Pōliǔ niángniang chá (坡柳娘娘茶) is “the tea of the girls of Poliu”, a handmade tea of Poliu village (坡柳村) in Zhenfeng County in the southwest of Guizhou. The leaf is gathered into a bundle and rolled between the palms into the tip of a writing brush, hence its other names — “brush tea” (文笔茶) and “zhuangyuan’s brush” (状元笔茶). “Niangniang”, according to a Guizhou television story, is the local form of address for unmarried girls of seventeen or eighteen: by custom the tea was picked and made by girls of the Buyei people. Sources name its class in different ways, and the name has been protected since 2019.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: The class is not established unambiguously. Guizhou University (2022) calls the tea yellow, and it won a “special gold medal” at a yellow tea competition; a Guizhou Ribao report (2024) includes yellowing (闷黄, mēnhuáng) in the processing — a feature of the yellow class. The 2025 protection requirements give a different sequence: withering, rolling, fermentation (发酵, fājiào) for 6–8 hours, shaping, drying — it is closer to red tea, although the document does not name a class.
- Category: Historical handmade tea of the Buyei people; geographical indication product.
- Origin: China, Guizhou Province (贵州, Guìzhōu), Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Zhenfeng County (贞丰, Zhēnfēng), Longchang town (龙场镇, Lóngchǎng), Poliu village.
- Protection zone: The towns of Longchang, Wanlan (挽澜镇, Wǎnlán) and Xiaotun (小屯镇, Xiǎotún) — according to the 2019 registration, 57 administrative villages and communities. The extreme points are the villages of Zhetang in the east, Sanhe in the west, Dianzi in the south and Shuiyindong in the north.
- Geographic coordinates: 105°25′–105°38′ E, 25°19′–25°32′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 1853. The Records of Xingyi Prefecture (《兴义府志》) report that the tea grows “in the northern township and in Tunjiao” and that “this is the very maojian tea”. The university identifies these places with present-day Dongpan of Xingbei town and with Poliu village. The present name does not appear in the quotation.
- Age. The university estimates the history of production and trade at more than 500 years, Guizhou television at “a hundred-odd”.
- Tribute. According to legend, which the university retells, more than two hundred years ago the tea was packed 100 buds to a “brush” and 16 brushes to a “bundle” of about one jin, wrapped in red silk and sent as tribute. The television story says that the tea was presented to the Qianlong Emperor; no document behind this was found in the sources consulted.
- Trade. According to the university, the village made up to 10,000 jin a year; at the nearby Poao market the trade was mainly in tea, and the tea reached Baise in Guangxi.
- Until the 1960s Poliu still made handmade “bundle tea” (把把茶, bǎbǎ chá). The techniques were passed on by word of mouth; afterwards only small household workshops remained, without a common standard.
- 2019. By announcement No. 213 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of 4 September 2019, the tea was registered as an agricultural product geographical indication; the certificate number is AGI02755. Discussion of the application ran from 15 November to 14 December 2018.
- 2022. The Tea Institute of Guizhou University helped a local company refine the processing, and the enterprise standard “坡柳娘娘茶加工技术规程” appeared. In July the tea received a “special gold medal” at the seventh “Mengding Huangya” China yellow tea competition — according to the university’s explanation, for the highest score both in appearance and in internal quality. The awards were presented on 1 November at the Sichuan tea expo.
- 2025. By announcement No. 646 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration of 23 September 2025, the tea was recognized as a geographical indication product.
- Name: “Poliu” is the name of the village, “niangniang” is the local form of address for unmarried girls.
- Cultural significance: According to the television story, among the Buyei, tea is used to welcome guests and relatives, and “niangniang tea” used to be boiled in a clay pot on a trivet, in two or three rounds.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties under the protection requirements: Local perennial bushes propagated by cuttings, and the variety 龙井43 (Lóngjǐng 43) among other suitable ones.
- Old trees: According to a Guizhou Ribao report (2024), Poliu has more than 3000 old tea trees, about 700 of them marked with plaques and protected. The botanical affiliation and the name of the local population are not given in the sources consulted.
- Raw material: According to the university, a shoot about three to four cun long — a bud with two to four leaves.
- Harvest time: In spring — after Qingming; according to the television story, on the three best days of the season, from eight to nine in the morning. In autumn — from Liqiu to Hanlu, according to the same newspaper. The protection requirements allow only hand picking.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Southwest Guizhou. Poliu village, according to the television story, stands at the foot of Longshan Mountain, twenty-odd kilometers from the county seat.
