Sōngxī jiǔlóng dàbáichá (松溪九龙大白茶) is a white tea of Songxi County (松溪县) in Nanping prefecture in the north of Fujian province, made from the local variety 九龙大白茶. The mother bush of the variety was found in 1868 on the Jiulonggang ridge near Shuangyuan village; from it the county developed a clonal variety, recognized as a provincial elite variety in 1998. The variety yields large, plump buds with white down, and in a comparative study of six white tea varieties it showed the highest content of catechins and theanine. Since 2022 the name has been protected by a geographical indication mark registered for the goods “white tea”.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: White tea (白茶, báichá). The class is established by a document: the mark is registered for the goods “白茶”.
- Name trap: “大白” (dàbái, “big white”) in the name is the name of the variety, not of the class: this is what large-leaf bushes with abundant white down are called. The variety is also used for other teas; the county has separate marks for red and green tea.
- Category: White tea from a single local variety; geographical indication mark (2022).
- Origin: China, Fujian province (福建, Fújiàn), Nanping prefecture-level city (南平, Nánpíng), Songxi County (松溪县, Sōngxī xiàn); the home of the variety is Zhengdun town (郑墩镇).
- Zone: The provincial list of marks names Songxi County as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not verified the legal boundary of the zone.
- Protection regime: Geographical indication certification mark or collective mark of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) No. 60909447; goods — white tea. In the list as of June 30, 2026, the registration is in force.
- Geographic coordinates: Not given in the mark documents.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 1868. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, the mother bush was found on the Jiulonggang ridge (九龙岗) near Shuangyuan village (双源村); locally it was called “nine-dragon tea” (九龙茶). According to the provincial newspaper, as of 2023 the bush is more than 150 years old.
- 1965 and 1981. The county carried out selection of the best individual bushes; in 1981 the variety received the name “九龙大白茶”.
- 1998. The provincial agricultural crop variety commission recognized it as a provincial elite variety.
- 2009. The variety was entered into the provincial catalogue of valuable germplasm; a provincial conservation area was established on Jiulonggang, in Zhengdun town.
- 2019. The county received the title “China’s hometown of jiǔlóng dàbáichá” (中国九龙大白茶之乡).
- 2022. The geographical indication mark “松溪九龙大白茶” No. 60909447 was registered for the goods “white tea”.
- Name:
- “Songxi” (松溪) is the name of the county.
- “Jiulong” (九龙) means “nine dragons”, after the Jiulonggang ridge where the mother bush was found.
- “Dabaicha” (大白茶, dàbáichá) means “big white tea”, a type of large-leaf varieties with white down.
- Cultural significance: The growth of white tea in Songxi is linked to the variety: according to the provincial newspaper, from 2019 to 2022 the area under it grew from 1,000 to 12,000 mu, and the number of producers from fewer than ten to more than a hundred.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Origin of the variety: According to descriptions of the variety, it was developed by the county tea management station by selecting an individual bush from the local seed population; the variety itself is clonal.
- Bush type: Semi-tree (小乔木型), large-leaf (大叶类), early-budding (早芽种).
- Shoots: The leaves are large, the buds plump and sturdy, the down snow-white (叶片硕大、毫心肥壮、茸毛洁白); the buds break early, with abundant white down.
- Raw material: Buds and tender shoots; the newspaper names silver needles (白毫银针) and mudan (牡丹) among the products. A harvest standard for the mark is not found in the sources consulted.
- Harvest time: Exact dates are not found in the sources consulted; the variety is early.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The north of Fujian, Songxi County of Nanping prefecture. The mother bush grows on the Jiulonggang ridge near Shuangyuan village in Zhengdun town, inside the germplasm conservation area.
- Altitude, soils, climate: Data for the mark zone are not found in the sources consulted.
- Feature: The sources consulted do not examine a link between the tea’s character and the place, as distinct from the variety; the descriptions emphasize the variety — a large, downy, early-season bud.
5. Production Technology
The provincial newspaper names withering and drying as the key operations of white tea. A separate technology for the mark is not found in the sources consulted. The general scheme of the white class is as follows:
- Withering (萎凋, wěidiāo): Long, outdoors or indoors; the leaf slowly loses moisture, oxidation proceeds on its own, without fixation.
