Shèngshuǐ lǜchá (圣水绿茶) is a green tea of Zhushan County (竹山县), Shiyan prefecture-level city, in the northwest of Hubei Province. 圣水 means “holy water”, and the name does not contain the name of the county: local descriptions derive it from Shengshui village in Desheng Town and from a legend about an imperial tea. The leaf, according to the protection requirements, is round and straight, with sharp tips, emerald, with noticeable down; the aroma is high and lasting. The name is protected under two regimes: as an agricultural product geographical indication and, since 2025, as a geographical indication product, whose zone is seventeen townships and towns of the county.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is stated in the name, and the protection requirements describe green tea technology: fixation, rolling, drying.
- Category: County green tea of northwestern Hubei; agricultural product geographical indication (AGI00316) and geographical indication product (2025).
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Shiyan prefecture-level city (十堰, Shíyàn), Zhushan County (竹山, Zhúshān).
- Protection zone: According to the 2025 requirements — seventeen townships and towns of the county: Chengguan, Pankou, Yishui, Majiadu, Baofeng, Leigu, Qingu, Zhuping, Desheng, Damiao, Wenfeng, Shuangtai, Loutai, Shenhe, Tianjiaba, Guandu and Liulin. The applicant is the Zhushan County Tea Association (竹山县茶叶协会).
- Geographic coordinates: 109°33′–110°26′ E, 31°30′–32°37′ N — the boundaries of the zone according to the protection requirements.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Legend. Local descriptions retell a legend with reference to the book Five Thousand Years of Chinese Tea (《中国茶叶五千年》). According to it, the disgraced prince Li Xian (李显), exiled to Fangling, on his way back to Chang’an passed through Shengshui village (圣水村) of present-day Desheng Town (得胜镇), tasted the local tea and took it to his mother, Empress Wu Zetian (武则天). She supposedly gave the tea the name “圣水贡茶” — “Shengshui gongcha”, a tea for presentation to the court — and ordered an imperial tea garden and a temple to be established. Documentary confirmation of the legend is not found in the sources consulted.
- Growth of the industry. According to a report by the county committee of the People’s Political Consultative Conference (2014), the area of the county’s gardens reached 158,000 mu — 58,000 more than in 2006, and the output of dry tea grew from 620 t in 2006 to 4410 t in 2011; productive gardens in 2011 amounted to 85,000 mu. The same report says that Zhushan tea, led by Shèngshuǐ lǜchá, became the main brand on the Shiyan tea market.
- Agricultural indication. The name is registered as an agricultural product geographical indication under number AGI00316; the year of registration is not stated in the sources consulted.
- 2025. By announcement No. 640 the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized Shèngshuǐ lǜchá as a geographical indication product and published the requirements for it.
- Name: Shèngshuǐ (圣水) — “holy water”, the name of a village in Desheng Town; lǜchá (绿茶) — green tea. There is no county toponym in the name, and this tea cannot be found by the name of the county.
- Cultural significance: According to the county council report, tea is one of the three pillar industries of Zhushan, and the county holds the titles “homeland of China’s high-aroma ecological green tea” (中国高香型生态绿茶之乡) and “major tea-producing county of the country” (全国产茶大县).
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: The protection requirements do not name a variety: in the “variety” field only “green tea within the zone” (产地范围内绿茶) is written. Other data on cultivars are not found in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: Hand picking, when the bushes have started growth and 5% of standard single buds (标准单芽) have appeared. The exact composition of the raw material — a bud or a bud with leaves — is not named in the requirements.
- Harvest time: Exact dates are not found in the sources consulted; the requirements tie picking to the start of shoot growth.
- Raw material requirements: Separate requirements, other than the condition about 5% buds, are not found in the sources consulted.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: A mountainous county in the northwest of Hubei, in Shiyan prefecture.
