---
title: "Shòuníng gāoshān chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/shouning-gaoshan-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Shòuníng gāoshān chá (寿宁高山茶)

*Shòuníng gāoshān chá* (寿宁[高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/gao-shan-cha)), “Shouning high-mountain tea”, is the protected name of the tea of Shouning County (寿宁县) in Ningde prefecture-level city in the north-east of Fujian Province. One name covers both red and green tea. The key thing about it is the boundary: the zone is drawn by altitude, and it includes only villages lying higher than 500 m above sea level. The word “high-mountain” here is a legal condition. The name has been protected as a geographical indication since 2014.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** There is no single class. The 2025 CNIPA requirements divide it by technology into red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*) and green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*); the Fujian Development Center for “Green” Food Products (福建绿色食品发展中心) describes it the same way.
* **Category:** A protected regional name tied to the altitude of the gardens.
* **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Ningde prefecture-level city (宁德, *Níngdé*), Shouning County (寿宁, *Shòuníng*).
* **Protection zone:** 190 administrative villages and communities above 500 m in 14 townships and towns of the county, among them Nanyang (南阳), Zhuguanlong (竹管垅) and Qingyuan (清源). A village of the same township lying below 500 m is not part of the zone. I have not seen the full list of villages.
* **Geographic coordinates:** The 2014 announcement records “119°22′–119°73′ E, 27°16′–27°65′ N”. Minutes never exceed 59, so 119°73′ and 27°65′ are a recording error. It looks as if some of the numbers are decimal fractions of a degree (119.73° is about 119°44′, 27.65° about 27°39′), but this is a reading, not data from the primary source.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Feng Menglong.** The Ming-era man of letters Feng Menglong (冯梦龙), according to a reference description, was magistrate of Shouning County from 1634 and compiled the county gazetteer *Shouning Dai Zhi* (《寿宁待志》). The Fujian “green” food center quotes his line about the local tea: “九峰山上[紫茶](https://thetea.app/article/zicha)殊，香漫甘回嫩厚舒” — on Mount Jiufengshan the purple tea is special: the aroma spreads, the sweetness returns, the leaf is tender and thick.
    * **2014.** The Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC, by announcement No. 2136 of 28 July, registered *Shòuníng gāoshān chá* as an agricultural product geographical indication. The applicant is the Shouning County Tea Industry Association (寿宁县茶业协会); the number of the quality control technical specifications is AGI2014-02-1467.
    * **2018.** According to the provincial list of marks, on 28 October the certification mark “寿宁高山茶” No. 22780112 of the same association was registered; the goods — “tea”. Separately, the mark “寿宁高山乌龙茶” (No. 9883861, goods — oolong) has been in force since 2012.
    * **2025.** The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), by announcement No. 640 of 16 July, recognized 1409 geographical indication products; *Shòuníng gāoshān chá* is row 563. The second appendix contains the protection requirements; the data in sections 3, 5, 6 and 7 are taken from them.
* **Name:** 寿宁 is the name of the county; 高山茶 (*gāoshān chá*) means “high-mountain tea”, a generic designation; here it is legally narrowed to villages above 500 m.
* **Cultural significance:** Among the county's honorary titles, the Fujian “green” food center names “hometown of famous Chinese tea” (中国名茶之乡); it does not give the year it was awarded.

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

* **Varieties / Cultivars:** The 2025 CNIPA requirements allow the local seed-propagated population (原生有性[群体种](https://thetea.app/article/qunti-zhong)) and varieties suitable for this tea, and name as examples the high-mountain population “caicha” (高山群体菜茶, *gāoshān qúntǐ [càichá](https://thetea.app/article/caicha)*) and varieties of the “Fuyun” line (福云品系, *Fúyún pǐnxì*).
* **Plot conditions:** Altitude above 500 m, slope less than 25°, distance from main roads more than 500 m — also according to the requirements.
* **Harvest standard:** Picking in batches and in several rounds; according to the standard, tender apical shoots (嫩芽梢) are picked. The method is hand plucking (提手采) or machine cutting.
* **Harvest dates:** No data found in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** North-eastern Fujian, the mountainous interior of Mindong (闽东).
* **Altitude:** According to the Fujian “green” food center, the county has more than 600,000 mu of mountain land at an altitude of 500–1200 m, of which almost two thirds lie above 800 m.
* **Climate:** Mean annual temperature 13–19 °C, more than 1760 hours of sunshine a year, more than 1911 mm of precipitation — data from the same center.
* **Soils:** Among the county's mountain soils, yellow and red soils predominate, with 2–3% organic matter; the acidity of most gardens is pH 5.0–5.5. The county has identified 582,000 mu of selenium-rich soils and 400,000 mu of zinc-rich soils.

