---
title: "Sōngyáng xiāngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/songyang-xiangcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Sōngyáng xiāngchá (松阳香茶)

*Sōngyáng xiāngchá* (松阳香茶) is the “fragrant tea” of Songyang County (松阳县) in Lishui prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang Province. It is a mass-market green tea of straight strands with pan-fired fixation. County materials trace its technology back to the pan-fired teas made here as early as the Tang, and describe it briefly: high aroma, rich taste. *Xiāngchá* is one of the county's two regional brands, alongside the renowned Songyang Yinhou; according to the Lishui authorities, it is sold in more than twenty provinces and cities, and in Songyang itself there is a market that the press calls the largest green tea market in China.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*), unfermented. The form is straight strands with pan-fired fixation: 条形炒青 (*tiáoxíng chǎoqīng*).
* **Category:** Modern regional green tea of Zhejiang; geographical indication certification mark (2015).
* **Origin:** China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, *Zhèjiāng*), Lishui prefecture-level city (丽水, *Lìshuǐ*), Songyang County (松阳县, *Sōngyáng Xiàn*).
* **Zone:** The provincial database of marks names Songyang County as the location of the mark holder; the exact boundary of the zone is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 28.5° N and 119.5° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Ancient tea land.** According to materials of the Lishui authorities and the county agriculture bureau, tea began to be grown in Songyang as early as the Three Kingdoms period. The same materials say that under the Tang the Taoist master Ye Fashan (叶法善) made tea here that was nicknamed the “immortal tea of Mount Maoshan” (卯山仙茶) — “shaped like a bamboo leaf, dark green, with a clear liquor and a mellow taste” — and that this tea was supplied to the court. Documents of that era are not found in the sources consulted; this is a county tradition.
    * **Tang local teas.** The same materials name Hengshan Cha (横山茶) and Xiajie Cha (下街茶) as local famous teas of the Tang era. *Xiāngchá*, in their words, was created on the basis of the pan-firing techniques of these teas.
    * **1929.** Songyang tea received first prize at the first West Lake Exposition (西湖博览会) in Hangzhou.
    * **2014–2015.** On June 3, 2014, the Songyang County Tea Industry Association (松阳县茶叶产业协会) filed an application for the geographical indication certification mark “松阳香茶”; on June 14, 2015, the mark was registered — in two registrations, No. 14577182 and No. 14577183, class 30. According to the provincial database, ten companies are authorized to use the mark.
    * **Today.** According to county data for 2022, Songyang has about 153,000 mu of ecological tea gardens, and the entire tea industry chain yields more than 13 billion yuan a year. The county is among China's ten leading tea counties (全国茶业发展十强县).
    * The year in which *xiāngchá* itself appeared is not named in the sources consulted.
* **Name:**
    * “Songyang” (松阳) is the name of the county; literally “pine” and “sunny slope”.
    * “Xiangcha” (香茶, *xiāngchá*) means “fragrant tea”. The name emphasizes the main thing: this tea is valued for its aroma and taste.
* **Cultural significance:** Songyang has two regional brands. Songyang Yinhou is a renowned tea with silvery down; *xiāngchá* is a mass-market everyday tea that sells across the whole country. According to the county agriculture bureau, about 40% of the county's residents work in the tea industry, and half of farmers' income comes from tea.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Which varieties go specifically into *xiāngchá* is not stated in the sources consulted. According to the Lishui authorities, the county grows Huangjinya (黄金芽, *huángjīnyá*), Zijuan (紫鹃, *zǐjuān*), Anji baicha ([安吉白茶](https://thetea.app/article/anji-baicha), *Ānjí báichá*), Longjing 43 (龙井43, *Lóngjǐng 43*) and Wuniuzao ([乌牛早](https://thetea.app/article/wuniu-zao), *wūniúzǎo*).
* **Harvest:** Harvest timing is not specified in the sources consulted.
* **Harvest standard:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Raw material requirements:** Origin from Songyang County and authorization of the producer to use the mark.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Songyang lies in the mountains of southwestern Zhejiang. According to the description by the Lishui authorities, the county is surrounded by mountains and cut through by streams, the climate is mild, and rainfall is abundant. Tea gardens stretch along valleys and slopes — hence the county slogan “a hundred li of villages, a hundred li of tea” (百里乡村百里茶).
* **Growing altitude:** No data for *xiāngchá* in the sources consulted.
* **Soils:** In the same descriptions — fertile, with a deep layer, rich in organic matter. The exact soil type is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Climate:** The subtropical monsoon climate of southwestern Zhejiang. The county's forest cover, according to the county agriculture bureau, is more than 80%.
* **Organic tea:** The county promotes itself as “China's home of organic tea” (中国[有机茶](https://thetea.app/article/youji-cha)乡). Organic gardens, including those in conversion, total about 4700 mu according to the Lishui authorities as of 2025 — a small share of all the county's gardens.

