---
title: "Sōngxī hóngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/songxi-hongcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Sōngxī hóngchá (松溪红茶)

*Sōngxī hóngchá* (松溪红茶) is a red tea of Songxi County (松溪县) in Nanping prefecture-level city in the north of Fujian Province. The name is protected by geographical indication mark No. 10034709; according to reference data, the zone is the entire territory of the county. The reference description depicts fine, tight strands with golden down, a red liquor with a yellowish tinge and a “golden ring” at the edge, and a sweet aroma with a barely perceptible floral note. The name is included in the second list of the agreement between China and the European Union on geographical indications.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*), fully fermented. The class is stated in the name of the mark itself — “松溪红茶 SONGXI BLACK TEA”. According to the newspaper *Minbei Ribao* (2012), the local “Jinmaohou” (金毛猴, *jīnmáohóu*) is one of the early kinds of gongfu red tea (工夫红茶, *gōngfu hóngchá*).
* **Category:** Fujian red tea with a geographical indication mark.
* **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Nanping prefecture-level city (南平, *Nánpíng*), Songxi County (松溪县, *Sōngxī xiàn*).
* **Zone:** According to the geographical indications reference site — the entire territory of the county, nine townships and towns, among them Songyuan (松源镇), Weitian (渭田镇) and Zhengdun (郑墩镇). I have not checked this boundary against the mark document.
* **Protection regime:** Geographical indication certification mark or collective mark of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) No. 10034709; goods — tea. In the provincial list as of June 30, 2026, the registration is shown as in force. The mark holder is not named in the sources consulted.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Songxi County — about 27.5° N and 118.8° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **1920s — “*Jīnmáohóu*”.** According to *Minbei Ribao*, when Sino-Russian trade resumed and the tea route from Chishi (赤石) to Kyakhta opened, Songxi, following the model of the popular white tea “Baimaohou” ([白毛猴](https://thetea.app/article/bai-mao-hou), “white monkey”), began to select the best *gōngfu hóngchá* with an abundance of golden tips and to produce it under the name “*Jīnmáohóu*” — “golden monkey”. An earlier date for red tea in Songxi is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **1934 and 1960–1975.** According to the same newspaper, in 1934 “*Jīnmáohóu*” and “Baimaohou” were the most expensive of all the county's teas, and in 1960–1975 “*Jīnmáohóu*” was the main export kind of *gōngfu hóngchá*.
    * **1980s — “top county”.** According to the newspaper *Fujian Ribao* (2023), the yield and quality of Songxi tea rose to among the best in the province, and the county was nicknamed “茶叶状元县” (*cháyè zhuàngyuán xiàn*) — “the top county for tea”. This refers to the county's tea in general, not to red tea.
    * **1998.** According to *Minbei Ribao*, “*Jīnmáohóu*” was awarded the title “international advanced level” (国际先进水平) at a tea exhibition in Hangzhou.
    * **2010.** A gold award at the World Expo in Shanghai. The geographical indications reference site names “松溪红茶” as the award winner, while *Minbei Ribao* names “*Jīnmáohóu*”.
    * **The mark.** The sources consulted do not give the registration date of mark No. 10034709.
    * **2020.** According to the text of the agreement between China and the European Union on geographical indications, signed on September 14, 2020, the name is in Annex V — among 175 Chinese names whose protection was promised to begin within four years of the agreement's entry into force. According to a 2022 snapshot of the register, protection in the European Union was still pending; I have not established the current status. The county's green tea, [松溪绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/songxi-lucha), is on the first list — in Annex III.
* **Name:** “Songxi” (松溪) is the name of the county: 松 means “pine”, 溪 means “stream”. “*Hóngchá*” (红茶) means “red tea”. In the English part of the mark it is “black”, as red tea is called in the West.
* **Cultural significance:** The county has three marks for tea of three classes: the red *Sōngxī hóngchá*, the green 松溪绿茶 and the white [松溪九龙大白茶](https://thetea.app/article/songxi-jiulong-dabaicha). According to a publication on the provincial government website (2025), white tea from the 九龙大白茶 variety has been the county's common brand since 2013.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The sources consulted do not name varieties for the red tea. *Minbei Ribao* traces “*Jīnmáohóu*” back to ancient local bushes (古代原生茶树品种) without naming a variety. The county's main variety is 九龙大白茶 (*jiǔlóng dàbáichá*), according to a 2025 publication more than 20,000 mu; whether it goes into red tea, the sources do not say.
* **Raw material:** Requirements for the fresh leaf are not found in the sources consulted. The reference description of the appearance mentions conspicuous shoot tips (苗锋显) and buds in the spent leaves.
* **Harvest standard and timing:** No data in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The north of Fujian Province, Songxi County of Nanping prefecture-level city.
* **County garden area:** According to *Fujian Ribao*, as of 2023 — 80,000 mu; output of raw tea (毛茶, *máochá*) in 2022 — 12,500 t. These are data for tea of all classes.
* **Altitude, climate, soils:** No data in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

A document with technology requirements and parameters is not found in the sources consulted. According to *Minbei Ribao*, “*Jīnmáohóu*” was selected from finished *gōngfu hóngchá* with an abundance of golden tips; in 1997 an enterprise standard was introduced for it, but the newspaper does not give its requirements.

