Shāngnán chá (商南茶) is the umbrella name for the tea of Shangnan County (商南县) of Shangluo prefecture-level city, Shaanxi Province. The county lies on the southeastern slope of the Qinling range, at the junction of Shaanxi, Henan and Hubei, at about 33° N — a young northern tea area: experiments with tea began here in 1961, and it took root only by 1970. The name, which carries no class marker, covers two classes: the product requirements describe a green tea of two shapes — curled and flat — and a red tea, each with its own technology. Within the county there is also a separate, narrower name — Shangnan Quan Ming (商南泉茗). Shāngnán chá has been protected by an agricultural product geographical indication since 2011, and in 2025 it was recognized as a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: An umbrella over two classes: green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) — curled (卷曲形茶) and flat (扁形茶) — and red tea (红茶, hóngchá). Both are described in the product requirements with a separate technology and a separate appearance.
- Category: County umbrella name; a northern tea that grew out of moving tea north in the 1960s–1970s.
- Origin: China, Shaanxi Province (陕西, Shǎnxī), Shangluo prefecture-level city (商洛, Shāngluò), Shangnan County (商南, Shāngnán).
- Protection zone: Ten towns and subdistricts of the county, 93 villages and communities. The requirements also give the former names of the merged units:
- Chengguan subdistrict (城关) — the former Chengguan town and Dangma township (党马);
- Qingshan (青山) — the former Qingshan township;
- Shiliping (十里坪) — the former Shuigou township (水沟);
- Jinsixia (金丝峡) — the former towns of Taijihe (太吉河) and Liangjiawan (梁家湾);
- Xianghe (湘河) — the former towns of Xianghe and Bailang (白浪);
- and also Fushui (富水), Shima (试马), Qingyouhe (清油河), Guofenglou (过风楼) and Zhaochuan (赵川).
- Applicant: Shangnan County Tea Industry Development Center (商南县茶产业发展中心).
- Geographic coordinates: 110°24′–111°01′ E and 33°06′–33°44′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 1961–1970. According to materials of the National Development and Reform Commission, experiments on moving tea to Shangnan began in 1961 and succeeded in 1970; in this way the boundary of tea growing was pushed north by more than three hundred kilometers.
- 2011. In May the application was approved by an expert group of Shaanxi Province; according to a reference description, on 15 December the Ministry of Agriculture approved the registration of Shāngnán chá as an agricultural product geographical indication (number AGI00738), and the county received the certificate, according to the local press, in May 2012. According to a report of the time, this is the county’s first agricultural product with such a mark. The examination assessed two lines of the county’s brand-name teas — “Shangnan Quan Ming” (商南泉茗) and “Shangnan Xian Ming” (商南仙茗).
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration, by Announcement No. 646, recognized Shāngnán chá as a geographical indication product and approved the requirements for it.
- Name: “Shāngnán” (商南) is the name of the county; “chá” (茶) is tea. There is no class word in the name.
- Cultural significance: The county builds its tea image as the “tea of the 33rd parallel” (北纬33°茶) and promotes the shared brands “Jinsi Quan Ming” (金丝泉茗) and “Shangnan Lu Ming” (商南鹿茗).
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties / Cultivars: The requirements list the local population (群体种), Longjing 43 (龙井43, Lóngjǐng 43), “Anji baicha” (安吉白茶 — this is how the document names the white-leaf variety), Wuniu zao (乌牛早, Wūniú zǎo), Shancha 1 (陕茶1号, Shǎnchá 1), Zhonghuang 2 (中黄2号, Zhōnghuáng 2) and Jin mudan (金牡丹, Jīn mǔdān), with the proviso “and others”.
- Harvest: From mid-March to the end of April. According to the description of the agricultural product indication, mainly spring tea is picked, summer tea rarely, and autumn tea is not picked, so as to preserve the next spring harvest.
- Harvest standard: A bud with one leaf and a bud with two leaves — whole, fresh, even and clean, free of scales and old shoots. For red tea the requirements specify: a bud with one just-opening leaf must make up 80% of the raw material.
- Raw material requirements: Single-row plantings (3500–4500 plants per mu) or double-row plantings (5500–6000).
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The southeastern slope of the Qinling range, the junction of three provinces; the Danjiang (丹江), a tributary of the Hanshui, flows through the county. Forest cover, according to materials of the National Development and Reform Commission, is 67.1%.
- Climate: According to the description of the agricultural product indication — an average annual temperature of 14 °C, about 803 mm of precipitation, about 1974 hours of sunshine, 216 frost-free days. The description links the large difference between day and night temperatures, the coolness and the comparatively small amount of precipitation with the slow growth of the tea and with the fact that pests rarely multiply en masse here.
- Growing altitude: Not specified in the 2025 requirements. The description of the agricultural product indication prescribes wind-sheltered sunny slopes of low mountains below 1000 m, with a gradient of less than 25°.
- Soils: The requirements name as the best “oily” sands (油沙土), gruss soils on weathered granite (麻骨石土) and sandy loams; the soil reaction is slightly acidic, pH 4.5–6.0, and the soil layer is at least 40 cm thick.
