茶场).
- Geographic coordinates: 106°27′–107°10′ E and 31°50′–32°45′ N — the boundaries of the zone according to the protection requirements.
- Applicant: The county’s Tea Industry Development Center (南江县茶叶产业发展中心).
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Southern Song. According to a reference summary on the indication, there are records of an official tea tax and of the “tea for salt” trade (以茶易盐). The tea, according to the same summary, was carried along the old Micang road (米仓古道) to Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai.
- Ming. In the Zhengde years the tea became tribute to the court. According to the summary, the court bestowed a golden stele — hence “金碑茶”; a tourist guide calls this tea “金杯茶”.
- Qing. Under Daoguang, according to the tourist guide, Nanjiang tea was already known. Merchants, according to the summary, ranked the places with the saying “一金碑、二落垭、早茶出于盐井坝” — “first Jinbei, second Luoya, and the early tea comes from Yanjingba”.
- 1958–1965. The variety was first found in the Mudan garden (牡丹园) of Jintai Village, Liuba Township; in 1959 it was surveyed by the Sichuan Tea Institute, and in 1961 an appraisal of the place of origin was carried out. In February 1965, according to the summary, the variety was included among the country’s 21 local elite varieties.
- 1985. In April 1985, according to the summary, the variety was recognized as one of the four local elite varieties of Sichuan. The tourist guide writes that the line Nanjiang No. 2 was approved as a national-level variety; the year is not given.
- 2008–2009. According to the reference work 茶百科 and the summary, in October 2008 the county received the title “中国富硒茶之乡” — “hometown of Chinese selenium-rich tea”; the Sichuan local chronicles portal names a different title and year — “中国天然富硒茶之乡”, 2012. In 2009 the name became a certification mark (No. 7051049; 茶百科 gives April, the portal June), and on November 27 an agricultural product geographical indication under Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 1297 (the number in the announcement is AGI2009-09-00199).
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration, by announcement No. 646 (signed on September 23, published on October 9), recognized 870 geographical indication products; Nánjiāng dàyè chá is item 515.
- Cultural significance: The summary on the indication quotes Sichuan specialists: “历史悠久看蒙山，规模经营看峨嵋，品质优良在南江” — “for history — to Mengshan, for scale — to Emei, for quality — to Nanjiang”.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: 南江大叶茶 is the only variety named in the protection requirements. The descriptions diverge. The popular reference work 茶百科 calls it seed-propagated (有性系), shrub-type, medium-leaf, early and diploid. An agricultural reference book classes it as large-leaf: a bush with a spreading crown, elongated-elliptic leaves with 9–12 pairs of veins, glossy. Which description is more accurate cannot be decided from the sources consulted.
- Features: According to the summary on the indication, the buds break at the end of February, picking begins in early March, and the shoots are thick, yellow-green and densely downy. According to the agricultural reference book, picking comes about 10 days earlier than in local populations, and the yield is about 30% higher.
- Raw material: According to the protection requirements: for the flat tea — a single bud or a “leaf embracing the bud” (叶包芽); for the needle-shaped tea — “a bud and a leaf” or “a bud and two leaves” at the start of unfolding.
- Harvest: Early, in batches, leaving leaves on the bush; the leaf is immediately sorted by tenderness, uniformity and freshness.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The northern edge of the Sichuan Basin; in the north the county borders Shaanxi.
- Growing altitude: 800–1200 m — according to the protection requirements.
- Soils: Loam (壤土) at least 50 cm deep, rich in mineral nutrients, pH 4.0–6.5. The tourist guide writes of selenium “from 0.26 μg/g” without specifying where it was measured.
- Climate: No precise data in the sources checked.
- Plantings: According to the protection requirements — 4800–5000 bushes per mu in double-row planting; the bush is kept at a height of 60–90 cm, and deep pruning is done about once every five years.
5. Production Technology
The sequence according to the protection requirements:
- Spreading (摊晾, tānliàng): In a ventilated place, until a fresh aroma appears.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): 160–180 °C; tossing is combined with covering (抖闷结合) — more tossing, less covering — until the grassy smell disappears.
- Shaping (做形, zuòxíng): By hand or by machine: the flat tea — to a flat, smooth leaf, the needle-shaped tea — to a straight, tight, round one.
- First drying (毛火, máohuǒ): Flat tea — 90–110 °C, needle-shaped tea — 110–120 °C, to “nine-tenths dryness”.
- Cooling (摊晾).
- Final drying (足火, zúhuǒ): 70–90 °C, to a moisture content of about 5%.
- Sorting (拣剔, jiǎntī): Fragments and impurities are removed.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the protection requirements:
- Dry leaf appearance: Tender green, with down (嫩绿有毫). The flat tea is flat and even (扁平匀齐), the needle-shaped tea is tight, fine and straight (紧细挺直).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: A rich chestnut aroma with a note of down (栗香浓郁带毫香).
- Taste: Full, mellow, refreshing (醇厚爽口).
- Liquor color: Tender green, bright (嫩绿亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Yellow-green, bright (黄绿明亮).
The Sichuan portal describes the tea differently — an emerald leaf, an orchid aroma, a yellow-green liquor; the text of the requirements serves as the basis here.
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical limits according to the protection requirements:
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Tea polyphenols | 18.0–29.0% |
| Amino acids | 2.8–5.0% |
| Water-soluble extractives | 45.0–50.0% |
| Selenium | 0.05–0.25 μg/g |
The agricultural reference book gives for the variety’s shoots of “a bud and two or three leaves” about 26.25% polyphenols, 3.5% caffeine and 46.07% extractives; the method and the sample are not named.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in 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 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
No price data in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark: the right to it is approved by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on an application filed through the county.
- Check that the tea is made in the protection zone of Nanjiang County. The variety also grows in neighboring Wangcang County, so the name of the variety on the package does not by itself prove Nanjiang origin.
11. Interesting Facts
- Tea merchants from Shaanxi and Gansu were called “毛葫芦” in Nanjiang, according to the summary on the indication — a nickname from Song and Ming times.
- According to the summary on the indication, in 1991 the tea research institute in Meitan (Guizhou) compared five-year-old gardens: the Nanjiang variety gave 45 percentage points more fresh leaf than 福鼎大白茶 of the same age.
12. Comparison with Other Sichuan Green Teas
- Micangshan Cha (米仓山茶): A flat green tea of neighboring Wangcang County, where the Nanjiang variety also grows.
- Wanyuan Fuxicha (万源富硒茶): A selenium green tea, also from north-eastern Sichuan, the next item of announcement No. 646.
- Mengding Ganlu (蒙顶甘露): The tea of Mount Mengding — “for history — to Mengshan”.
- Emei Zhuyeqing (峨眉竹叶青): The flat tea of Mount Emei — “for scale — to Emei”.
In Conclusion:
Nánjiāng dàyè chá is a case where the protected name of a tea coincides with the name of the bush: a variety found in 1958 and recognized as elite in 1965 became the basis of the flat and needle-shaped green tea of north-eastern Sichuan. In the cup — a tender green liquor and a rich chestnut aroma with a note of down.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page