- Growing altitude: According to the protection requirements — 220–2740.2 m. This is the altitude range of the zone, not the altitude of the gardens: where exactly within this range the gardens lie, the requirements do not specify.
- Soils: Rich in organic matter, with a fertile layer of more than 80 cm, pH 4.5–6.5.
- Climate: Exact data are not found in the sources consulted. Local descriptions place the county in the Qinba mountains (秦巴) near the southern slope of Wudangshan (武当山) and speak of mists and a large daily temperature range.
- Cultivation practices under the requirements: Organic fertilizers — compost, oilcake, manure; pruning and weeding; pest control by agrotechnical, physical and biological methods.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements list ten operations:
- Spreading the fresh leaf (摊青, tānqīng).
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
- Second drying (二青, èrqīng).
- Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng).
- Bringing out the down (提毫, tíháo).
- Re-drying (复烘, fùhōng).
- Full drying and aroma development (足干提香, zúgān tíxiāng).
- Sifting out fragments and marking (割末打标).
- Selection (精选, jīngxuǎn).
The requirements set no temperatures or times; other verified data on processing regimes are not found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description below is from the 2025 protection requirements.
- Dry leaf appearance: Round and straight, with sharp, slender tips, emerald, with noticeable down (外形圆直，锋苗挺秀，色泽翠绿，白毫显露).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: High and lasting (高香持久).
- Taste: Mellow, tender, fresh and brisk (汤味醇和，滋味鲜嫩爽口).
- Liquor color: Yellow-green and bright (汤色黄绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender green, bright and even (叶底嫩绿明亮、匀齐).
Reprints of the description of the agricultural indication differ from this text in two places: there the aroma is a lasting floral one (花香持久), and the liquor is tender green (嫩绿明亮) rather than yellow-green; the down is called abundant (白毫满披). Which text reflects the product more accurately cannot be decided from the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
The 2025 protection requirements set the following indicators:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Moisture | not more than 6.5% |
| Fragments and dust | not more than 6.0% |
| Total ash | not more than 6.0% |
| Crude fiber | not more than 13.5% |
Reprints of the description of the agricultural indication add two more indicators: free amino acids — not less than 2.0%, water extractives — not less than 36.0%. I did not open the primary source of this description. Data on polyphenols and caffeine are not found in the sources consulted.
8. 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:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Two or three repeat infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. The high aroma fades first, so the tea is best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication product mark or the agricultural indication mark; the right to the mark is granted to producers from the zone.
- Check that the producer is from Zhushan County.
- The leaf — round and straight, emerald, with sharp tips and noticeable down; the aroma — high.
- Remember that “圣水” is not a county: the package should name Zhushan.
11. Interesting Facts
- The altitudes of the zone according to the protection requirements range from 220 to 2740.2 m: a difference of more than two and a half kilometers.
- In the “variety” field the 2025 requirements name not a cultivar but simply the green tea of the zone.
- Over five years, from 2006 to 2011, tea output in the county, according to the county council, grew more than sevenfold.
- The name of the tea comes from a village, not from the county, and is associated with the legend of Empress Wu Zetian.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Wudang Dao Cha (武当道茶): The umbrella name for the tea of Shiyan prefecture; its protection zone also includes Zhushan County.
- Zhuxi Maojian (竹溪毛尖): A green tea of neighboring Zhuxi County of the same prefecture.
- Meizi Gongcha (梅子贡茶): A green tea of Zhuxi County; its name is also associated with the legend of Empress Wu Zetian, and the word “gongcha” appears in it just as in the legendary name “圣水贡茶”.
In Conclusion:
Shèngshuǐ lǜchá is a county green tea of northwestern Hubei with a village name and an imperial legend. The documents about it are dry but definite: seventeen townships and towns, altitudes from 220 to 2740.2 m, hand picking at the start of shoot growth, ten processing operations and a profile of round, straight emerald leaf with sharp tips and down, a high, lasting aroma and a bright liquor.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page