---
title: "Qīshējìng chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/qishejing-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Qīshējìng chá (七畲径茶)

*Qīshējìng chá* (七畲径茶) is a pan-fired green tea from Mianyang Town (棉洋镇), Wuhua County (五华县), Meizhou prefecture-level city, in the east of Guangdong Province. It takes its name from the Qishejing state forest farm, on whose land the tea garden lies. It is made only from spring leaf, using the traditional tea pan-firing technique of the Hakka people; its other name is “kecha” (客茶), “Hakka tea”. The product's technical requirements note a characteristic “coffee” aroma in the liquor. Since 2017 *Qīshējìng chá* has been a geographical indication product.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The class is set by the technology in the technical requirements — spreading, fixation, rolling, drying, with no oxidation; commercial reference guides explicitly call it a pan-fired green tea (炒青绿茶).
* **Cultivar trap:** One of the three cultivars is called “small-leaf oolong”, but the class is decided by the technology, not by the cultivar's name.
* **Category:** Hakka mountain green tea; geographical indication product (2017).
* **Origin:** China, Guangdong Province (广东, *Guǎngdōng*), Meizhou prefecture-level city (梅州, *Méizhōu*), Wuhua County, Mianyang Town.
* **Protection zone:** The entire current administrative territory of Mianyang Town.
* **Spelling:** The name also appears as 七輋径 and as 七畬径 — these are variant spellings of the syllable *shē*.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Song.** The Wuhua County government writes that the *Gazetteer of Huizhou Prefecture* (《惠州府志》) contains a record of the “local tea” (土茶) of Changle (长乐) — the county's former name — and dates it to 960–1280.
    * **Early 1970s.** According to the Guangdong Rural Development Association, “educated youth” sent down to the countryside came to the Qishejing state forest farm and laid out a tea garden. The county government calls it the Songgangzhang (松岗嶂) garden.
    * **2006.** A tea cooperative was set up at the garden — a company that works on a “company + cooperative + base + tea farmers” model.
    * **2013.** The title of “famous brand of Guangdong Province” — according to the county government.
    * **2017.** On December 29, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, by Announcement No. 117, placed *Qīshējìng chá* under protection as a geographical indication product.
    * **2021.** The Meizhou Administration for Market Regulation approved the local standard DB4414/T 12-2021 “Geographical indication product 七畲径茶”: issued on September 17, in force from October 1.
    * **2024.** By Announcement No. 597 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration of September 27, two tea cooperatives obtained the right to use the special indication mark.
* **Name:** 七畲径 (*Qīshējìng*) is the name of the forest farm and of the mountain locality; 茶 (*chá*) means “tea”. The second name, “kecha”, points to the Hakka origin of the technique.
* **Cultural significance:** The Rural Development Association credits *Qīshējìng chá* with the title of “most representative local product of Guangdong” and a gold medal at the 4th Asia-Pacific Tea Competition, and the garden with a place among the “ten tea mountains of Meizhou”.

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

* **Varieties / Cultivars:** According to the technical requirements — 白叶 (*báiyè*, “white leaf”), 梅占 (*méizhàn*) and 小叶乌龙 (*xiǎoyè wūlóng*, “small-leaf oolong”).
* **Propagation:** By cuttings; planting “one row, two plants each”, no more than 7,000 bushes per *mu*.
* **Fertilizers:** Mainly organic: base fertilizer — no less than 300 kg per *mu* a year, top dressing — at least three times a year, no less than 100 kg per *mu*.
* **Harvest time:** Spring harvest only — from early March to mid-May; the requirements provide for no summer or autumn tea.
* **Harvest standard:** One bud with one leaf or one bud with two leaves.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Growing altitude:** No lower than 700 m — according to the technical requirements.
* **Soils:** Red earths and gravelly soils, pH 5.4–6.7, organic matter no less than 1.5%, soil layer no thinner than 1.5 m, groundwater deeper than 1 m. The county government writes of lateritic red soils rich in organic matter, trace elements and selenium.
* **Climate:** According to the county's description — subtropical maritime monsoon, with a long summer, a short winter, a long rainy season and abundant sunshine; average annual air humidity is 82.3%, and in spring the temperature stays between 12 and 23 °C.
* **Environment:** According to the Rural Development Association, the garden lies inside the forest farm, amid forest and frequent fog.
* **Area:** Sources count differently: the county government writes of plantings of more than 7,000 *mu*, the Rural Development Association, for 2023, of 2,740.91 *mu*. It was not possible to reconcile these figures.

