Píngjiāng gāoshān chá

Píngjiāng gāoshān chá (平江高山茶) is the “high-mountain tea” of Pingjiang County (平江县), Yueyang prefecture-level city, in the northeast of Hunan Province. It is the name of a county public brand and a geographical indication certification mark, not the name of a single variety: “high-mountain” speaks of the place, not of the processing method, and none of the sources consulted names the class of tea under this mark. The county describes itself as China’s main area of mountain organic yellow tea, and alongside the “high-mountain” tea it names a second local tea — Pingjiang Yancha (平江烟茶, “smoky tea”). The mark was registered in 2023, and the public brand was presented in September 2024.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Not established. I have not seen a document of the mark with technology requirements, and county materials and the press speak of “high-mountain tea” in general. Ascribing the yellow class to the brand on the grounds that the county calls itself a yellow tea area would be a conflation: teas of different classes may go under the common name.
Category: County public brand (区域公用品牌); geographical indication certification mark.
Origin: China, Hunan Province (湖南, Húnán), Yueyang prefecture-level city (岳阳, Yuèyáng), Pingjiang County (平江, Píngjiāng).
Zone: I have not checked the legal boundary of the mark’s zone. The 2024 provincial list gives Pingjiang as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder, not as a described boundary.
Geographic coordinates: Exact coordinates of the zone are not found in the sources consulted. County materials place Pingjiang on the “30th degree of north latitude” — this is the advertising formula of the “golden tea belt”, not a coordinate.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- The county’s tea. The county administration writes that tea has long been made in Pingjiang; specific dates and documents are not found in the sources consulted.
- 2020 and 2023 — two marks. According to a 2025 publication, Pingjiang Yancha received state registration as an agricultural product geographical indication in 2020, and “平江高山茶” a geographical indication certification mark in 2023. This agrees with the provincial lists: the earlier one, of 229 marks, does not include “平江高山茶”; the 2024 list of 250 marks does. As of 2024 it is the county’s only geographical indication certification mark for tea; Pingjiang Yancha has an agricultural product geographical indication registration.
- September 2024 — the brand. On 6 September, at the opening of the 16th Hunan Tea Expo in Changsha, the county, which acted as a co-organizer, presented “平江高山茶” as a public brand and handed enterprises the first permits to use it. Nine tea companies of the county took part in the expo. At the same ceremony Pingjiang received the title of one of the ten advanced tea counties of Hunan for 2024 in “new productive forces”.
- September 2025 — the second wave. At the 17th Hunan Tea Expo the county held a tasting and granted permits to use the brand to four more operations — two companies and two cooperatives.
Name: “Píngjiāng” (平江) is the name of the county; “gāoshān” (高山) means “high mountains”; “chá” (茶) means tea. “High-mountain tea” is a common designation found in many tea areas; the mark secures it for a single county.
Cultural significance: The county builds tourism on tea following the formula “the garden as a scenic park, tea and travel together” (茶园景区化、茶旅一体化). Among the sites, county materials name a tea estate on Lianyunshan Mountain and the tea museum of the “Pingjiang section of the Great Tea Road” (万里茶道平江段茶博馆). In 2021 the county’s “red culture” route was named among the country’s hundred best tea tourism routes, and in 2023 the county received the title of a national demonstration zone for the integration of tea and tourism.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety / Cultivar: No data in the sources consulted.
Raw material: A 2025 report speaks of “thick buds” (芽头肥壮); a harvest standard is not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest: The spring harvest takes place around the Qingming festival — so the provincial press writes about spring 2025; no other timing is found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Northeast Hunan. According to a 2025 report by the provincial government, the gardens lie mainly in the high Lianyunshan (连云山) and Mufushan (幕阜山) mountains.
Growing altitude: There is no exact range. Press reports from 2025 say that the county is surrounded by misty mountains above 800 m; this is the altitude of the mountains, not of the gardens.
Climate: According to a 2024 county presentation — mountain fogs, a mild and humid climate. There are no numerical data.
Soils: The same presentation speaks of a high content of organic matter; the soil type is not found in the sources consulted.
Forest cover: 66.68% — according to county data as retold by the press.
Fertilizers: The press writes of “zero chemical fertilizers and zero pesticides” (零化肥、零农药). This is a formula of county advertising; I have not seen verification data.

5. Production Technology

The technology is not described in the sources consulted. I do not give a general scheme here: it depends on the class, and the class is not established. For yellow tea, for which the county is known, the key operation is sealed yellowing (闷黄, mènhuáng); for green tea — fixation (杀青, shāqīng) without sealed yellowing. Which path the tea under the “平江高山茶” mark goes through, the sources do not say.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

I have not seen a document with requirements for the appearance. Below are advertising descriptions from county events.

Dry leaf appearance: “Beautiful shape and bright color” (形美色艳) — the 2024 presentation; “thick buds” — the 2025 report.
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: There is no separate description; the 2024 presentation calls the aroma rich (香气浓郁), without specifying whether of the dry leaf or of the liquor.
Taste: Fresh and mellow (滋味鲜醇), with a lasting aroma in the mouth and a long sweet aftertaste (唇齿留香、回甘悠长) — the 2024 presentation. The deputy head of the county in 2025 spoke of a “brisk, sweet and mellow” taste (味爽甘醇).
Liquor color: Clear (汤色清澈).
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 parameters depend on which tea under this name you have in hand.

Green: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, glass tumbler or gaiwan, first infusion 40–60 seconds, two or three further infusions.
Yellow: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, glass tumbler or white gaiwan, first infusion about a minute, two or three further infusions.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. Pour the first infusion into cups.
4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Repeat while the taste holds.

9. Storage

Class practice. Green and yellow tea — in airtight packaging, in the refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical mark “平江高山茶” and an indication of the right to the public brand: the county issues such permits by name, in waves in 2024 and 2025.
- Check that the producer is from Pingjiang County.
- Ask the seller about the class of the tea: the brand name does not state it.

11. Interesting Facts

The county has two tea names under state protection — “high-mountain” and “smoky” — and neither names the class of tea.
According to county data, at the end of 2023 it had 93,200 mu of gardens, of which 12,800 mu were organic; output was more than 5600 t. Press reports from 2025 already give 96,800 mu and 5640 t for 2024.
According to the same data, tea brings additional income to 70,000 tea-growing families of the county.
In spring 2025 the provincial press counted more than 800 pickers at one organic base near Lianyunshan Mountain.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Yueyang Huangcha (岳阳黄茶): The yellow tea of the whole of Yueyang prefecture; the corpus article names the Lianyunshan mountains in Pingjiang as one of its zones. This is a neighboring level — a prefecture name of the yellow class, not a county brand without a class.
Junshan Yinzhen (君山银针): The flagship of Yueyang yellow tea from Junshan Island on Dongting Lake — for contrast with the mountain tea of Pingjiang.
Gao Shan Cha (高山茶): The corpus overview article on the general concept of “high-mountain tea”.

In Conclusion:

Píngjiāng gāoshān chá is a name the county has secured for its mountain gardens: the 2023 mark, the 2024 public brand, permits to enterprises in waves. The documents say little about the tea itself — thick buds, a clear liquor, a fresh mellow taste with a sweet aftertaste — and are silent about the class. When buying tea under this name, it is worth asking what it is: green, yellow or something else.