Sīnán yànchá (思南晏茶) is the umbrella name of the tea of Sinan County (思南县), Tongren prefecture-level city, in the north-east of Guizhou Province, in the Wuling Mountains on the Wujiang River. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark: according to the summary table of the Guizhou intellectual property administration, it was approved on 28 October 2018, and the applicant is the county tea and sericulture bureau. The name does not specify a class, and a 2023 report by the Tongren government directly divides the brand’s tea into three categories — “white”, green and red. What the character 晏 (yàn) in the name means is not explained in the sources consulted.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: There is no single class. According to a report by the Tongren government, reprinted by the Renmin Wang portal in March 2023, tea under this brand is divided into three categories: 白茶, 绿茶 and 红茶. What stands behind “白茶” — white tea by technology or green tea from a pale-leaf variety — the report does not say. The geographical marks reference database describes the quality of the product with a green tea formula (section 6), but does not name a class and does not specify which of the three categories the description refers to. For the green part there is the group standard T/GGI 026-2018 “思南晏茶 绿茶” of the Guizhou Geographical Indication Research Society (贵州省地理标志研究会), published on 16 August 2018; according to its abstract, it applies to green tea under this name. I have not seen the text of the standard.
- Category: County public brand (公共品牌, gōnggòng pǐnpái) and geographical indication certification mark (地理证明商标, dìlǐ zhèngmíng shāngbiāo), 2018.
- Origin: China, Guizhou Province (贵州, Guìzhōu), Tongren prefecture-level city (铜仁, Tóngrén), Sinan County (思南, Sīnán).
- Mark zone: According to the reference database — the entire current administrative territory of the county (思南县现辖行政区域内). The register gives the county as the administrative affiliation of the holder; I have not seen the text of the certificate and have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
- Geographic coordinates: County seat — about 27°57′ N and 108°15′ E. The area of the county is 2231 km². Both figures are according to Wikipedia.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Old records. No written history of this particular tea was found in the sources consulted.
- 2018 — the mark. In the summary table of the province’s geographical trademarks, attached to the notice of the Guizhou intellectual property administration of 22 August 2022 (on reminders to mark owners about renewal), “思南晏茶” appears in the Tongren prefecture section: the applicant is 思南县茶桑局, the approval date is 28 October 2018. The geographical marks reference database gives registration number 23890216. I read the notice in a reprint of 25 August 2022 on the Panzhou portal.
- 2023 — the brand. According to the Tongren government report, the county is gathering the efforts of various parties around the public brand “思南晏茶”; the brand was shown at the 5th China Tea Expo (第五届中国茶叶博览会) and at the 13th Guizhou tea industry expo. The same report says that the British Swire group (太古) and Unilever (联合利华) have come to Sinan, and local tea goes directly or through intermediaries to Europe, America and Southeast Asia.
- 2024. In February 2024 the Tongren government called “思南晏茶” a national geographical indication certification mark that the county continues to develop, and reported that the province’s first “smart” tea garden on a 5G network had been built in Sinan.
- Name: 思南 is the name of the county. According to Wikipedia, under the Ming dynasty the seat of Sinan Prefecture (思南府) was located here, and the county under its present name has existed since 1913. 晏 — according to the dictionary, “late”, “clear, cloudless”, “calm, peaceful” (as in the expression 河清海晏), and also a surname. The sources do not say which meaning is intended in the name of the tea, and I will not venture to interpret it. 茶 — “tea”.
- Cultural significance: The 2023 report calls tea a “special, green, enriching and leading” industry of the county in the rural revitalization program.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: Not named in the sources consulted.
- Raw material, harvest and harvest standard: No data found in the sources consulted.
- Timing: The reference database notes that the product is on sale all year round, from January to December. This is information about the market, not about the harvest.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: North-eastern Guizhou. According to Wikipedia, the county lies in the Wuling Mountains (武陵山), west of Mount Fanjingshan, and the Wujiang River (乌江) crosses it diagonally.
- Garden area: According to the Tongren government (2024), the county has 188,900 mu of ecological tea gardens — about 12,600 ha. The 2023 report gave the same figure.