- Soils: According to the protection requirements — mainly yellow, loose, deep, rich in organic matter.
- Altitude and climate: There are no numerical data in the sources consulted; local producers speak of high-mountain gardens with abundant sun.
- Care under the requirements: The main organic fertilizer — at the end of November, deeper than 20 cm, no less than 1000 kg per mu; two top dressings, in May–June and in October–November. Young bushes get three to four formative prunings, preferably in March.
- Scale: According to the 2018 application — 2800 ha and 6,000 t a year.
5. Production Technology
The sources describe the processing three times, and the descriptions do not agree.
Traditional (university, 2022): after fixation the leaf is rolled by hand on a bamboo tray, gathered into a bundle and, turned between the palms, pressed into the shape of a brush; the bundle is tied with thread and dried over smokeless charcoal or in the sun. There is no yellowing here.
Guizhou Ribao (2024, autumn tea): withering (晾青), fixation (杀青), yellowing (闷黄), rolling (揉捻), shaping (做形), drying (干燥); fixation and rolling are done by hand.
Protection requirements (2025):
- Spreading (摊放, tānfàng).
- “Fixation” (杀青, shāqīng): According to the text — spreading indoors together with withering in the sun.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): 30–45 minutes, until the juice begins to stick to the hands.
- Fermentation (发酵, fājiào): 6–8 hours at 28–35 °C and an air humidity of 40–60 %.
- Shaping (造型, zàoxíng).
- Drying: 3–5 hours at 60 °C, then finish-drying at 80 °C and 5 minutes at 130–140 °C for aroma.
The 2022 enterprise standard has not been made public, and it is impossible to say which scheme it is closer to.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
- Dry leaf appearance: A bundle in the shape of a writing brush (呈毛笔形状).
- Dry leaf aroma: There is no separate description in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: According to the protection requirements — light (微香), with a “deep tea charm” (茶韵深远); the university speaks of the floral aroma of old trees (古树花香).
- Taste: According to the requirements — light and elegant, with a sweet return and a long aftertaste (入口淡雅回甘); according to the university — dense, soft and sweet.
- Liquor color: Golden yellow, clear (金黄透亮). Autumn tea, according to Guizhou Ribao, gives a reddish-bright liquor (红亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): There are no descriptions in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
| Indicator | Protection requirement |
|---|---|
| Moisture | no more than 6.5 % |
| Total ash | no more than 7.0 % |
| Extractives | no less than 36.0 % |
There are no other data in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice. There are no parameters for this particular tea, and the class is disputed; below are the usual parameters for yellow tea.
- Water temperature: 85–90 °C; for autumn tea with a reddish liquor — 90–95 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Gaiwan or glass tumbler.
- Process: The first infusion — about a minute, then several infusions, each slightly longer.
9. Storage
Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry dark place, away from odors; best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
There are no price data in the sources consulted; according to Guizhou Ribao (2024), the handmade tea is sold in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark and a producer from the towns of Longchang, Wanlan or Xiaotun.
- The main sign is a bundle in the shape of a brush tip; the liquor is golden yellow.
11. Interesting Facts
- By custom this is a girls’ craft: picking takes place on the three best days of the season, from eight to nine in the morning.
- The 1853 chronicle calls the tea of these places “maojian”.
- Guizhou Ribao in its 2024 report writes the name with a different character — 孃孃 instead of 娘娘.
12. Comparison with Other Guizhou Teas and Yellow Teas
- Haima Gong Cha (海马宫茶): Another historical Guizhou tea, which the corpus assigns to the yellow class.
- Mengding Huangya (蒙顶黄芽): A Sichuan yellow tea, after which the 2022 competition is named.
- Pu’an Hongcha (普安红茶): A red tea of Qianxinan Prefecture; its indication was registered by the same 2019 announcement, and its zone includes Zhenfeng County.
In Conclusion:
Pōliǔ niángniang chá is a handmade tea of a Buyei village, rolled into the tip of a writing brush. Behind it stand a line from the 1853 chronicle, the legend of tribute and the custom of picking by girls, and since 2019 — protection of the name. Sources name the class in different ways: the university and the competition call it yellow, while the protection requirements describe a fermentation lasting many hours.