---
title: "Pántuó jīnxuān chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/pantuo-jinxuan-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Pántuó jīnxuān chá (盘陀金萱茶)

*Pántuó jīnxuān chá* (盘陀[金萱](https://thetea.app/article/jin-xuan)茶) is a tea made from the Taiwanese cultivar **金萱** (*jīnxuān*), grown in Pantuo Town (盘陀镇) of Zhangpu County (漳浦县), Zhangzhou prefecture-level city, in the south of Fujian Province. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark, but apart from the registration data, no information about the product itself is found in the sources consulted. The article therefore speaks mainly about the cultivar and the place — and states plainly what could not be established about the product.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Not established. The register records the goods of the mark simply as “tea”. 金萱 is the name of a bush cultivar, not of a class: reference works call the cultivar suitable for baozhong (包种茶), Taiwanese oolong and red tea. I have not seen a document of the mark stating the product's class, so the class is not asserted here.
* **Category:** Tea with CNIPA geographical indication certification mark No. 9642018.
* **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Zhangzhou prefecture-level city (漳州, *Zhāngzhōu*), Zhangpu County (漳浦县, *Zhāngpǔ Xiàn*), Pantuo Town (盘陀镇, *Pántuó zhèn*) in the southwest of the county. The provincial list of marks gives Zhangpu as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; the boundary of the mark's zone has not been checked.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Zhangpu County — about 24.1° N and 117.6° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **The cultivar.** 金萱 was bred by the Taiwan Tea Improvement Station (茶业改良场): according to reference data, the cultivar was obtained in 1981 by crossing, the mother plant being 台农8号 and the father plant 硬枝红心. It stands twelfth in the station's series of cultivars, hence its official name 台茶12号 (*Táichá 12 hào*).
    * **The road to Pantuo.** When and how the cultivar reached the town is not stated in the sources consulted.
    * **The Pantuo mark.** The year of application and the year of registration are not given in the sources consulted. The provincial list of Fujian, as of 30 June 2026, lists mark No. 9642018 as valid.
* **Name:**
    * “Pantuo” (盘陀) is the name of the town.
    * “Jinxuan” (金萱, *jīnxuān*) is the name of the cultivar. According to reference data, it was given in honor of the grandmother of the station's first director, Wu Zhenduo (吴振铎). In Taiwan the cultivar is also called by its number, 台茶12号, and by its experimental code 2027 — “27仔”.
* **Cultural significance:** *Pántuó jīnxuān* is an example of how a cultivar of Taiwanese breeding is grown in the south of Fujian under a local geographical name. No other information about the place of this tea in the life of the town is found in the sources consulted.

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** 金萱 (台茶12号). According to reference data, the bush has a spreading crown, the leaf is elliptical, thick and tender, emerald green with a gloss; the shoot is green with a purple tinge, pubescent. A mid-season, high-yielding cultivar: the yield, according to the same data, is 20–50% higher than that of 青心大冇 and 青心乌龙. Tea from it is known for a natural “milky” aroma (奶香, *nǎixiāng*) together with a floral one; the main Taiwanese areas are Nantou and Chiayi. This is a description of the cultivar, not of the Pantuo tea.
* **Harvest:** Harvest timing in Pantuo is not given in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** Not established.
* **Raw material requirements:** Not established.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Zhangpu is a county on the southeastern coast of Fujian, in the southern part of Zhangzhou prefecture; Pantuo Town lies in the southwest of the county.
* **Growing altitude:** No data for the Pantuo gardens.
* **Soils:** No data.
* **Climate:** Measured data specifically for the Pantuo tea gardens are not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology of the Pantuo tea is not described in the sources consulted. For reference — the general scheme of light Taiwanese oolong, the best-known tea from 金萱, and not a description of this tea: withering, tossing, fixation, rolling into semi-balls and drying. Red tea is also made from the same cultivar — following the scheme of the red class. None of these schemes may be transferred to the Pantuo product without a document of the mark.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

* **Dry leaf appearance:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** No data for the Pantuo tea. For tea from the 金萱 cultivar, reference works note a natural milky note together with a floral one; whether this applies to the Pantuo product has not been checked.
* **Taste:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor color:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No data in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

There are no data on the composition of the Pantuo tea. Cultivar analyses of 金萱 are not given in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice. The class of the product is not established; below are the usual parameters of light oolong, the most common tea from the 金萱 cultivar. This is not a requirement of the mark.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 5–7 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** Gaiwan or a small clay teapot.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea and quickly rinse it with hot water.
    3. First infusion — 30–40 seconds.
    4. Pour out completely, leaving no water on the leaf.
    5. Further infusions — adding 10–15 seconds each; the rolled leaf opens gradually and withstands five or six infusions.

If what you have is a red tea from 金萱, the parameters should be taken from the red class.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. For light oolong — in airtight packaging, in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator, away from foreign odors. Light oolongs do not need aging.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

I have not found price data for the Pantuo tea.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look on the packaging for the mark “盘陀金萱茶” and a producer from Zhangpu County.
    * Remember that the cultivar name on a pack does not by itself indicate origin: 金萱 is grown in all the tea areas of Taiwan and beyond.
    * Treat an overly loud creamy smell with caution: the natural milky note of the cultivar is soft, and flavored “milk oolong” is also found on the market.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The number 台茶12号 means that 金萱 is the twelfth cultivar in the series bred by the Taiwan Tea Improvement Station.
* The experimental code 2027 gave the cultivar its popular name “27仔”.
* The cultivar received the name “金萱” in honor of the grandmother of the station's first director, Wu Zhenduo.
* According to reference data, 金萱 yields 20–50% more leaf than the cultivars 青心大冇 and 青心乌龙.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Jin Xuan (金萱):** The Taiwanese prototype — a light oolong with a natural milky note from Nantou and Chiayi. The Pantuo tea is made from the same cultivar, but in a coastal county of Fujian.
* **Jin Xuan gongfuhong ([金萱功夫红](https://thetea.app/article/jin-xuan-gong-fu-hong)):** A red tea from the same cultivar — an example of how the cultivar name does not determine the class.
* **Nanjing Dangui ([南靖丹桂](https://thetea.app/article/nanjing-dangui)):** A neighboring mark of Zhangzhou prefecture, also named after a cultivar, but the dangui cultivar was bred in Fujian itself.
* **Zhangzhou Sezhong ([漳州色种](https://thetea.app/article/zhangzhou-se-zhong)):** A blended oolong of Zhangzhou prefecture made from several cultivars; the Pantuo mark, by contrast, is named after a single cultivar.

**In Conclusion:**

*Pántuó jīnxuān chá* is a tea about which the register knows more than the descriptions do. It is known which cultivar it is made from, who bred that cultivar in Taiwan and when, and that the mark in the town's name is valid. The class, technology and appearance of the product are not in the documents found. Until the mark itself or a producer describes them, it is more honest to speak of 金萱 in Pantuo as a cultivar with a Taiwanese character than to ascribe the properties of Taiwanese oolong to the product.