---
title: "Qiónglái hēichá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/qionglai-heicha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Qiónglái hēichá (邛崃黑茶)

*Qiónglái hēichá* (邛崃黑茶) is a dark tea from Qionglai county-level city (邛崃市) of the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The county, in antiquity Linqiong (临邛), counts itself among the oldest centers of border tea: the Sichuan local chronicles office calls the record of the Linqiong cake 火番饼 (*huǒfānbǐng*) the earliest precise evidence of the border tea trade in China. Geographical indication protection, in force since 2015, covers loose and compressed tea. The key to the technology is [渥堆](https://thetea.app/article/wodui) (*wòduī*), the moist piling of the leaf.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Dark tea (黑茶, *hēichá*), post-fermented. The class is confirmed by the geographical indication document: the technology includes 渥堆 — the operation that makes the tea dark.
* **Category:** Sichuan dark tea, geographical indication product (2015). Two forms: loose tea (散茶, *sǎnchá*) — according to the standard, strip-shaped dark tea — and compressed tea ([紧压茶](https://thetea.app/article/jinyachaxingzhuang), *jǐnyāchá*). The Chengdu local standard DB5101/T 87—2020 “地理标志产品 邛崃黑茶” divides both forms into four grades: premium, first, second and third.
* **Origin:** China, Sichuan Province (四川, *Sìchuān*), the city of Chengdu (成都, *Chéngdū*), Qionglai county-level city (邛崃市, *Qióngláishì*). The protection zone is sixteen towns and townships of the county: Linji (临济镇), Jiaguan (夹关镇), Pingle (平乐镇), Daozuo (道佐乡), Wolong (卧龙镇), Kongming (孔明乡), Shuikou (水口镇), Youzha (油榨乡), Huojing (火井镇), Nanbao (南宝乡), Gaohe (高何镇), Tiantaishan (天台山镇), Datong (大同乡), Baolin (宝林镇), Linqiong (临邛镇) and Chayuan (茶园乡).
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 30.4° N and 103.5° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Linqiong.** The local chronicles office (2020) traces local tea growing back to the Qin and Han. According to Xinhua (2022), under the Han, Linqiong was the starting point of the Southern Silk Road (南丝路), the trade center of Shu Commandery (蜀郡) and the main tea-producing area.
    * **The 火番饼 cake.** The office cites the Song compendium *Taiping Huanyu Ji* (太平寰宇记): with reference to a Tang text, it writes that in the counties of Linqiong they make 火番饼 — “now called dark tea” — weighing forty liang each, and that it is valued in Xifan (西蕃) and among the Dangxiang (党项). Xinhua attributes the same record to *Cha Pu* (茶谱) by Mao Wenxi, 903; I have not resolved the discrepancy.
    * **“Governing the border with tea”.** The press links the rise of local dark tea with the policy 以茶治边 (*yǐ chá zhì biān*) and the tea-horse trade (茶马互市); dates and volumes for Qionglai are not found in the sources consulted.
    * **1952–1955.** According to the local chronicles office, in 1952 the Qionglai Tea Factory was created on the basis of the Linqiong Tea Factory (founded in 1940). It produced green and red tea and compressed fuzhuan (茯砖) — five to six thousand dan a year, mainly for Tibet and Qinghai. In 1955 the State Council included Qionglai among the key counties with an output of ten thousand dan of tea. The press calls the county “the land of ten thousand dan of tea” (万担茶乡).
    * **2015 — geographical indication.** On February 11, 2015 the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 24, took Qionglai dark tea under protection as a geographical indication product.
    * **2021.** According to Xinhua, the compressed cake 火番饼 received the title of one of the “ten famous teas of Sichuan” at the 10th Sichuan International Tea Expo.
    * **Industry.** According to county data as retold by the press (2022), the share of dark tea in the value of the county's tea industry rose from 10% in 2015 to 60% in 2021.
* **Name:**
    * “Qionglai” (邛崃) is the name of the county and of the Qionglaishan Mountains; in antiquity this was Linqiong (临邛), later Qiongzhou prefecture (邛州).
    * “Heicha” (黑茶, *hēichá*) means “dark tea”, the name of the class.
* **Cultural significance:** The county is also known for green tea — Wenjun Lücha ([文君绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/wenjun-lucha)), named after Zhuo Wenjun (卓文君), the heroine of the Han story of her love for the poet Sima Xiangru (司马相如). Qionglai links dark tea with the border trade and builds the county's public brand on it.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** According to the document — **花秋1号** (*Huāqiū 1 hào*) and “other varieties suitable for Qionglai dark tea”. A reference description speaks of raw material from medium- and small-leaf varieties. The origin and a botanical description of the variety 花秋1号 are not found in the sources consulted.
* **Cultivation:** According to the document — propagation by short cuttings (短穗扦插), a density of no more than 50,000 bushes per hectare, at least 20 t of well-rotted organic fertilizer per hectare every year.
* **Harvest:** The timing is not given in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** According to the document — new shoots with a green stem (绿苔新梢), from “a bud with one leaf” up to six leaves. This is noticeably more mature raw material than that of the famous green teas.
* **Raw material requirements:** Leaf from the sixteen units of the protected zone; during spreading it must not turn red.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** According to a press description (2022), Qionglai lies at the southern foot of the Qionglaishan Mountains; the county has mountains, hills and plain areas, and many rivers.
* **Growing altitude:** According to the document — **from 600 to 1000 m** above sea level. The press gives the altitudes of the county as a whole within 650–1600 m.
* **Soils:** According to the document — yellow and red (黄、红壤土), pH **4.5–6.4**, organic matter **no less than 1%**, layer thickness **no less than 1 m**. The press adds that the soils were formed by the weathering of volcanic rocks and are rich in trace elements.
* **Climate:** According to a press description — mild and humid: average annual temperature 16.5 °C, abundant precipitation, long sunny days, about 285 frost-free days.

