Qiāndǎo yínzhēn (千岛银珍) is a needle-shaped green tea of Jiande county-level city (建德市) in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang Province. The name means “silver treasure of a thousand islands”: Jiande lies by Lake Qiandaohu — the “lake of a thousand islands”, a reservoir on the Xin’anjiang River. The tea is made from single buds; the leaf is straight like a needle, tender green, and after brewing the buds stand vertically in the tumbler. On 24 December 2010 Qiāndǎo yínzhēn became Hangzhou’s first product with an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI) of the Ministry of Agriculture, later entered the list of the China–EU Agreement on the mutual protection of geographical indications, and in 2025 was recognized by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) as a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), needle-shaped (针形, zhēnxíng).
- Category: Agricultural product geographical indication (2010), China–EU Agreement list, CNIPA geographical indication (2025).
- Origin: China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, Zhèjiāng), Hangzhou city (杭州, Hángzhōu), Jiande county-level city (建德, Jiàndé). The zone according to the 2025 CNIPA document is “the extensive area along the Xin’anjiang” within Jiande: 16 towns, townships and subdistricts (街道), 84 villages. Among those named are the towns of Lijia (李家镇), Shouchang (寿昌镇), Meicheng (梅城镇) and Qiantan (乾潭镇). The applicant is the People’s Government of Jiande county-level city.
- Geographic coordinates: According to the document — 118°53′46″–119°45′51″ E and 29°12′20″–29°46′27″ N; the city of Jiande — about 29.5° N and 119.3° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Jiande “xicha”. The producer traces Qiāndǎo yínzhēn back to the old 建德细茶 — the “fine tea” of Jiande.
- Name. According to the producer, the tea received the name “Qiāndǎo yínzhēn” in 1982 — to draw on the fame of the lake. I have not seen documentary confirmation of the date.
- Awards. According to the producer and reference works — gold at the “中国名茶” competition of the Shanghai International Tea Culture Festival (2009) and gold at the Zhejiang Agricultural Fair five years in a row, from 2010 to 2014.
- 2010. 24 December — registration of the Ministry of Agriculture’s agricultural GI, the first in Hangzhou (according to reference data — Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 1517). The applicant is the “Qiandao Yinzhen” tea professional cooperative of Jiande city.
- China–EU Agreement. On the basis of the Ministry of Agriculture GI, the name entered the list of the agreement on mutual protection; according to a snapshot of our registry, it is protected in the EU as a PGI. I have not rechecked the current status.
- 2025. CNIPA, by announcement No. 625 (published 14 April 2025), recognized Qiāndǎo yínzhēn as a geographical indication product, with requirements for the zone, varieties, picking, technology and quality.
- Name:
- “Qiandao” (千岛, qiāndǎo) — “a thousand islands”, after Lake Qiandaohu.
- “Yinzhen” (银珍, yínzhēn) — “silver treasure”. According to the producer’s version, in the 1960s–1970s on the banks of the Xin’anjiang the tea was called “银针茶” — “silver needle”; the new name kept the sound but is written differently. It should not be confused with the “Yinzhen” of the white or yellow class.
- Cultural significance: According to the producer, in 2000 the tea entered the “ten famous teas of Hangzhou”, in 2008 — the “seven treasures of Hangzhou”; the producer calls Jiande China’s first “land of organic tea”.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: According to the 2025 document — 鸠坑 (jiūkēng), 浙农117 (Zhènóng 117) and other green tea varieties with a sturdy bud and weak or no pubescence (芽壮型、少茸毛或无茸毛).
- Harvest: According to the document — from mid-March to the beginning of May.
- Harvest standard: Single buds (单芽), picked by hand with an upward motion (提手采摘).
- Discrepancy in descriptions: Reference descriptions name as the raw material a bud with one or two barely opened leaves, from which the buds are then selected, and give figures from “more than 500,000” to “several million” shoots per kilogram of dry tea. The document speaks only of single buds; the figures are not confirmed.
- Cultivation: According to the document — propagation by cuttings and no less than 15 tonnes of well-rotted organic fertilizer per hectare a year.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The west of Zhejiang Province, the Xin’anjiang valley by Lake Qiandaohu. Reference descriptions speak of “three rivers and one lake” (三江一湖) — the Xin’anjiang, Fuchunjiang, Lanjiang and Qiandaohu.
- Growing altitude: According to the document — 300–600 m.
