---
title: "Róngchéng lǜchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/rongcheng-lucha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Róngchéng lǜchá (荣成绿茶)

*Róngchéng lǜchá* (荣成绿茶) is a green tea of Rongcheng county-level city (荣成市) of Weihai prefecture, in the far east of the Shandong Peninsula. Rongcheng is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and tea here grows on the northern border of Chinese tea cultivation. According to a reference description, back in the 1960s the county became one of the most successful participants in Shandong in the “南茶北引” campaign — moving southern tea to the north. Since 2010 the name has been entered in the Ministry of Agriculture's register of agricultural product geographical indications; the holder is the Rongcheng tea association. The reference records three forms of the tea and notes chestnut and boiled egg yolk in the aroma.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The class is stated in the name; the reference description of the appearance and processing is also that of a green tea.
* **Category:** Northern green tea of Shandong; agricultural product geographical indication (2010).
* **Origin:** China, Shandong Province (山东, *Shāndōng*), Weihai prefecture (威海, *Wēihǎi*), Rongcheng county-level city (荣成, *Róngchéng*).
* **Protection zone:** According to Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 1366 — fourteen towns and subdistricts of Rongcheng. Eleven are named individually: Hushan (虎山), Chengshan (成山), Wanglian (王连), Shidao (石岛), Xiazhuang (夏庄), Yaxi (崖西), Lidao (俚岛), Tengjia (滕家), Renhe (人和), Ningjin (宁津) and Yinzi (荫子); the remaining three are hidden behind the word “等” — “and others”. The register gives only the province; the announcement gives the zone more precisely.
* **Geographic coordinates:** According to the same announcement — 122°09′–122°42′ E, 36°45′–37°27′ N.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **1960s.** According to the reference description, Rongcheng became one of the most successful counties of Shandong in the “南茶北引” (*nán chá běi yǐn*) campaign — “southern tea to the north” — and was designated an experimental county for high yields. The exact date of the first plantings is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **Mid-1970s.** According to the same description, Rongcheng's gardens grew to more than two thousand mu.
    * **1980s.** Yields were low, and most of the gardens were converted to other crops; according to the reference, fewer than a hundred mu of old gardens remained. Growth resumed at the beginning of the 21st century.
    * **2010.** By Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 1366 of 2 April, *Róngchéng lǜchá* was entered in the register of agricultural product geographical indications. The applicant was the Rongcheng tea association (荣成市茶业协会). The registration number is AGI00274, the number of the technical requirements for quality control is AGI2010-03-00274. I have not rechecked whether the registration is currently in force.
    * **2018.** According to the reference description, more than twenty tea cooperatives and more than fifty family farms were working in the city; besides green tea, they made oolong, red and white tea.
* **Name:** “Rongcheng” (荣成) is the name of the county-level city; “*lǜchá*” (绿茶) means green tea.
* **Cultural significance:** The present gardens grew out of the campaign of moving southern tea to the north. The reference also mentions a legend about a thousand-year-old tea tree on the “Tea Summit” (茶叶顶) of Mount Chashan; there are no documents about this.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The retelling of the quality requirements in the reference description recommends the varieties *Jiūkēng* (鸠坑) and *Fúdǐng dàbái* (福鼎大白); they are also named as the city's main varieties in 2018.
* **Raw material:** The reference description notes a thick, fleshy leaf (叶片肥厚).
* **Harvest:** According to the reference description, because of the high latitude the local tea has the longest growing period among tea regions and the shortest harvest period. Exact harvest dates are not found in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** An exact standard is not found in the sources consulted. The retelling of the requirements says that picking begins when 10–15 standard shoots have formed per square meter of bush surface, in clear weather, in the morning.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The eastern tip of Shandong, a land of low mountains and hills of the Jiaodong Peninsula; Rongcheng is surrounded by the sea on three sides (三面环海).
* **Climate:** The reference description calls it warm temperate maritime humid (暖温带海洋性湿润气候), with warm winters and cool summers (冬暖夏凉); elsewhere — monsoon continental with maritime features. According to its data — an annual average of 11.3 °C, 785.4 mm of precipitation, 214 frost-free days.
* **Place in tea geography:** The northern edge of Chinese tea cultivation, the zone north of the Yangtze.
* **Growing altitude:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Soils:** According to the reference description, the city's soils developed mainly on acidic rocks; brown forest soils (棕壤) are the most widespread, pH from 5.6 to 8.1, 6.4 on average.
* **Scale:** The reference description gives two widely diverging pairs of figures: for 2010 — 2000 ha of gardens and 500 t of tea, for 2018 — 204.8 ha and 70 t of dry tea. An explanation of the tenfold difference is not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

I have not seen the technology requirements themselves. The reference description, retelling them, lists the processing steps without temperatures or times. There are three forms: curled (卷曲形), flat (扁形) and needle-shaped (针形).

