Shítíng lǜchá (石亭绿茶) is a green tea of Jiurishan Mountain and Lianhuafeng Peak in Fengzhou town of Nan’an county-level city (南安市), Quanzhou prefecture, in the south of Fujian Province. The south of Fujian is known above all for oolong, while Shiting is a green tea with pan-fired fixation; a Quanzhou local history essay calls it one of the eight famous teas of Fujian. It takes its name from a stone pavilion on Lianhuafeng Peak next to Shiting Temple, and on the cliffs of the same peak there is an inscription “莲花荼襟” dated 376 — it is called the oldest inscription about tea in Fujian. The tea’s calling card is the formula “three aromas and three greens”.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) with pan-fired fixation (炒青, chǎoqīng).
- Category: Historical green tea of southern Fujian; geographical mark (2012).
- Origin: China, Fujian Province (福建, Fújiàn), Quanzhou prefecture-level city (泉州, Quánzhōu), Nan’an county-level city (南安市, Nán’ānshì), Fengzhou town (丰州镇): Jiurishan Mountain (九日山) and Lianhuafeng Peak (莲花峰).
- Geographic coordinates: Fengzhou town — about 24.95° N and 118.5° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- The “莲花荼襟” inscription. 荼 is an ancient way of writing the word “tea”; according to the interpretation, the inscription says that the tea gardens around Lianhua Peak spread out “like the skirts and sash of a robe”. It bears the date “太元丙子” — 376, the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty. Fujian Ribao calls it the oldest inscription about tea in Fujian, more than 400 years older than Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea. The author is unknown. According to an essay by the Fujian Yanhuang Culture Research Society, the original was destroyed by blasting during the construction of a school, and the present inscription is a copy restored from historical materials.
- The legend of the monks. A local history essay retells a legend: under the Song, monks found tea bushes in the crevices of the peak’s cliffs and began to cultivate them.
- Southern Song. According to the same essay by the Yanhuang society, in the Chunxi era (1174–1189) the official Fu Zongjiao left inscriptions about tea on the peak, among them “岩缝茶香” — “the aroma of tea in a crevice of the cliff” — and “斗茶而归” — “returned from a tea contest”.
- The date of origin is disputed. The sources date the appearance of the tea differently — from the Jin era to the end of the Song. I do not choose a date here.
- Qing. According to a legend retold by local historians, under the Daoguang Emperor (1821–1850) a monk brought the tea to the capital, and the tea received the laudatory name “上品莲花” — in another retelling “尚品莲花”. The local history essay writes that after this the tea was exported via Xiamen to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and output grew from twenty or thirty jin to more than 60,000; during the war years the sea routes were closed and the gardens suffered.
- 1952. According to Fujian Ribao, the Ministry of Agriculture approved Shiting as a historical famous tea.
- 2012. The geographical mark “石亭绿茶” (No. 8757651) was registered — Nan’an’s first mark of this kind. The press calls it “石亭绿”, the provincial list “石亭绿茶”.
- 2024. According to Fujian Ribao, the tea was entered in the national catalog of “名特优新” agricultural products.
- Name:
- “Shiting” (石亭) — the “stone pavilion” on Lianhuafeng Peak, next to Shiting Temple.
- “Lücha” (绿茶, lǜchá) — “green tea”; in everyday speech, “石亭绿”.
- Cultural significance: Shiting is an example of green tea in oolong country. For Quanzhou, an ancient port of the Maritime Silk Road, it is one of the oldest tea stories, written directly in stone.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: No document listing varieties was found in the sources consulted. The local history essay writes that at the end of the Qing a monk in charge of the gardens divided the bushes into four types: “白石莲”, with a semi-soft leaf; “石观音”, with a long, narrow, pointed, serrated leaf; “红梅品”, with a reddish upper leaf; and “瓜子叶”, with a leaf shaped like a pumpkin seed.
- Harvest: According to the essays, picking is possible almost all year round; the best tea comes in spring and autumn. The spring “首春茶” is picked from Qingming to Guyu; it is followed by summer tea, “hot-season” tea (暑茶) and the small winter leaf “冬片”.
