---
title: "Shàngyú Juénóng cuìmíng chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/shangyu-juenong-cuiming-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Shàngyú Juénóng cuìmíng chá (上虞觉农翠茗茶)

*Shàngyú Juénóng cuìmíng chá* (上虞觉农翠茗茶) is a green tea from Shangyu District (上虞区) of Shaoxing prefecture-level city, Zhejiang Province, with the leaf rolled into a “flower roll” ([花卷](https://thetea.app/article/hua-juan)形). The name combines the name of the district, the name of a native of these parts, Wu Juenong (吴觉农), who is called the “contemporary sage of tea” (当代茶圣), and the word “*cuìmíng*” — “emerald tea”. Since December 2020 the name has been an agricultural product geographical indication, and in 2025 it was recognized as a geographical indication product. The tea is made only from spring shoots by “nine operations”: spread three times, pan-fire three times, dry three times.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). That is what the reference catalog calls it directly; the technology is spreading, pan-firing, drying. The reference article and the head of the district agriculture bureau call Shangyu a “traditional green tea district”, and the bureau places *cuìmíng* alongside the local Longjing, the needle-shaped Shunhao (针形舜毫) and Huibai (辉白).
* **Category:** Curled green tea; agricultural product geographical indication (2020); geographical indication product (2025).
* **Origin:** China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, *Zhèjiāng*), Shaoxing prefecture-level city (绍兴, *Shàoxīng*), Shangyu District (上虞, *Shàngyú*).
* **Protection zone:** According to the reference article on the 2020 registration — 20 townships, towns and subdistricts with 281 administrative villages: the Baiguan, Cao'e, Dongguan, Daoxu, Xiaoyue, Lianghu and Songxia subdistricts; the towns of Zhangzhen, Fenghui, Shangpu, Tangpu, Yonghe, Yiting, Xietang, Gaibei, Changtang and Xiaguan; the townships of Lingnan, Chenxi and Dingzhai. The geographical indication catalog puts it more briefly: the current administrative territory of Shangyu District.
* **Geographic coordinates:** 120°36′23″–121°06′09″ E, 29°43′38″–30°16′17″ N — according to the same reference.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **The region's tea in *The Classic of Tea*.** The organizers of the opening of the 2026 harvest recall Lu Yu's line from *The Classic of Tea* (《茶经》): “浙东，以越州上” — the best tea of eastern Zhejiang comes from Yuezhou.
    * **Old teas of the district.** The press (2021) lists famous teas of the past — 凤鸣茶, 后山茶, 覆卮山鹁鸪岩茶, 本色芽茶, [贡熙](https://thetea.app/article/gongxi)珠茶 — but does not explain how they are connected with *cuìmíng*.
    * **2019.** The district authorities launched a common district brand “觉农·翠茗” and management under the “six unified rules” (六统一): unified use of the trademark, technology, quality standard, packaging, recommended price and promotion. The press (2021) names March as the month of the launch, the reference article — April 25.
    * **April 2020.** According to a report by the Tea Institute of Zhejiang University, on April 14 experts from the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and the provincial department of agriculture unanimously approved the feasibility study of the institute's project on processing technology and product standardization for “觉农·翠茗”; on April 22 an automated “觉农·翠茗” line was put into operation in the district.
    * **December 25, 2020.** The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, by announcement No. 378, placed “上虞觉农翠茗茶” under protection as an agricultural product geographical indication — according to the reference article; the reference catalog also names December 2020, and the press in March 2021 already writes of the registration as obtained.
    * **March 21, 2021.** At the harvest opening festival the district tea industry association announced the “觉农翠茗” price standard for 2021.
    * **February 28, 2023.** The new district brand “上虞翠茗” with its logo was officially presented at the Zhejiang Provincial People's Hall.
    * **2024.** According to a report by the provincial agriculture bureau, the group standard 《上虞翠茗茶》 was revised together with Zhejiang University — the organoleptic requirements for each grade were refined — and together with the Shaoxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences brand management rules were issued, the first local tea standard in Shaoxing.
    * **2025.** The China National Intellectual Property Administration, by announcement No. 640 (signed July 16, published August 13), recognized 1409 names as geographical indication products; according to the provincial press and the geographical indication catalog, this tea is one of four Shangyu products on the list.
    * **2026.** The opening of the spring harvest took place on March 20 in Fenghui Town (丰惠镇), which the organizers call the birthplace of Wu Juenong.
* **Name:** “Shangyu” (上虞) is the name of the district; “Juenong” (觉农) — according to the reference article, the name is taken from the “contemporary sage of tea” Wu Juenong; “*cuìmíng*” (翠茗) — “emerald tea”. The geographical indication catalog sums up the distinctive features in the formula “花卷形，翡翠色，甘爽味”: “roll shape, jade color, sweet and fresh taste”.
* **Cultural significance:** Shangyu builds around the tea the image of the homeland of Wu Juenong — according to the reference article, the founder of China's modern tea industry.