**5. Production Technology:**

The 2025 CNIPA requirements set a chain of operations for both classes, but without parameters.

* **Red tea:**
    1. Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*) — in the sun or with heating.
    2. Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).
    3. Fermentation, that is, oxidation (发酵, *fājiào*).
    4. Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).
    5. Sorting (拣剔, *jiǎntī*).
    6. Baking (烘焙, *hōngbèi*).
* **Green tea:**
    1. Spreading the fresh leaf (摊放, *tānfàng*).
    2. Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*).
    3. Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).
    4. Sorting (拣剔, *jiǎntī*).

Rolling is not named in the green tea chain, although the appearance in the same requirements is tightly rolled strips; the text does not explain this.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The appearance of both classes is set by the 2025 CNIPA requirements; the Fujian “green” food center gives the same description.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Red — tightly rolled strips, bluish black with a sheen (条索紧结、色乌润). Green — tightly rolled strips, green with a sheen, with visible down on the tips (条索紧结，色泽绿润，锋毫显).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Red — fresh and rich, with floral and fruity notes (香气鲜浓，带有花果香). Green — an aroma of tender leaf or chestnut (带嫩香或栗香).
* **Taste:** Red — rich and mellow (滋味浓醇), with a “high-mountain resonance” (高山韵). Green — rich and fresh (滋味浓爽), with a “high-mountain flavor” — a clean aroma, clean mellowness and clean freshness (清香、清醇、清爽的高山风味).
* **Liquor color:** Red — red and bright (汤色红亮). Green — yellow-green, clear and bright (汤色黄绿明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Red — plump and tender, red and bright (叶底肥嫩、红亮). For green there is no description.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The 2025 CNIPA requirements set physico-chemical indicators for each class:

| Indicator | Green tea | Red tea |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Water-soluble extractives | not less than 34% | not less than 30% |
| Tea polyphenols | 18–36% | not standardized |
| Theaflavins | — | 0.5–1.5% |
| Thearubigins | — | 5.5–27% |
| Amino acids, total | 2–4% | 2–4% |
| Caffeine | 2–4% | 2–4% |
| Moisture | not more than 7% | not more than 7% |
| Ash | not more than 6.5% | not more than 6.5% |

These are permitted ranges, not a measurement of a specific batch. The Fujian “green” food center writes that the local high-mountain tea contains roughly three times more beneficial substances than tea from lowland gardens, but gives no figures or method; I do not accept this as a fact.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. Selenium and zinc in the soil are a feature of the terroir, not a proven property of the tea: no source I have opened measured their content in the leaf.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice — the parameters depend on which tea under this name you have in hand.

* **Red tea:** 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion about a minute, gaiwan or porcelain teapot, several infusions, each steeped longer.
* **Green tea:** 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion 40–60 seconds, glass tumbler or gaiwan, two or three repeat infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; drink within a year. Red — in a dry dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark or certification mark No. 22780112; the producer is from Shouning County.
    * Remember that “high-mountain” on the packaging without the county name guarantees nothing: 高山茶 is a generic word.
    * Check the appearance against the requirements: red — bluish black strips and a red, bright liquor; green — green strips with down and a yellow-green liquor.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The error in the coordinates (119°73′ and 27°65′) already appears in the 2014 ministry announcement and carried over into the 2025 record.
* Alongside this name there is a separate mark, “寿宁高山乌龙茶” — “Shouning high-mountain oolong”, although the 2025 requirements do not name oolong.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Datian Gaoshan Cha ([大田高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/datian-gaoshan-cha)):** Also a protected “high-mountain” tea of Fujian, but the zone is the whole of Datian County with no altitude threshold, and the classes are oolong and red tea.
* **Gao Shan Cha (高山茶):** A generic concept; in the corpus, an overview article; in Shouning the same word is narrowed to a zone with a threshold.
* **Tanyang Gong Fu ([坦洋工夫](https://thetea.app/article/tanyang-gong-fu)):** Red tea of Tanyang village of Fu'an county-level city, in the same Ningde prefecture.

**In Conclusion:**

*Shòuníng gāoshān chá* is a name in which “high-mountain” has become a legal boundary: the tea of 190 villages above 500 m is protected. It covers a red tea with a floral and fruity aroma and a green tea with a chestnut aroma. The protection requirements name the varieties — the local population and the “Fuyun” line — and set chains of operations and physico-chemical ranges for both classes, but are silent on processing parameters and harvest dates.