Qūxiāng sīmián chá

Qūxiāng sīmián chá (屈乡丝绵茶) is a green tea of Zigui County (秭归县) of Yichang prefecture-level city, Hubei Province, from the banks of the Xiling Gorge (西陵峡) on the Yangtze. The name is made up of two legends: “Qūxiāng” (屈乡) means “the homeland of Qu Yuan”; “sīmián chá” (丝绵茶) means “silk tea”, a name that, according to legend, the Jiaqing Emperor gave to the tea. The distinguishing feature according to the regulations: when a fresh leaf is torn, silvery threads are visible. It has been an agricultural product geographical indication since 2012 and a geographical indication product since 2025.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The regulations require working according to the standard “屈乡绿茶标准” (Q/SXC01—2009) and the rules “屈乡绿茶加工技术规范” — both have “green” in their titles; there is no oxidation in the technology.
Category: Agricultural product geographical indication (2012, certificate AGI00934); geographical indication product (2025).
Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Yichang prefecture-level city (宜昌, Yíchāng), Zigui County (秭归, Zǐguī).
Protection zone: Eleven towns and townships of the county — Maoping (茅坪镇), Guizhou (归州镇), Quyuan (屈原镇), Shuitianba (水田坝乡), Xietan (泄滩乡), Shazhenxi (沙镇溪镇), Lianghekou (两河口镇), Meijiahe (梅家河乡), Guojiaba (郭家坝镇), Jiuwanxi (九畹溪镇) and Yanglinqiao (杨林桥镇); the list is the same in the regulations and in announcement No. 640. Area according to the regulations — 40,000 mu.
Geographic coordinates: 110°18′–111°00′ E, 30°38′–31°11′ N.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Qu Yuan. According to the text of the regulations, the poet was born in 340 BC in Lepingli (乐坪里) of Zigui County. The regulations link the line of the Li Sao (离骚) “余既滋兰之九畹兮” — “I have grown orchids on nine wan” — with the present-day town of Jiuwanxi (九畹溪).
- The legend of Jiaqing. According to a legend set out in the regulations, a respected man from Caijiapo (蔡家坡), Li Gaoyong (李高永), was received by the Jiaqing Emperor (嘉庆) and granted the rank of dengshilang (登仕郎). In gratitude Li presented the emperor with local tea; the emperor was pleased, gave the tea the name “丝绵茶” and granted him a plaque with an inscription and a set of gaiwan cups.
- Genealogy and tombstone. According to a 2018 report, the genealogy of the Li clan dates the life of Li Gaoyong to 1783–1882, and his tombstone with the inscription “登仕郎李高永” was erected in 1903 and has partly survived in Xiakou Village (峡口村). The report regards them as material evidence that sīmián chá was a tribute tea; the inscriptions themselves, as it describes them, name the rank and say nothing about tea. According to the same report, the original tombstone was damaged during the years of the “Cultural Revolution”: two carved slabs of the front survived intact, and the rest was restored from the memory of the descendants.
- Tribute. The same report, citing historians, writes that Zigui tea was part of the tribute to the court from the Tang to the Qing, and names the Yuan tribute tea “清口茶” and the Qing “丝绵茶” as also coming from here.
- 1994. In October the county station for the extension of local product technologies registered the trademark “屈乡”.
- 2012. According to the report, in August the county agricultural authority began preparing the application, and in the same year the name was registered as an agricultural product geographical indication; the holder is the county tea association (秭归县茶叶协会).
- Revival. According to the 2018 report, which gives no dates, the revived sīmián chá was formerly made in small quantities and only in the Jiuwanxi valley; to increase output, the county attracted large companies and cooperatives and encouraged local workshops — by 2018 more than a hundred enterprises were trading sīmián chá.
- 2014. According to the reference work Baidu Baike, the sīmián chá factories, together with the workshops that joined them, bought 3 million jin (1500 t) of fresh leaf from farmers and produced 750,000 jin (375 t) of dry tea — 300,000 jin of “famous” tea (名优茶) and 450,000 of mass-market tea; the value of the output was 130 million yuan.
- 2021. According to press reports (September 2021), the county received the title “中国丝绵茶之乡” — “the Chinese homeland of sīmián chá”.
- 2025. By announcement No. 640 (signed on 16 July, published on 13 August), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized 1409 geographical indication products; Qūxiāng sīmián chá is row 742, and the applicant is the same association.
- Awards. The report names the titles “湖北名牌产品”, “湖北首届十佳旅游名茶” and “宜昌市十大名茶” and the first prize of the “中茶杯” competition, as well as the “green food” certificate (绿色食品), without years.
Name: “屈乡” means “the homeland of Qu Yuan”; “丝绵” means “silk floss”. According to the report, in the Three Gorges area the plant 杜棕 is called the “silk tree” (丝绵树): when its bark is broken, threads stretch out, and a fresh sīmián chá leaf behaves the same way when torn.
Cultural significance: According to data of the county agricultural bureau cited in the 2018 report, tea is the county’s second industry after navel oranges: it is grown in 117 villages of 12 towns and townships, on 110,000 mu, output is 4200 t a year, and the value of the output is more than 350 million yuan; about half of this falls to Qūxiāng sīmián chá. The report names these markets: Beijing, Jiangsu, Shandong, Wuhan.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety: The regulations introduce no variety name. The mother stock consists of the bushes of the sīmián chá base in Caijiapo, Jiuwanxi Town; they are propagated clonally (无性系繁育).
Raw material: According to the report, tender buds 1.6–2.0 cm long; about 130,000 buds go into 1 kg of finished tea.
Harvest standard: According to the regulations, picking in a garden begins when 5% of standard single buds have unfolded; the leaf is picked separately by tenderness, without scales and fruits, often and in small batches — this leaves less food for the leafhopper (小绿叶蝉).
Harvest time: Exact dates are not found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The west of Hubei, both banks of the Xiling Gorge; the county’s neighbors are Yiling District to the east and the counties of Xingshan to the north, Badong to the west and Changyang to the south.
Topography: Spurs of the Wushan Mountains; the county’s altitudes range from 40 to 2056 m, about 800 m on average. The gardens, according to the report, lie at an altitude of 600–1200 m.
Soils: Sandy loams, soils on purple and argillaceous shales, medium fertility, organic matter 0.5–2.1%, pH 5.5–5.6. For gardens the regulations require organic matter of more than 1.5% and an active layer deeper than 60 cm.
Climate: Northern subtropical continental monsoon. Average annual temperature — 18 °C, January — 6.4 °C, July — 28.9 °C; sunshine — 1619.6 h, frost-free period — more than 300 days, precipitation — 1000–1500 mm. For gardens the regulations set an average annual temperature of 18–22 °C, a minimum no lower than −2 °C and a January no colder than 7 °C.
Reservoir: According to the report, since the filling of the Three Gorges reservoir the leaf in the mid-mountain zone matures about 20 days earlier than the neighbors’ leaf at the same altitude.
Agricultural practices: Organic fertilizers and green manures; against pests — light and pheromone traps, poultry in the garden, biological preparations.