**5. Production Technology:**

The product's technical requirements set the following sequence:

1.  **Spreading (摊青, *tānqīng*):** A layer of fresh leaf no thicker than 10 cm, for no longer than 6 hours.
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** At 220–260 °C, until the grassy smell is gone and an aroma appears, and the leaf turns dark green, soft and supple.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** Until no less than 70% of the leaf has curled into strands.
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*):** By pan-firing at 120–150 °C to roughly nine-tenths dryness.
5.  **Sorting and re-firing (拣剔和复火, *jiǎntī hé fùhuǒ*).**

The Rural Development Association calls this technique traditional Hakka tea pan-firing (客家炒茶). Among the awards, the association also names a gold medal at a 2019 international red tea competition — judging by it, red tea was also produced under this name. But the technical requirements describe only green tea.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The description below is from the product's technical requirements.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Thin, tender strands, even and tightly rolled, dark grey-green with a sheen (条索细嫩、均匀紧结、色泽深灰绿润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No data found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** A distinctive “coffee” aroma (咖啡香气), lasting.
* **Taste:** Rich, mellow, sweetish-fresh, holds up to many infusions; a long sweet return lingers after drinking.
* **Liquor color:** Dark green, bright (深绿明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No data found in the sources consulted.

The Rural Development Association describes the taste of the finished tea as rich and sweetish-fresh, and the aroma as “clean and high”.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The technical requirements give a table in which the premium and first grades are combined in one column, while the second grade stands separately: moisture — no more than 6.5% for all; water-soluble extractives — no less than 34% for the premium and first grades and no less than 33% for the second; crude fiber — no more than 16% and 17.5% respectively.

Descriptions of the product speak of selenium in the soil and the leaf, but measurements of selenium content were not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor, and top up with water.
    5. Two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a cool dark place or in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from moisture and foreign odors. Storage periods for this particular tea were not found in the sources consulted.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data were not found in the sources consulted. According to the Rural Development Association, output in 2020 was 220 t worth more than 30 million yuan, and in 2023 — 247 t worth 54.27 million yuan.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * The raw material must come from Mianyang Town, Wuhua County.
    * The tea is spring tea only, from a bud with one or two leaves.
    * It is a pan-fired green tea in thin rolled strands, not an oolong and not a red tea.
    * The distinguishing feature according to the technical requirements is the “coffee” note in the aroma and the dark green liquor.
    * Look for the special indication mark and check the producer against the announcements of the China National Intellectual Property Administration; in Announcement No. 597 the mark is authorized for the cooperatives “万福春” and “溯源天柱山”.
    * None of the sources found describes signs of counterfeiting.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* A “coffee” aroma in a green tea is a trait written directly into the technical requirements for the indication.
* The garden was laid out in the early 1970s by “educated youth”, and in 2006 a cooperative appeared at it.
* According to the Rural Development Association, in 2020 the Qishejing tea industry gave work to more than 2,800 people.

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

* **Meixian Lücha ([梅县绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/meixian-lucha)):** A green tea of Meixian District in the same prefecture, with long resting after drying; *Qīshējìng chá* centers on its “coffee” aroma.
* **Matu Lücha ([马图绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/matu-lucha)):** A high-mountain pan-fired green tea of Fengshun County in the same prefecture.
* **Xingning Dan Cong ([兴宁单丛](https://thetea.app/article/xingning-dan-cong)):** An aromatic oolong from the same prefecture — a different class.

**In Conclusion:**

*Qīshējìng chá* is a spring pan-fired green tea from the Hakka county of Wuhua, grown at 700 m and above in the gardens of a state forest farm. The technical requirements for the indication describe it in detail: oolong cultivars, short Hakka pan-firing, thin dark green strands and a “coffee” aroma unusual for a green tea. No independent tasting or scientific publications about it could be found, so the portrait of the tea rests on the protection documents and the county's descriptions.