- Drying (干燥, gānzào): Fixes the result.
White tea has no rolling and no fixation. This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of this mark; parameters are not found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The description below is given in an article in the journal Food Science (食品科学, 2025) for a sample of white tea made from the 九龙大白茶 variety — these are research data, not requirements of the mark.
- Dry leaf appearance: The buds are especially plump and sturdy, with visible down; the color is grey-green and lustrous (芽头尤为肥壮、显毫；色泽灰绿润).
- Dry leaf aroma: Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Fresh and tender, with clear floral notes and the aroma of down (香气鲜嫩，花香、毫香显).
- Taste: Fresh, mellow, sweet and brisk, with a floral note and a full “down flavor” (滋味鲜醇甘爽、花香、毫韵足).
- Liquor color: Apricot-yellow, bright (杏黄明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Soft, tender, bright (叶底软嫩明).
The provincial newspaper describes the variety as combining the freshness of Fuding white tea with the fullness of northern Fujian white tea.
7. Chemical Composition
Data from the same study: white tea from six varieties was compared — 九龙大白茶, 福安大白茶, 福云6号, 政和大白茶, 福鼎大白茶 and the local 松溪菜茶. 九龙大白茶 had the highest levels of all:
| Indicator | Content |
|---|---|
| Total catechins | 102.52 mg/g |
| Ester catechins | 96.31 mg/g |
| Epigallocatechin gallate | 71.29 mg/g |
| Theanine | 11.00 mg/g |
| Glutamic acid | 0.68 mg/g |
| Arginine | 1.07 mg/g |
In its aroma it has noticeably more 2-phenylethanol, with its rose note, and cis-3-hexenol than the other varieties. The provincial newspaper gives an average amino acid content of 4.7 % and writes that this is 18 % higher than in ordinary white tea; caffeine and polyphenols, according to its data, are higher by 6 % and 3 %. These are press figures, not indicators set by a standard.
8. Brewing
Class practice for white tea.
- Water temperature: 85–90 °C for buds and tender leaf.
- Tea amount: 3–5 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Gaiwan, glass tumbler or teapot.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea and pour in the water.
- First infusion — 1–2 minutes in a gaiwan.
- Lengthen the time with each infusion.
- Four to six infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice. Airtight, in a dry, cool, dark place, away from foreign odors. The newspaper links this variety with the fashion for drinking white tea young, “without aging”.
10. Price and Counterfeits
According to the provincial newspaper, from 2019 to 2022 the price of fresh leaf rose from 50–60 to 180–200 yuan per jin, of silver needles from 500 to 10,000 yuan per jin, and of mudan from 200 to 3,500 yuan per jin. These are figures from a single publication, not a market reference.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for mark No. 60909447 and a producer from Songxi County.
- The mark covers white tea; Songxi red and green teas are sold under other marks.
- The buds are large and plump, with abundant white down; the liquor is apricot-yellow.
11. Interesting Facts
- The mother bush of the variety, found in 1868 on the Jiulonggang ridge, was alive as of 2023 according to the newspaper, and is more than 150 years old.
- The variety was named only in 1981 — 113 years after the discovery.
- In a comparison of six white tea varieties, 九龙大白茶 showed the most catechins and theanine.
- Songxi County has three marks for teas of different classes — white, red and green.
12. Comparison with Other White Teas
- Songxi Baicha (松溪白茶): The corpus article on the white tea of the county as a whole; Sōngxī jiǔlóng dàbáichá is a mark for tea from a single variety.
- Baihao Yinzhen (白毫银针): Silver needles — one of the forms in which tea from this variety is produced.
- Bai Mudan (白牡丹): A bud with leaves; the newspaper names mudan among the products of Songxi.
- Shuixian Bai (水仙白): A white tea of Jianyang, also in the north of Fujian, from a different variety — shuixian.
In Conclusion:
Sōngxī jiǔlóng dàbáichá is a white tea with a precise starting point: the 1868 mother bush on the Jiulonggang ridge. From it came an early large-leaf variety with a plump, downy bud, and a study of six varieties found in it the most catechins and theanine. The 2022 mark secured the name for the white tea of Songxi County.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page