---
title: "Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/renhuai-gongfu-hongcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá (仁怀功夫红茶)

*Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá* (仁怀功夫红茶) is a red tea of the county-level city of Renhuai (仁怀市) in Zunyi prefecture in the north of Guizhou Province, on the middle reaches of the Chishui River (赤水河). Renhuai is known as the birthplace of maotai, and the town of Maotai (茅台镇) is part of the tea's protection zone. The name is registered as an agricultural product geographical indication of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: by announcement No. 431 of 4 June 2021, in the first batch of that year, which included 186 products. The zone covers all 20 towns, townships and urban subdistricts of the county. The documents found give no varieties, no technology and no description of appearance.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*), fully fermented. The class is named in the protected name; I have not seen a document with requirements for the technology and appearance.
* **On the spelling:** The name has “功夫”, not the “工夫” usual for this kind of red tea; both words are read *gōngfu*. This is how the name is written both in the ministry's announcement and in the register. For comparison, the Fujian Shaxian Gongfu Cha is written with 工夫.
* **Category:** Agricultural product geographical indication of the Ministry of Agriculture (农产品地理标志, *nóngchǎnpǐn dìlǐ biāozhì*), 2021, No. AGI03417.
* **Origin:** China, Guizhou Province (贵州, *Guìzhōu*), Zunyi prefecture-level city (遵义, *Zūnyì*), Renhuai county-level city (仁怀, *Rénhuái*).
* **Protection zone:** According to the annex to announcement No. 431 — 20 units of the county and 181 administrative villages (communities): the towns of Maotai (茅台镇), Sanhe (三合镇), Huoshi (火石镇), Hema (合马镇), Meijiuhe (美酒河镇), Daba (大坝镇), Xuekong (学孔镇), Gaodaping (高大坪镇), Xitou (喜头镇), Wuma (五马镇), Maoba (茅坝镇), Jiucang (九仓镇), Longjing (龙井镇), Changgang (长岗镇), the township of Houshan (后山乡) and the urban subdistricts of Luban (鲁班), Tanchang (坛厂), Canglong (苍龙), Yanjin (盐津) and Zhongshu (中枢). The county government writes that Renhuai has 14 towns, 1 township and 5 subdistricts, which means the zone coincides with the entire territory of the county.
* **Geographic coordinates of the zone:** 105°59′–106°35′ E, 27°33′–28°10′ N — according to the same annex.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Old records.** A written history of Renhuai red tea is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2021 — registration.** By announcement No. 431 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of 4 June 2021, 186 products that had passed preliminary review, expert examination and public consultation were placed under protection as agricultural product geographical indications. *Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá* is listed in the annex under number 148. The certificate holder is the Renhuai comprehensive agricultural service station (仁怀市农业技术综合服务站). The number of the technical requirements for quality control is AGI2021-01-3417, the number in the register of indications is AGI03417.
    * **After 2022.** According to the register, since March 2022 the Ministry of Agriculture has not been registering new indications of this kind, so this is one of the last registrations in the system. The 2026 register card marks the indication as registered; I have not rechecked its current validity.
* **Name:** 仁怀 is the name of the county; 功夫 (*gōngfu*) means “skill, labor expended”; 红茶 means “red tea”.
* **Cultural context of the place:** The Renhuai government presents the county as the “liquor capital of China” (中国酒都), and its page about the county does not mention tea at all. In the 2022 summary table of Guizhou geographical trademarks, Renhuai is represented only by the mark “仁怀酱香酒” — for sauce-aroma baijiu (approved on 28 October 2013). The tea is protected in a different system — as an agricultural indication of the ministry.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Not named in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest, harvest standard and raw material requirements:** No data in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The north of Guizhou, the middle reaches of the Chishui River. According to the county government's website, the area of Renhuai is 1,788 km², the average altitude is 880 m above sea level.
* **Climate:** The same source gives an average annual temperature of 16.3 °C, “no severe frosts in winter, no exhausting heat in summer” (冬无严寒、夏无酷暑). The site gives no precipitation figures.
* **Garden altitude and soils:** No data in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The ministry's announcement contains no requirements for the technology, and I have not seen the text of the technical requirements AGI2021-01-3417. Below is the general class scheme for red tea, not a description of this particular tea:

1.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*):** The fresh leaf loses part of its moisture and becomes soft.
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** The leaf cells are broken, and the juice comes to the surface.
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** Oxidation that turns the leaf and the liquor red.
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*):** Stops oxidation and fixes the aroma.

Parameters — temperature, humidity, duration of fermentation — for *Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá* are not found in the sources consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

I did not find a document describing the appearance; descriptions on reference sites about local products speak of red tea in general and were not included in the article.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Taste:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor color:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No physicochemical data in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for red tea.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea.
    3. Pour in water and discard the first infusion after 10–15 seconds if the leaf needs rinsing.
    4. First infusion — about a minute.
    5. Pour off the liquor completely, leaving none on the leaf.
    6. Three to five further infusions, each a little longer.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In a dry, dark place at room temperature, in tight opaque packaging, away from odors and moisture.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the agricultural product geographical indication mark and the name “仁怀功夫红茶”.
    * Check that the producer is from Renhuai.
    * Do not confuse it with Zunyi Hong Cha: this is another protected name of the same prefecture, and Renhuai is not part of its protection zone.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The tea's protection zone coincides with the entire territory of the county and includes the town of Maotai, which gave its name to maotai.
* In the provincial table of geographical trademarks Renhuai has only one mark — for baijiu; the county's tea is protected in the Ministry of Agriculture system.
* In the annex to announcement No. 431, the line above it lists another Guizhou tea of the same batch — [八步茶](https://thetea.app/article/babu-cha) of Wangmo County.
* The name entered the register less than a year before the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the register, stopped entering new names in it (March 2022).

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

* **Zunyi Hong Cha ([遵义红茶](https://thetea.app/article/zunyi-hongcha)):** A red tea of the same Zunyi prefecture; its zone is seven counties centered on Meitan, and Renhuai is not among them.
* **Fanjingshan Hong Cha ([梵净山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/fanjingshan-hongcha)):** A red tea of Tongren prefecture in the northeast of Guizhou.
* **Shaxian Gongfu Cha ([沙县工夫茶](https://thetea.app/article/shaxian-gongfu-cha)):** A red tea of Fujian with the usual spelling 工夫 in its name.
* **Tongshan Hongcha ([通山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/tongshan-hongcha)):** A red tea of Hubei Province, also an agricultural product geographical indication; protection requirements with varieties, soils and the order of processing have been published for it — *Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá* has no such data.

**In Conclusion:**

*Rénhuái gōngfu hóngchá* is a red tea of China's “liquor capital”, protected since 2021 as an agricultural product geographical indication. Little is known, but what is known is precise: number AGI03417, the holder is the county agricultural service station, the zone is the whole county, 20 towns, townships and subdistricts along the Chishui, including Maotai. Varieties, technology and appearance are not described in the documents found, so for now only the cup itself can tell what this tea tastes like.