- Care: The requirements prohibit pesticides in production: pests are kept in check by picking, pruning, soil cultivation, traps and weeding, and the only agents allowed are Bordeaux mixture once every two years and an autumn lime-sulfur wash.
- Scale: According to materials of the National Development and Reform Commission (published in early 2022), the county has 250,000 mu of tea gardens and about 8000 t of tea a year.
5. Production Technology
The product requirements describe three technologies.
Curled green tea (卷曲形茶):
- Spreading (摊放, tānfàng): In a layer no thicker than 10 cm, for no longer than 10 hours.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): In a drum at 110–120 °C or by hand in a wok at 160–180 °C, until 40% of the moisture is lost; then cooling with air blowing (清风, qīngfēng).
- First rolling (初揉, chūróu) and first pan-firing (初炒, chūchǎo): About 2 minutes of rolling, then the wok from 100 down to 80 °C.
- Shaping (做形, zuòxíng) and raising the down (起毫, qǐháo): At 70 and 60–70 °C the leaf is rolled into clumps and broken up until the twist becomes tight, curved and “prickly” to the touch.
- Drying (烘焙, hōngbèi): From 80 down to 60 °C for about 30 minutes, to a moisture content below 7%.
Flat green tea (扁形茶): spreading for 6–12 hours; fixation in a drum at 100–110 °C; shaping in a trough wok at 100 °C under light and heavy pressing bars, repeated pan-firing to a flat, smooth and straight leaf; drying to a moisture content below 7%.
Red tea (红茶):
- Withering (萎凋, wěidiāo): Indoors for 15–20 hours or in a trough at a temperature no higher than 30 °C for 6–12 hours, to a moisture content of 60–64%.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): By the rule “light — heavy — light”; then breaking up of clumps and sifting.
- Fermentation (发酵, fājiào): At 25–35 °C and humidity not below 85%, 3–6 hours, until more than 85% of the leaf turns red.
- Drying in two stages: First at 100–120 °C for about half an hour, then, after cooling, at 85–90 °C for about an hour (足干焙香, zúgān bèixiāng), to a moisture content of 6%.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
- Dry leaf appearance: Green tea — tight, slender and even, with conspicuous white down (紧秀匀称、白毫显露). Red — fine, tight, with many bud tips, oily and lustrous (细紧多锋、色泽油润).
- Dry leaf aroma: Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Green — a rich and lasting chestnut aroma (栗香浓郁持久). Red — tender and sweet (嫩甜).
- Taste: Green — fresh and brisk, with a sweet aftertaste, stands up to many infusions (鲜爽、回甜、耐泡). Red — sweet, mellow and clean (甘醇甘爽).
- Liquor color: Green — tender green, clear and bright. Red — red and bright.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Green — yellow-green and bright (黄绿明亮). Red — fine and tender, with visible buds, evenly red and lustrous (细嫩显芽红匀亮).
7. Chemical Composition
The product requirements give the indicators as properties of Shangnan tea, without division by class:
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Iron | 172–355.3 mg/kg |
| Zinc | 45.5–54.6 mg/kg |
| Extractives | 44–46.7% |
| Tea polyphenols | 17.2–18.2% |
| Total sugars | 2.4–2.6% |
The requirements add that the aroma is made up of a stable combination of 24 organic substances; the document does not name the substances themselves. Local descriptions also speak of selenium, but I have not found a number for it.
8. Brewing
Class practice — separately for green and red tea.
- Water temperature: For green — 80–85 °C, for red — 90–95 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan for green, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot for red.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware and put in the tea.
- Green — pour the water down the side and steep for 40–60 seconds; red — after a short rinse, 10–20 seconds.
- Green stands up to two or three repeat infusions, red to five or six, with steeps gradually lengthened.
9. Storage
Class practice. Green — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, best drunk within a year. Red — in a dry, cool place free of odors, in a tightly closed container.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark; the umbrella name does not name the class, so check on the pack whether the tea is green or red.
- Check that the producer is located in Shangnan County.
- Compare the appearance with the requirements: green — with white down and chestnut aroma, red — fine, with bud tips.
11. Interesting Facts
- Local materials call Shangnan the northernmost new tea area of western China — the “tea of the 33rd parallel”.
- The product requirements list not only the present towns but also the former names of the merged townships — with them, the territory can be found on old maps.
- In the list of varieties the white-leaf “Anji baicha” stands next to the yellow-leaf Zhonghuang 2.
12. Comparison with Other Teas of Shaanxi
- Shangnan Quan Ming (商南泉茗): A green tea of the same county with its own geographical indication of 2007; we have an article on it. Shāngnán chá is a broader name with a different protection regime: the same land, but both green and red tea.
- Ziyang Mao Jian (紫阳毛尖): A green tea of Ziyang County in the south of the province, in the Hanshui basin.
- Hanzhong Xian Hao (汉中仙毫): A green tea of Hanzhong prefecture in the southwest of Shaanxi.
In Conclusion:
Shāngnán chá is the county name of a young northern tea: experiments began in 1961, success came in 1970, and today curled and flat green tea and red tea are protected under one name. The product requirements are detailed — from forgoing pesticides to the temperatures of each stage. Green Shāngnán chá is recognized by its white down and chestnut aroma, red by its fine leaf with bud tips and sweet liquor.