- Harvest standard: According to the Great Dictionary of Chinese Tea (中国茶叶大辞典) as retold by local historians — one bud with two leaves (一芽二叶).
- Raw material requirements: Leaf from Jiurishan Mountain and Lianhuafeng Peak in Fengzhou town.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The mountains near the old county seat of Fengzhou: Jiurishan, a mountain known for its cliff inscriptions, and the neighboring Lianhuafeng Peak.
- Altitude, soils: No data found in the sources consulted. The local history essay describes the place as warm, humid and misty, with soils rich in minerals from weathered rock.
- Climate: The southern coastal subtropical climate of Quanzhou; no precise data for the gardens found in the sources consulted.
- Gardens: According to Fujian Ribao (2025), there are about 300 mu of gardens on Lianhuafeng Peak, and output is several thousand jin a year. The gardens lie among cliffs with ancient inscriptions, next to the temple.
- Early tea: The essay claims that the spring tea here ripens earlier than anywhere else in Fujian; it was not possible to verify this in other sources.
5. Production Technology
Shiting is a green tea with pan-fired fixation (炒青). According to the Great Dictionary of Chinese Tea as retold by local historians, it is made as follows:
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
- Final drying in the pan (炒干, chǎogān).
Fujian Ribao names the stages more broadly — from picking and fixation to rolling and baking (烘焙). No temperatures or durations found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The formula “三香三绿” — “three aromas, three greens”. Below — according to the Great Dictionary of Chinese Tea as retold by local historians, with caveats where the sources diverge:
- Dry leaf appearance: Tightly rolled, heavy in weight (紧结重实); the color is silvery gray with green (银灰带绿) — the first “green”.
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: Rich (香浓郁). Depending on the picking season, it recalls orchid (兰花), mung bean (绿豆) or apricot kernel (杏仁) — these are the “three aromas”.
- Taste: Mellow and fresh (醇爽).
- Liquor color: Clear, emerald (清澈碧绿) — the second “green”.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Bright, tender green (明翠嫩绿) — the third “green”. Fujian Ribao writes “明翠润绿”, the local history essay “淡绿”, pale green.
7. Chemical Composition
No physico-chemical data found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 85–90 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A white gaiwan — to see the emerald liquor — or a glass tumbler.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea.
- Pour in a little water and let the tight rolled leaf open for 30 seconds.
- Top up with water; first infusion — 1–2 minutes.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- 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. A tea of the season; aging is not needed.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the “石亭绿茶” mark.
- Check that the producer is from Fengzhou town.
- Compare the appearance with the description: the leaf is tight, heavy, silvery gray with green; the liquor is emerald.
11. Interesting Facts
- The “莲花荼襟” inscription bears the date 376, but the present one is a copy: the original was destroyed during the construction of a school.
- Song inscriptions on the same peak mention “the aroma of tea in a crevice of the cliff” and tea contests.
- The “three aromas” do not sound all at once: according to the dictionary, the tone of the aroma depends on the picking season.
- Shiting is a green tea in oolong country: neighboring Anxi is famous for Tie Guanyin.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Tie Guanyin (铁观音): The main tea of neighboring Anxi — an oolong; Shiting shows that the same land also knows green tea.
- Wuping Lücha (武平绿茶): Another Fujian green tea with pan-fired fixation, from the west of the province.
- Tianshan Lücha (天山绿茶): A green tea of north-eastern Fujian, from the mountains of Ningde prefecture; dried with hot air, not in a pan.
In Conclusion:
Shítíng lǜchá is a green tea with a history written in stone: an inscription dated 376 on Lianhuafeng Peak (now a restored copy), Song inscriptions about tea contests, a stone pavilion that gave it its name. In the cup it is recognized by the formula “three aromas, three greens”: a silvery gray leaf with green, an emerald liquor, a bright green infused leaf and an aroma that, depending on the season, recalls orchid, mung bean or apricot kernel. It is a rare green voice of southern Fujian.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page