- Soils: According to the document — red-yellow soils and their varieties, layer thickness no less than 80 cm, organic matter no less than 1.0 %, pH 4.0–5.5; for groundwater — “地下水位≥100 cm”.
- Climate: Humid subtropical. Exact data on the gardens were not found in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
The technology is set by the 2025 CNIPA document: spreading → fixation → straightening and shaping → reshaping → sorting → heating for aroma.
- Spreading (摊青, tānqīng): A layer no thicker than 2 cm, 6–12 hours, until the bud becomes soft, a clean aroma appears and the moisture drops to about 70 %.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): About 300 °C, 1.5–2 minutes, until dark green, with no grassy smell; the leaf is springy and does not break when bent.
- Straightening and shaping (紧条定形, jǐntiáo dìngxíng): About 100 °C, 8–10 minutes, until the tea becomes straight needles that do not stick together, with a moisture of about 50 %.
- Reshaping (复理, fùlǐ): About 100 °C, 8–10 minutes, to a moisture of about 10 %: the needles are tight, straight, smooth to the touch and break when bent.
- Sorting (整理, zhěnglǐ): Sifting through a coarse and a fine sieve to separate the crumbs, and winnowing to remove leaf fragments.
- Heating for aroma (提香, tíxiāng): Finishing in the pan (辉锅, huīguō) to tight, straight or slightly curved, heavy smooth needles of a glossy green color; moisture — no more than 6 %.
There is no rolling (揉捻) in the list: the needle shape is given by shaping and reshaping.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the 2025 CNIPA document:
- Dry leaf appearance: Straight, like a needle (挺直似针), tender green and fresh (色泽嫩绿鲜活).
- Dry leaf aroma: There are no descriptions in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: High and rich (香高浓郁).
- Taste: Fresh and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste (鲜醇回甘).
- Liquor color: Tender green and bright (汤色嫩绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): The document does not describe them; a reference work writes — green, bright, fresh (绿明亮、鲜活).
- In the tumbler: After brewing the buds “hang” vertically in the tumbler (悬垂玉立于杯中) — this is recorded in the document as part of the appearance.
7. Chemical Composition
The 2025 CNIPA document sets two indicators:
- Amino acids: no less than 2.0 %.
- Tea polyphenols: 9–10 %.
The document gives no method of measurement and no explanation for the narrow polyphenol corridor. Data on caffeine were not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for needle-shaped green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150–200 ml.
- Teaware: A tall glass tumbler — only in it can you see the needles stand up.
- Process:
- Warm the tumbler.
- Pour in a third of the water, put in the tea and let the leaf soak for 20–30 seconds.
- Top up with water to the brim.
- After 1–2 minutes the needles stand upright and sink — the tea can be drunk.
- Drink, leaving a third of the liquor.
- Top up with water; two or three further 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
There are no price data in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark or the agricultural GI mark.
- Check that the producer is from Jiande, from the zone along the Xin’anjiang.
- The leaf is a single bud in the shape of a straight, tender green needle; in the tumbler the buds stand vertically.
11. Interesting Facts
- Qiāndǎo yínzhēn is Hangzhou’s first product with a Ministry of Agriculture agricultural GI.
- The lake that gave the tea its name is a reservoir created by a dam on the Xin’anjiang River; the thousand islands are the tops of flooded hills.
- The name 银珍 sounds like 银针 — “silver needle”; according to the producer’s version, that is what the tea was called until 1982.
- A legend retold by the producer derives the name from buds that glittered on the slopes by the Xin’anjiang “like silver pearls”.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Qiandao Yuye (千岛玉叶): Another tea of the same lake — flat, in the manner of longjing.
- Jiande Baocha (建德苞茶): A neighboring agricultural GI of the same county (2020).
- Junshan Yinzhen (君山银针): Also buds that stand up in the tumbler, but of the yellow class and from another region — Lake Dongtinghu in Hunan.
- Xihu Longjing (西湖龙井): The main tea of Hangzhou; flat, not needle-shaped.
In Conclusion:
Qiāndǎo yínzhēn is a needle-shaped green tea of Jiande by the lake of a thousand islands. According to the 2025 document, it is single buds from gardens at an altitude of 300–600 m, needle shaping without rolling, tender green leaf and liquor, a high rich aroma, a mellow taste with a sweet aftertaste and buds that stand in the tumbler. The first agricultural GI of Hangzhou, a name from the China–EU Agreement list and a CNIPA geographical indication product.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page