Below is the general scheme of gongfu red tea, not a description of the technology of this tea:

1.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*).**
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** Oxidation turns the leaf copper-red.
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**
5.  **Refining (精制, *jīngzhì*):** Sorting by shape and size.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Below is the description from the geographical indications reference site. It has not been checked against the mark document.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** The strands are tight and fine, slightly curved, the tips conspicuous; the color is black and lustrous, with much golden down, the tips golden-yellow (条索紧细略带弯曲，苗锋显，色泽乌润多显金色茸毫).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Long, a sweet “aroma of tender leaf”, rich, with a barely perceptible note of 紫罗兰 (香气悠长……嫩甜香，浓郁芳香、隐约间带紫罗兰香气). In botany 紫罗兰 is stock; in tea texts the word is usually translated as violet.
* **Taste:** Fresh and mellow, sweet, with a sweet returning aftertaste (滋味鲜醇、甜和回甘).
* **Liquor color:** Red, bright, with a yellowish tinge, with a distinct “golden ring” at the edge (汤色红艳透黄、明亮显金圈).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Soft, with visible buds, the color of red copper (叶底柔软见芽，呈紫铜色).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for red tea.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3–4 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A white porcelain gaiwan — it shows the color of the liquor and the “golden ring”.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea.
    3. First infusion — 10–20 seconds; pour off completely.
    4. Each subsequent one slightly longer; four to six infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, at room temperature, in a dry, dark place, away from foreign odors. The sweet aroma weakens over time.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data are not found in the sources consulted. The geographical indications reference site, without naming a year, writes of about 180 enterprises in the county making red tea, output of more than 3000 t a year and sales of almost 150 million yuan.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for geographical indication mark No. 10034709 and a producer from Songxi County.
    * Do not confuse it with the county's white and green tea: they have their own marks.
    * Compare the appearance with the description in section 6.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* One county has three protected teas of three classes.
* The name “golden monkey”, according to *Minbei Ribao*, is a reference to the white tea “Baimaohou”, the “white monkey”. Several teas share the name: in our corpus it is the name of a Hunan red tea, and a corpus article links the Fujian “golden monkey” with Zhenghe Gongfu.
* In 2012 a private individual tried to register the mark “金毛猴”; the county, according to the same newspaper, contested the application and filed its own — for the collective mark “[金毛猴红茶](https://thetea.app/article/jin-mao-hou-hongcha)”. How the dispute ended is not found in the sources consulted.

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

* **Zhenghe Gongfu ([政和工夫](https://thetea.app/article/zhenghe-gongfu)):** The *gōngfu hóngchá* of Zhenghe County in the same Nanping prefecture-level city, one of the three great gongfu teas of Fujian; its aroma is also described as violet-like.
* **Tanyang Gongfu ([坦洋工夫](https://thetea.app/article/tanyang-gong-fu)):** A *gōngfu hóngchá* from Fu'an, another of the “three great”.
* **Zhengshan Xiaozhong ([正山小种](https://thetea.app/article/zheng-shan-xiao-zhong)):** A red tea from Tongmu in Wuyishan, in the same Nanping prefecture-level city.
* **Jin Mao Hou Hongcha (金毛猴红茶):** A Hunan red tea from Zhangjiajie; it shares only its name with the Songxi “*Jīnmáohóu*”.
* **Songxi Jiulong Dabaicha (松溪九龙大白茶):** A white tea of the same county with its own mark.

**In Conclusion:**

*Sōngxī hóngchá* is a red tea of northern Fujian with mark No. 10034709 covering the entire territory of the county and a place on the second list of the agreement between China and the European Union. Its historical identity is “*Jīnmáohóu*”, a *gōngfu hóngchá* with golden tips, which the local newspaper traces back to the 1920s. The reference description: fine strands with golden down, a red liquor with a “golden ring”, a sweet aroma with a floral note. The sources do not disclose the varieties, technology or chemistry of the tea.