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

* **Varieties / Cultivars:** Not named in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material:** Spring tea only: from one bud with one leaf to one bud with three leaves, the shoots whole and even (完整、匀净).
* **Harvest time:** Spring; exact dates are not found in the sources consulted. The opening of the 2026 spring harvest took place on March 20.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Shangyu District in the east of Shaoxing prefecture-level city, on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay (杭州湾) — according to the 2021 press.
* **Climate:** The reference article calls it warm and humid, with a good ecology. The reference catalog specifies: a subtropical monsoon climate, an average annual temperature of 16.5 °C, precipitation of about 1400 mm a year; these figures have not been checked against the primary source.
* **Topography and soils:** According to the same catalog — mainly hills and mountains, yellow and red soils; the main gardens, according to the same catalog, are in the southern townships of the district.
* **Altitude:** The reference article and a 2025 district report speak of the features of high-mountain tea ([高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/gao-shan-cha)), but give no altitudes.
* **Area:** The figures refer to the district's tea as a whole and diverge by year: 45,300 mu at the end of 2020, about 45,000 mu in 2023, 43,500 mu and 2800 t of tea for 2025 in a 2026 report. For *cuìmíng* itself, the 2025 district report gives 1261 ha of gardens and about 200 t of tea a year. According to the district agriculture bureau (2023), there are about a hundred tea companies, and more *cuìmíng* is produced and sold than any other local tea. The 2024 spring harvest across the whole district, according to a report on the website of the provincial department of agriculture, was 1410 t of tea worth 168 million yuan.

**5. Production Technology:**

The signature technology is the “nine operations” (九制): spread three times, pan-fire three times, dry three times (三摊三炒三烘, *sān tān sān chǎo sān hōng*). This is the order recorded in the reference article and in a piece on the portal of a rural newspaper (2024); the newspaper of the political consultative conference (2023) writes “三摊三烘三炒”, that is, it puts drying before pan-firing. The sources do not disclose the temperatures, the duration of the stages, or the number of repetitions within the cycle.

The district works on the technology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University and the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences; according to the reference article, five automated lines have been built. According to a report by the Tea Institute of Zhejiang University (2020), trial measurements for standardization were carried out on the operations of spreading the fresh leaf (鲜叶摊放, *xiānyè tānfàng*), fixation, cooling (摊凉, *tānliáng*), rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*) and shaping (做形, *zuòxíng*).

According to the general scheme for green tea (this is the scheme of the class, not a description of *cuìmíng*), spreading (摊放, *tānfàng*) takes part of the moisture out of the leaf, pan-firing begins with fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*), which stops oxidation, and drying (烘, *hōng*) sets the shape.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The description is the same in the geographical indication catalog and in the reference article; at the 2023 Beijing tea expo its main features were repeated by an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** The shape of a “flower roll” (花卷形), emerald green, oily and lustrous (色泽翠绿油润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description; a short quality formula in the 2024 press speaks of a “tender clean aroma” (嫩清香), without specifying whether of the leaf or of the liquor.
* **Liquor aroma:** Clean, high and lasting (香气清高持久).
* **Taste:** Full, sweet and fresh (滋味醇厚甘爽).
* **Liquor color:** Apricot green, clear and bright (汤色杏绿明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Tender and even, opening into a “flower”, green and bright (叶底嫩匀成朵绿亮).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

There are 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 green tea.

* **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 repeat infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; drink within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

The district tea industry association announced reference selling prices for 2024: top grade (特级) — 3800 yuan per jin (500 g), first grade — 960, second — 760, third — 360 yuan per jin. At the 2024 spring tea festival, 250 g of the tea that took first place in the tea competition was sold at auction for 2999 yuan.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark and the labeling of the district brand “上虞翠茗”; the brand may be used only with authorization.
    * The brand's packaging series are “特选”, “精选”, “优选”, “佳选” and the souvenir “伴手”; in 2024 the security code on the packaging was updated.
    * The main sign of the appearance is the “flower roll”: the local Longjing is flat, Shunhao is needle-shaped.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The tea is named after a person: “Juenong” in the name comes from Wu Juenong, a native of Shangyu.
* One name has two brands: “觉农·翠茗” of 2019 and “上虞翠茗” of 2023.
* In 2024 the reference price of the top grade was almost four times the price of the first grade: 3800 yuan per jin against 960.

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

* **Pingshui Zhucha ([平水珠茶](https://thetea.app/article/pingshui-zhucha)):** An export green tea of Shaoxing, rolled into tight pellets; *cuìmíng* has a different shape — a “flower roll”.
* **Pingshui Rizhu Cha ([平水日铸茶](https://thetea.app/article/pingshui-rizhu-cha)):** A green tea of Keqiao District of the same prefecture-level city, in the form of curled buds, with a chestnut aroma.
* **Shengzhou Hui Bai ([嵊州辉白](https://thetea.app/article/shengzhou-hui-bai)):** A round-rolled green tea of Shengzhou, also from Shaoxing; Huibai is also made in Shangyu itself.

**In Conclusion:**

*Shàngyú Juénóng cuìmíng chá* is a green tea named in honor of the “contemporary sage of tea” Wu Juenong and brought together by the district under a single brand. It is recognized by its emerald “flower roll”, its apricot-green liquor and its sweet, fresh taste, and it is made only from spring shoots by nine operations. The documents on it are the agricultural indication of 2020, a group standard with requirements for each grade, and the recognition of 2025.