- Garden care: According to the 2023 report, with technical support from Guizhou University, the provincial academy of agricultural sciences and the provincial tea research institute, the county demonstrates on trial plots ecological protection of gardens against diseases and pests, immune induction techniques (免疫诱抗, miǎnyì yòukàng) and protection with agents of mineral origin (矿物源防治, kuàngwùyuán fángzhì).
- Altitude, climate and soils: No data found in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
There is no single technology for the umbrella: green, red and “white” tea are made differently. According to the 2023 report, deep processing is carried out by companies the county has attracted, and production is called “clean and standardized” (清洁化、标准化生产). The same report lists certifications of the county’s enterprises: 12 have passed SC certification, 5 are on the register of exporters, 4 have organic certification, 2 have Rainforest Alliance certification (雨林联盟).
No technology parameters found in the sources consulted. For reference — the general schemes of the classes, not a description of this tea:
- Green tea: spreading the leaf (摊放, tānfàng), fixation (杀青, shāqīng), rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn), drying (干燥, gānzào).
- Red tea: withering (萎凋, wěidiāo), rolling, fermentation (发酵, fājiào), drying.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The geographical marks reference database describes the quality of the product in a single line. The appearance in it is that of green tea; which of the brand’s three categories the description refers to is not stated.
- Dry leaf appearance: Emerald green, with an oily sheen, tightly rolled (色泽翠绿油润，条索紧结).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: High and lasting (香高持久).
- Taste: Mellow, fresh and brisk, with a sweet aftertaste (味醇鲜爽，回味甘甜); the tea withstands many infusions (耐冲泡).
- Liquor color: Green and bright. The database has “汤录明亮” — judging by the sense, this is a typo for “汤绿明亮”.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Even, tender green and bright (叶底匀齐，嫩绿明亮).
For the brand’s red and “white” tea, no descriptions found in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
The reference database writes that the tea is rich in zinc and selenium (内含丰富锌硒元素) and classes it as produce free of harmful substances (无公害). The 2023 report speaks of a high amino acid content. None of the sources gives figures, a method or a sample, so these are claims, not analytical data.
8. Brewing
Class practice. The parameters depend on which tea under this name you have in hand.
- Green: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, glass tumbler or gaiwan, first infusion after 40–60 seconds, two or three repeat infusions.
- Red: 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, gaiwan or porcelain teapot, first infusion about a minute, several infusions, each steeped longer.
9. 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.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark “思南晏茶” (according to the reference database — No. 23890216).
- Check that the producer is from Sinan County.
- Ask about the class: the name does not specify it, and the brand unites three categories.
- Remember that green tea from Sinan may also be sold under the prefecture-level name Fanjingshan Lü Cha: the county is part of its protection zone.
11. Interesting Facts
- In the 2022 provincial table of geographical trademarks, the county has a second mark — “思南黄牛”, Sinan yellow cattle (2010).
- Sinan is part of the protection zone of the prefecture’s green tea Fanjingshan Lü Cha together with six other counties of Tongren — the county’s tea has two protected names of different levels.
- According to the prefecture’s data, Guizhou’s first tea garden on a 5G network was built in Sinan.
12. Comparison with Other Teas
- Fanjingshan Lü Cha (梵净山绿茶): Green tea of Tongren prefecture; its protection zone includes Sinan among seven counties. This is a prefecture-level name; Sīnán yànchá is a county-level one.
- Fanjingshan Hong Cha (梵净山红茶): Red tea of the same prefecture.
- Fenggang Xin Xi Cha (凤冈锌硒茶): A tea of Zunyi prefecture with zinc and selenium right in its name; for Sīnán yànchá they are mentioned only in the reference database’s description.
- Enshi Xicha (恩施硒茶): Another umbrella over several classes — a prefecture-level mark of Hubei Province.
In Conclusion:
Sīnán yànchá is a county signboard, not a single tea: a 2018 geographical mark over the green, red and “white” tea of a county with almost 189,000 mu under gardens. The documents say more about the brand, certifications and exports than about the tea itself, and the only description of its appearance — a green tea, tightly rolled, with a sweet aftertaste — is not tied to a category. When buying tea under this name, it is worth asking first of all what class it is.
Sources
Standards
Full list — on the Sources page