**5. Production Technology:**

Technology according to the mark document is not found in the sources consulted. A secondary description says only one thing: the leaf is rolled so that the juice passes easily into the liquor. The general scheme of pan-fired green tea is as follows:

* **Spreading of fresh leaf (摊放 — *tānfàng*):** The leaf loses some of its moisture.
* **Fixation (杀青 — *shāqīng*):** Heating stops oxidation.
* **Rolling (揉捻 — *róuniǎn*):** The leaf takes the shape of a straight strand.
* **Drying (干燥 — *gānzào*).**

This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of *xiāngchá*. Temperatures and durations for this tea are not found in the sources consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The short formulas in the sources diverge. The materials of the Lishui authorities describe *xiāngchá* as “香高味浓” — high aroma, rich taste. The county leadership, in an interview, speaking of Songyang tea in general, gives a different formula — “色绿、条紧、香高、味醇”: green color, tight strands, high aroma, mellow taste.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Straight, tight strands of green color (条紧、色绿) — according to the county leadership's formula.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** A separate description is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** High (香高).
* **Taste:** Rich (味浓) — according to the materials of the Lishui authorities; mellow (味醇) — according to the county leadership's formula.
* **Liquor color:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No data in the sources consulted.

More detailed descriptions of the appearance — with a chestnut aroma — occur in secondary retellings; they have not been checked against the primary source.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Analyses of the composition of Songyang *xiāngchá* specifically 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 green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 85–90 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea.
    3. Pour in a little water and let the leaf open for 20–30 seconds.
    4. Top up with water; first infusion — 1–2 minutes.
    5. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    6. Two or three repeat infusions, slightly increasing the time.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Green tea is drunk fresh; it does not need aging.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Retail prices are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the mark “松阳香茶” on the packaging and a producer from among those authorized to use the mark.
    * Check that the producer is from Songyang County.
    * The leaf should be a straight, tight strand, and the aroma high.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* Songyang is home to the South Zhejiang Tea Market (浙南茶叶市场). The press calls it the largest green tea market in China, and a national green tea price index is published here. The market has six sections — maofeng, *xiāngchá*, flat tea, biluochun, red and flower tea — 306 shops and about ten thousand trading stalls. According to the press, 81,700 tonnes of tea passed through the market in 2022.
* Songyang tea received first prize at the 1929 West Lake Exposition.
* The mark “松阳香茶” is registered under two numbers at once.
* *Xiāngchá* is sold in more than twenty provinces and cities of China.

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

* **Songyang Yinhou ([松阳银猴](https://thetea.app/article/songyang-yin-hou)):** A renowned tea of the same county — curled, tight, covered all over in silvery down. *Xiāngchá* is a straight strand and a mass-market everyday tea.
* **Xihu Longjing ([西湖龙井](https://thetea.app/article/xihu-longjing)):** A flat tea of Hangzhou, first on the list of China's famous teas. *Xiāngchá* has a different form — a straight strand — and a different role.
* **Pingshui Zhucha ([平水珠茶](https://thetea.app/article/pingshui-zhucha)):** A Zhejiang green tea rolled into pellets, known worldwide as “gunpowder”. Also a mass-market tea, but with a different form.
* **Meicha ([眉茶](https://thetea.app/article/meicha)):** A straight “eyebrow” green tea with pan-fired fixation, China's main export green tea. The closest relative of *xiāngchá* in form.

**In Conclusion:**

*Sōngyáng xiāngchá* is the workhorse green tea of a large tea county: straight, tight strands, high aroma, rich taste. The county links it to the Tang tradition of pan-fired tea, has held a mark for it since 2015 and sells it across the country through its own market — in the words of the press, the largest green tea market in China.