Ruì'ān qīngmíngzǎo

Ruì’ān qīngmíngzǎo (瑞安清明早) is a tea made from the super-early variety of the same name, from the county-level city of Rui’an (瑞安市) in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. The name belongs to the variety: “清明早” means “early for Qingming” — the shoots are ready for picking even before the Qingming festival. Since 2012 “瑞安清明早” has been a geographical indication certification mark. Descriptions speak of a tightly rolled bright green leaf, and the variety reference of a pan-fired green tea, but I have not found a document that would fix the class of the product under the mark. That is why the article stands among the categories rather than in a class folder.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: The class is not established by a document. “清明早” is the name of a variety, not of a class, and the registration of the mark in class 30 of goods does not name a class of tea. The variety reference writes that more than 30 t of Wenzhou pan-fired green tea (温炒青, wēn chǎoqīng) are made from it every year, and the descriptions of appearance — tight bright green strands, a tender green liquor — correspond to green tea. But an early variety does not set the class: from the Wenzhou variety Wuniu Zao both green and red tea are made.
Category: Tea from a super-early clonal variety; geographical indication certification mark (2012). The local press counts it among the “four famous teas of southern Zhejiang” (浙南四大名茶).
Origin: China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, Zhèjiāng), the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou (温州, Wēnzhōu), the county-level city of Rui’an (瑞安, Ruì’ān).
Zone: The provincial database of marks gives the county-level city of Rui’an as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
Geographic coordinates: The main area is Gaolou Town (高楼镇), about 27° N, according to Wenzhou Ribao; exact coordinates of the zone are not found in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- The tribute legend. Wenzhou Ribao (温州日报, 2025) writes that under the Ming dynasty “瑞安清明早” was designated as tribute to the court. I have not seen a Ming-era document that would confirm this; the clonal variety itself, according to the variety reference, was bred by local tea growers through selection and recognized in 1992.
- The variety. According to the variety reference, it was bred by local tea growers by selecting a single bush in Pandai Township (潘岱乡); in 1992 the Zhejiang commission for agricultural crop varieties recognized it as a provincial variety.
- 2010–2012 — the mark. According to Zhejiang’s provincial database of geographical indication marks, the application was filed on November 29, 2010, and the registration followed on July 7, 2012. Two marks of class 30 were registered: No. 8891327 — “瑞安清明早” with an image, and No. 8891328 — with pinyin. The holder is the Rui’an Union of Farmers’ Cooperatives (瑞安市农民专业合作社联合会).
- 2019. As of the date of the database, zero companies were admitted to the mark. The database runs to 2019; whether the mark has been renewed and is in force now, I have not checked.
- 2025. On March 1 the early tea season was opened in Gaolou Town: the first handful of fresh leaf of the variety from the Hongdi garden, according to the newspaper, was delivered to the venue by drone.
Name: “Rui’an” (瑞安) is the name of the county; “Qingming” (清明) is the spring festival of remembrance, around April 5; “zao” (早) means “early”.
Cultural significance: The local press calls the tea one of the four famous teas of southern Zhejiang, and the variety reference calls it one of the three early varieties of Wenzhou.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety: Rui’an Qingmingzao (瑞安清明早). According to the variety reference: clonal, shrub, medium-leaf, super-early, diploid. For planting, the reference recommends single- or double-row planting; in July–September the bushes suffer from mites, and autumn care of the garden is better started earlier.
Raw material: The earliest spring shoots — it is for them that the variety is valued.
Harvest standard: No data in the sources consulted.
Harvest time: Before the Qingming festival, as the name says; in 2025 the season in Gaolou opened on March 1.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Where it grows: According to the variety reference, it is grown on low mountains and hills in the townships of Tongxi (桐溪), Pandai, Tongpu (桐浦) and Zi’ao (梓岙); how these names relate to the current division of the county, I have not checked.
Soils: Yellow-red (黄红壤), according to the variety reference.
Altitude and climate: No data in the sources consulted.
Scale: The data are not comparable. The variety reference names more than 500 mu under the variety and more than 300,000 bushes — and in the same place speaks of a cooperative early tea base of more than 1000 mu in Yingdong Village of Gaolou Town. Wenzhou Ribao writes of 11,000 mu of tea gardens in Gaolou — 73% of the county’s gardens, 22 tea enterprises and an output value of about 50 million yuan for 2024, but this is all the early tea of the town, not only the qīngmíngzǎo variety.

5. Production Technology

A document with the technology of the product under the mark is not found in the sources consulted. The variety reference names the output of Wenzhou pan-fired green tea (温炒青); if this is indeed the main product, the general scheme is as follows:

Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng).
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heating stops oxidation.
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Drying by pan-firing (炒干, chǎogān).

This is the general scheme of pan-fired green tea, not a description of the technology of Ruì’ān qīngmíngzǎo. According to a 2025 report, Gaolou can supply more than 4000 jin of fresh leaf and more than 500 jin of dry tea a day.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The description below is taken from the variety reference, not from the mark document.

Dry leaf appearance: The strands are tightly rolled, the color is fresh green with a sheen (条索紧结，色泽鲜绿润泽).
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Lasting, fresh, elegant.
Taste: Rich, fresh, with a long aftertaste.
Liquor color: Tender green, bright and clear.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Yellow-green, bright; the leaf is firm, soft, even and tender.

7. Chemical Composition

No physicochemical data in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea — if what you have in hand is, as in most descriptions, a green tea from this variety.

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 further infusions.

9. Storage

Class practice for green tea. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Early spring tea is best drunk within a year.

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- The mark “瑞安清明早” exists in two versions — with an image and with pinyin. According to the 2019 database, no companies were admitted to it, so a mark on the packaging should be checked with the holder.
- “Qīngmíngzǎo” on a label names the variety; according to the reference, the variety also grows in other areas of Zhejiang, so the name without the place of origin guarantees nothing.
- Check that the producer is from the county-level city of Rui’an.

11. Interesting Facts

The name of the tea and the name of the variety coincide: the mark protects the name of a bush bred by selection in a single township.
Wenzhou Ribao writes that in 2025 the first handful of the variety’s leaf was delivered to the season opening by drone, and one of the local cooperatives bought two drones — to carry leaf, fertilize the gardens and fight pests.
According to the 2019 database, the mark registered in 2012 had not a single admitted user.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Wuniu Zao (乌牛早): Another super-early variety of Wenzhou; both green tea and red tea are made from it — Wuniu Zao Hongcha (乌牛早红茶). An example showing that an early variety does not set the class.
Taishun Sanbeixiang (泰顺三杯香): A green tea of Taishun County of the same Wenzhou prefecture.
Pingyang Huangtang (平阳黄汤): A yellow tea of Wenzhou prefecture; according to the article on it in this encyclopedia, historically it was also made in Rui’an.
Wencheng Gongcha (文成贡茶): A neighboring Wenzhou mark with “tribute” in its name, under which teas of different classes are produced.

In Conclusion:

Ruì’ān qīngmíngzǎo is a variety name that became a mark: a super-early clonal bush from Pandai Township, a provincial variety since 1992, a geographical indication certification mark since 2012. Descriptions depict a tightly rolled bright green leaf and a tender green liquor, but no document found names the class of the product under the mark, and an early variety is suited to other classes as well. The Ming tribute remains a legend, and the number of companies admitted to the mark as of 2019 remains zero.