5. Production Technology

The regulations set ten operations; the work must follow “屈乡绿茶加工技术规范”:

Spreading (摊青, tānqīng).
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Second drying (二青, èrqīng).
Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng).
Raising the down (提毫, tíháo).
Repeated drying (复烘, fùhōng).
Final drying with aroma enhancement (足干提香, zúgān tíxiāng).
Sifting out fines and marking (割末打标).
Sorting (精选, jīngxuǎn).

The regulations give no temperatures or durations.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Requirements of the indication’s regulations.

Dry leaf appearance: Tight, thin and even twists with sharp tips, emerald in color, with exposed white down (条索紧秀均匀，锋苗挺秀，色泽翠绿，白毫显露).
Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: High and persistent, clean (高香持久、清香纯正).
Taste: Fresh and brisk, with a long aftertaste (滋味鲜爽，回味绵长).
Liquor color: Clear and bright (汤色清澈明亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Bright, pleasing to the eye (叶底明亮悦目).

According to the regulations, the fresh leaf is soft and when torn shows “thousands of silver threads” (断面银丝万缕).

7. Chemical Composition

Physico-chemical requirements of the regulations:

Indicator	Norm
Free amino acids	no less than 2.0%
Moisture	no more than 7.0%
Total ash	no more than 6.5%
Fines	no more than 5.0%
Crude fiber	no more than 10%
Extractives	no less than 38%

Sanitary norms — according to GB 2762 and GB 2763. These are norms, not measurements of a specific batch.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea.

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

9. Storage

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; drink within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Prices for the finished tea are not found in the sources consulted. According to the 2018 report, the purchase price of fresh leaf in the sīmián chá zone exceeded 220 yuan per kilogram at its peak.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark next to the product name; a producer from the zone puts it on with the permission of the holder.
- Since 2025 there has also been the mark of the geographical indication product: a producer from the zone applies to the county intellectual property authority, the application is checked by the Hubei provincial administration, and it is approved and published by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
- Check that the producer is from the eleven towns and townships of Zigui County.
- The leaf — thin emerald twists with white down.
- Do not confuse the protected name with the private trademark “九畹丝绵茶”: according to the report, it was registered in 2009 by a company from Jiuwanxi Town, and in 2018 the mark was recognized as well-known (驰名商标).

11. Interesting Facts

According to legend, the tea’s name was given by an emperor, and the feature of the torn leaf is explained by comparison with the bark of the local “silk tree”.
The regulations require a January no colder than 7 °C, but themselves cite the county’s average January — 6.4 °C.
The mother bushes of the indication grow in Caijiapo — where, according to legend, Li Gaoyong came from.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Sanxia Longjing (三峡龙井): A flat green tea of Yichang prefecture; its zone also includes Zigui.
Xiazhou Bifeng (峡州碧峰): A green tea of the neighboring Yiling District.
Xingshan Baicha (兴山白茶): A green tea of the neighboring Xingshan County made from a light-leaf variety.

In Conclusion:

Qūxiāng sīmián chá is a green tea of the Xiling Gorge whose name joins Qu Yuan and the legend of Jiaqing. The regulations describe it in detail: eleven towns, mother stock from Caijiapo, ten operations, emerald downy twists and a high, clean aroma. And its name comes from a feature: a torn fresh leaf draws out silvery threads.