---
title: "Rìzhào hóngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/rizhao-hongcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Rìzhào hóngchá (日照红茶)

*Rìzhào hóngchá* (日照红茶) is a red tea of Rizhao prefecture-level city (日照市) on the shore of the Yellow Sea, in Shandong Province. Rizhao is known above all for its green tea, and red tea here is a second line. The name is secured by geographical mark No. 13198463 for the goods “tea”; the holder is the Lanshan District Agricultural Technical Services Association (日照市岚山区农业技术服务协会). The mark appears in the list of the Trademark Office's annual report for 2014. I have not seen the mark's requirements for appearance and technology, so everything known about the taste of this tea is taken from descriptions of trade brands, not from the protection document.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*), fully fermented; the class is stated in the name.
* **Category:** Northern red tea of Shandong; geographical trademark.
* **Origin:** China, Shandong Province (山东, *Shāndōng*), Rizhao prefecture-level city (日照, *Rìzhào*), Lanshan District (岚山区, *Lánshān qū*).
* **Protection regime:** Geographical mark No. 13198463, goods — tea. The annual report “China Trademark Strategy” for 2014 includes it in the list of geographical marks “registered and preliminarily approved” during the year, without separating these two statuses. A reprint of the news about the mark, undated, says that “日照红茶” was registered as a geographical indication certification mark.
* **In force now:** Not confirmed. In China a trademark is registered for ten years with the right of renewal; information on the renewal of this mark is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Zone:** The mark holder is located in Lanshan District, but this is its address, not the boundary of the zone; I have not found rules for the use of the mark with a description of the zone.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Lanshan District — about 35.1° N and 119.3° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **1956.** According to *Zhongguo Zhiliang Xinwen Wang* (2024), Rizhao County, the present prefecture-level city, was chosen for the first group of counties — experimental bases for southern tea.
    * **2013 and later.** According to the reprinted news, in 2013 Rizhao Lü Cha ([日照绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/rizhao-lucha)) entered the “ten geographical marks of Shandong”; after that the city administration for industry and commerce took up the next mark and helped the Lanshan association file the application for “日照红茶”.
    * **2014.** Mark No. 13198463 was included in the annual list of the Trademark Office.
    * **After registration.** According to the same news, the mark was to benefit almost a thousand tea households.
    * **2024.** According to a report by the Rizhao market supervision authority, since the beginning of the year more than 230 batches of “日照绿茶（红茶）” — green and red tea of the prefecture — have been inspected.
* **Name:** “Rizhao” (日照) is the name of the prefecture, literally “sunlight”; “*hóngchá*” (红茶) means “red tea”.
* **Trade names:** A teaching compilation of famous teas by province writes about “日照红梅” — “Rizhao red plum” — and calls it another name for *Rìzhào hóngchá*. According to this compilation, the tea comes from Houcun Town (后村镇) of Lanshan District, was created by a state tea taster from local organic raw material, and was named for its aroma, in which wintersweet (腊梅) can be sensed. How the brand “日照红梅” relates to the mark cannot be determined from the sources consulted.
* **Cultural significance:** For the prefecture the main tea is green; the teaching compilation calls it the “first tea north of the Yangtze”. Red tea grew up alongside it, in the same prefecture, and received its own name and its own mark.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Varieties are not found in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material:** According to the teaching compilation — organic raw material from Houcun Town; no details.
* **Harvest and harvest standard:** No data in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Southeastern Shandong, the coast of the Yellow Sea.
* **Climate:** According to the teaching compilation — warm temperate humid monsoon, with abundant sun and rain. A popular article adds that the prefecture is the northernmost large tea area of the country, with diffused light and humid air.
* **Topography:** According to the same popular article — low mountains with gentle slopes and the hills of the Jiazishan (甲子山), Wenshan (文山), Wulianshan (五莲山) and Fulaishan (浮来山) ranges.
* **Soils:** Slightly acidic yellow-brown soils (黄棕壤), rich in organic matter — this is how the teaching compilation describes the soils of the prefecture.
* **Growing altitude:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Scale:** According to *Zhongguo Zhiliang Xinwen Wang* (2024), the prefecture has about 20,000 ha of tea gardens, and the annual output of the industry is worth 3.7 billion yuan — this is all the tea of the prefecture, mainly green; how much of it is red is not stated.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology of *Rìzhào hóngchá* is not found in the sources consulted. For red tea the usual sequence is as follows:

1.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*):** The leaf loses some of its moisture and becomes soft.
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** The leaf cells are broken, and the juice comes out onto the surface.
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** Oxidation, during which the leaf turns red.
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*):** Oxidation is stopped and the aroma is fixed.

This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of *Rìzhào hóngchá*.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Below are descriptions of the trade names “日照红梅” and “日照红” from the teaching compilation and the popular article, not requirements of the mark. Their formulations almost coincide: the popular article writes 外形紧结乌润、汤色红艳明亮、滋味厚滑鲜醇、蜜糖香气高锐且经冲耐泡; they differ only in the aroma — on this, see below.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Tightly rolled, black with an oily sheen (紧结乌润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** A separate description is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Honey-and-sugar (蜜糖香气) with a hint of wintersweet; the popular article calls the honey aroma high and sharp, the compilation the aroma of wintersweet. The spelling also differs: the compilation writes “腊梅香韵” — “an echo of wintersweet”, the popular article “腊香韵”, without “梅”; which spelling is correct I have not established.
* **Taste:** Dense, smooth, fresh and mellow (厚滑鲜醇); the tea withstands many infusions.
* **Liquor color:** Bright red, clear (红艳明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No data in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical data are 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 red tea.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3–5 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** Gaiwan or a small porcelain teapot.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea.
    3. The first infusion — about a minute; pour it off completely.
    4. Pour into cups.
    5. Three or four further infusions, each a little longer than the previous one.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In tightly closed packaging, in a dry dark place at room temperature, away from odors; red tea does not need a refrigerator.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Data on prices are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look on the packaging for the mark “日照红茶” and the permission of the holder — the Lanshan agricultural technical services association.
    * Remember that the validity of the mark is not confirmed at present: the inscription by itself is not yet proof.
    * Do not confuse it with Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶): this is a separate name and a different class.
    * Remember that “日照红梅” and “日照红” are trade names; there are no data that their appearance is set by the mark.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The mark holder is not a tea association but an agricultural technical services association of a single district.
* The reprinted news counts twenty geographical marks for Rizhao but lists nineteen by name; two of them are tea marks — green and red.
* Two descriptions of the same tea differ in one character: “an echo of wintersweet” in one source turns into “腊香韵” in another.

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

* **Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶):** A green tea of the same prefecture, Rizhao's main tea brand, with its own protection.
* **Taishan Hongcha ([泰山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/taishan-hongcha-shandong)):** A red tea of Tai'an prefecture in central Shandong; unlike *Rìzhào hóngchá*, it has published requirements for appearance and composition.
* **Laoshan Hong Cha ([崂山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/laoshan-hongcha)):** Another coastal red tea of Shandong, from Mount Laoshan near Qingdao.

**In Conclusion:**

*Rìzhào hóngchá* lives in the shadow of the famous Rizhao green tea: a name with a 2014 geographical mark, a holder in Lanshan District, and an appearance known from trade brands — a tight black leaf, a bright red liquor and a honey aroma with an echo of wintersweet. There are few documents about it, and the main question — whether the mark is in force today — remains unanswered for now.