**5. Production Technology:**

The geographical indication document describes two chains and gives parameters for the key operations. Loose tea is made as follows:

* **Spreading (摊放 — *tānfàng*):** The leaf is spread out; reddening of the leaf at this stage is prohibited.
* **Fixation, “killing the green” (杀青 — *shāqīng*):** No more than 10% water is added to the leaf — except for leaf picked in the rain or with dew, and except for tender raw material of “a bud with one or two leaves”.
* **First rolling (初揉 — *chūróu*):** Until the leaf separates from the stem.
* **Moist piling (渥堆 — *wòduī*):** The pile is built when the temperature in it is no higher than 25 °C, and broken up for cooling when it reaches 65 °C; the relative humidity inside the pile is 75–85%.
* **Second rolling (复揉 — *fùróu*).**
* **Drying (干燥 — *gānzào*):** First in the sun to a moisture content of no more than 14%, then in a dryer to no more than 8.5%.
* **Compressed tea:** loose tea → blending ([拼配](https://thetea.app/article/chunliaopinpei) — *pīnpèi*) → moistening (回潮 — *huícháo*) → pressing (压制 — *yāzhì*) → drying.

The 2020 standard specifies: primary processing yields “dark raw tea” (黑毛茶, *hēimáochá*); from it, loose tea is made by sieving, sorting and blending, and compressed tea by steaming, pressing and shaping.

The general scheme of the class, not a description of this tea: during piling, under the action of heat, moisture and microorganisms, the leaf darkens and the taste loses its green sharpness.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

* **Dry leaf appearance:** According to the document — from yellow-brown to black-brown, with a sheen (色泽黄褐至黑褐色，有光泽); loose tea, according to the standard, is strip-shaped.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** A description is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Pure (香气纯正) — according to the document.
* **Taste:** Mellow and sweetish (滋味醇和甘甜) — according to the document. A producer, as retold by the press, adds a sweet aftertaste (回甘).
* **Liquor color:** According to the document — clear and bright (汤色清澈明亮); the document does not name the color. A reference description gives orange-yellow (橙黄), a producer, as retold by the press, orange-red and thick (橙红浓厚).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** The document has no description; a reference description gives yellow-brown (叶底黄褐).

A producer, as retold by the press, sums up the character of the tea in five words — 香、醇、陈、红、厚: aroma, mellowness, agedness, red liquor, density. This is an advertising characterization, not a requirement of the document.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The announcement contains no numerical physicochemical norms, except for moisture after drying — no more than 8.5%. The 2020 standard refers to methods for determining moisture, ash and water-soluble substances, but the norms themselves are not in the summary available to me. A reference description links the mellowness of the taste to raw material from medium- and small-leaf varieties, which contain fewer polyphenols and catechins; it gives no figures.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice. Separate recommendations for Qionglai tea are not found in the sources consulted; below are the usual parameters for dark tea, not a requirement of the standard.

* **Water temperature:** Boiling water, about 100 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 5–8 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A gaiwan or a clay teapot; compressed tea is also boiled in a pot.
* **Process:**
    1. Separate the required amount from the compressed tea with a knife.
    2. Warm the teaware and quickly rinse the tea with boiling water.
    3. First infusions — 10–20 seconds.
    4. Increase the time with each infusion; the remainder can be boiled for 3–5 minutes.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. A clean, dry, ventilated place without light and foreign odors, in packaging that lets air through. Dark tea, like other teas of this class, can be aged; aging rules for Qionglai are not described in the sources consulted.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Data on retail prices are not found in the sources consulted. The press (2022) cites a valuation of the “邛崃黑茶” brand — 2.507 billion yuan, as calculated by the China Council for Brand Development (中国品牌建设促进会); this is a brand valuation, not a price for the buyer.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging.
    * Check that the producer is located in one of the sixteen units of the protected zone.
    * The dry leaf should be yellow-brown or black-brown, with a sheen, not green.
    * The liquor is clear and bright; cloudiness and a musty smell are a sign of poor storage.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* In Huaqiu Village (花楸村) of Pingle Town, according to the local chronicles office, a group of old bush-type tea trees grows; the oldest is more than a thousand years old.
* The document allows loose tea to be dried first in the sun — to 14% moisture — and only then finished to 8.5%.
* Under the old name 火番饼, the Qionglai compressed cake entered the “ten famous teas of Sichuan” in 2021.

**13. Comparison with Other Dark Teas:**

* **Ya'an Heicha, or Zangcha ([雅安黑茶](https://thetea.app/article/ya-an-heicha), [藏茶](https://thetea.app/article/zangcha)):** Dark tea of neighboring Ya'an prefecture, the main center of Sichuan border tea, which historically went to Tibet.
* **Sichuan Biancha ([四川边茶](https://thetea.app/article/sichuan-bian-cha)):** The general name for Sichuan border tea.
* **Anhua Heicha ([安化黑茶](https://thetea.app/article/anhua-heicha)):** Hunan dark tea — a different province and its own school of pressing.
* **Liubao ([六堡茶](https://thetea.app/article/liu-bao-cha)):** Guangxi dark tea packed in baskets.

**In Conclusion:**

*Qiónglái hēichá* is a tea of the old border trade, to which the 2015 document gave precise limits: mature raw material up to six leaves, piling within a window from 25 to 65 °C, drying first in the sun. It is recognized by its yellow-brown or black-brown leaf with a sheen and its clear, bright liquor with a pure aroma and a mellow, sweetish taste. Harvest timing, the figures of the standard and retail prices are not described in open sources, and it is more honest to leave these gaps blank.