The steps follow the retelling of the requirements; the explanations are the general scheme for green tea, not the parameters of *Róngchéng lǜchá*:

1.  **Spreading (摊青, *tānqīng*):** The leaf gives off some of its moisture.
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Heating stops oxidation.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
4.  **Pre-drying (烘青, *hōngqīng*):** The first drying with hot air.
5.  **Shaping (整形, *zhěngxíng*):** Curled, flat or needle-shaped form.
6.  **Bringing out the down (提毫, *tíháo*).**
7.  **Drying (烘干, *hōnggān*).**

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Below is the reference description; in parentheses — its wording.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Curled — tight, even curled strands (条索卷曲、紧结、匀整), from emerald to dark green. Flat — smooth, flat and straight (光扁平直), from tender green to yellow-green. Needle-shaped — flat and straight, green, glossy and even (扁平挺直，绿润匀齐).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** High, with a distinctive chestnut aroma and an aroma of boiled egg yolk (香气高，带有独特的板栗香和熟蛋黄香). For the flat form the chestnut aroma is called rich, for the needle-shaped form — high and lasting.
* **Taste:** Fresh, brisk and mellow (滋味鲜爽醇和); for the curled form — rich and mellow (浓醇), for the flat form — full and mellow (醇厚).
* **Liquor color:** Tender green, bright (汤色嫩绿明亮), for the curled and flat forms — up to yellow-green.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** From tender green and bright to yellow-green; the reference calls the leaf thick and resistant to repeated infusions (叶片肥厚耐冲泡).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The reference description gives these indicators: water-soluble extractives — no less than 43.2%, amino acids — no less than 10.82%, tea polyphenols — no less than 30.4%, caffeine — no more than 3.0%. For “southern tea” the same text gives 38.9%, 2.39%, 24.61% and 3.8%. The text itself calls the difference “slightly higher” (略高), although for amino acids it comes out more than fourfold — this figure should be regarded as doubtful. The words about the “greatest accumulation of nutrients” (营养积累最多) are given without measurements.

**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:** Glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    5. Top up with water.
    6. Two or three further infusions; the reference calls the leaf resistant to repeated infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, without light, moisture or odors. Best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Data on prices are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the agricultural product geographical indication mark.
    * Check that the producer is from the fourteen towns and subdistricts of Rongcheng.
    * Expect a tender green, bright liquor and a chestnut aroma.
    * Do not confuse it with other teas of the peninsula: Rushan, Yantai and Laoshan have their own names and their own marks.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The protection zone is set not only by a list of towns but also by a coordinate frame: about 33′ in longitude and 42′ in latitude.
* The same announcement No. 1366 also registered Rongcheng apples (荣成苹果) — with the same coordinate frame.

**13. Comparison with Other Green Teas of Shandong:**

* **Rizhao Lü Cha ([日照绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/rizhao-lucha)):** A green tea of the city of Rizhao in the south of the province, which also grew out of the campaign of moving southern tea to the north; described separately in the corpus.
* **Laoshan Lü Cha ([崂山绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/laoshan-lucha)):** The tea of Mount Laoshan near Qingdao, also a product of the campaign of moving southern tea to the north.
* **Rushan Lü Cha ([乳山绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/rushan-lucha)):** A green tea of another coastal city of the peninsula.
* **Yantai Lü Cha ([烟台绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/yantai-lucha)):** A green tea of Yantai prefecture on the same peninsula.

**In Conclusion:**

*Róngchéng lǜchá* is a green tea from the very east of Shandong, where the gardens are surrounded by the sea on three sides. The main facts about it come from the 2010 registration, with a zone defined down to towns and coordinates, and the reference description adds three leaf forms, a tender green liquor and a chestnut aroma with a note of boiled yolk. Its figures on garden area and on amino acids do not agree, and the article says so directly.