---
title: "Tàipíng kuíhóng"
url: https://thetea.app/article/taiping-kuihong
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-07
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Tàipíng kuíhóng (太平魁红)

**Taiping Kuihong** (*Tàipíng kuíhóng*, 太平魁红) is a black tea from Huangshan District (黄山区) of Huangshan City in Anhui Province. The district is the former Taiping County, the birthplace of the green tea Taiping Houkui, and Kuihong is made from the leaf of the same main cultivar, Shi Da Cha (柿大茶), but using black tea processing. According to press reports, tea under this name is submitted to district competitions by producers and sellers from across the district, and a 2026 scientific article already speaks of an “industry” for this tea; therefore this is a category name, not the brand of a single producer. Sources differ on when it appeared.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Black tea (红茶, *hóngchá*). Both 2026 scientific articles call it black tea, the English term for Chinese red tea. The definition from the district group standard, as reprinted in a tea association announcement, also places it among black teas (红茶). No source found gives the oxidation level in numbers.
* **Category:** A regional black tea from the land of a green tea; a category name under which different producers of the district release tea.
* **Origin:** China, Anhui Province (安徽, *Ānhuī*), Huangshan City (黄山市, *Huángshān shì*), Huangshan District (黄山区, *Huángshān qū*), the former Taiping County (太平县, *Tàipíng xiàn*). Scientific articles state that the tea is produced in Huangshan City. Experimental samples for both studies were collected in Huangshan District, for one of them at the Wannan Comprehensive Experimental Station of Anhui Agricultural University.
* **Regulatory framework:** According to a reprint of an announcement by the Huangshan District Tea Association (黄山区茶业协会, *Huángshān qū cháyè xiéhuì*) and a card on an industry standards aggregator, the association issued the group standard T/HSQTA 002-2023 “太平魁红茶” in 2023, effective from 1 October 2023, applying to tea produced in Huangshan District. The text of the standard itself could not be read, so its requirements are given below only from retellings. A group standard is voluntary. No national, industry, or local standards for this tea were found in government registries as of October 2026; group standards are not covered by those registries.
* **Geographical indication:** No information about a geographical indication for this name was found in the sources. Whether the name is registered as a trademark could not be determined. A protected geographical indication exists for its green neighbor, Taiping Houkui (standard GB/T 19698-2008).
* **Geographical coordinates:** Not given for this tea in the sources found; the production area is described only by the district name.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Date of appearance.** There is no reliable date, and versions differ.
        * A 2023 newspaper feature tells of one local master who from 2012 tried making 太平魁红. The feature says nothing about the start of the category as a whole.
        * A 2020 Chinese online publication calls 魁红 a “newly created” black tea and, citing hearsay (“据说”, “it is said”), writes that it began with leaf left in the gardens after the Houkui season, leaf no longer suitable for that tea.
        * One producer, the brand 俏天红, in a promotional account of its history traces a black tea from sorted leaf to the founder of its trading house. The trading house itself, according to the company website, was founded in 1879, and the black tea in the legend is undated. No independent confirmation of this version exists.
    * **2023.** According to district reports in reprints, training in 太平魁红 processing was held at the Wannan Experimental Station of Anhui Agricultural University for more than 120 tea farmers and workers of the district’s tea enterprises, and in June the first district competition for this tea (斗茶, *dòuchá*) was planned there. A July 2023 report from Xinming Township (新明乡, *Xīnmíng xiāng*) mentions gold and silver awards won by its enterprises and tea farmers at that competition. From 1 October, according to the association announcement, the group standard is in effect.
    * **2024.** The second district competition: according to a newspaper report, five provincial experts evaluated 131 samples in five rounds, submitted by tea producers and sellers from across the district.
    * **2025.** According to an article in Food Chemistry: X, by 2025 Taiping Kuihong output reached 246 t and product value reached USD 15.64 million; the article does not state the source of this statistic. Press that year reported that the Taiping Houkui association, responding to market changes, was expanding 魁红 output.
    * **2026.** Researchers from Anhui Agricultural University published two peer-reviewed papers on the processing and aroma of this tea: in April in Food Chemistry: X, and in June in Foods.
* **Name:**
    * **Taiping (太平, *Tàipíng*)** was the name of the county that is now the Huangshan District where this tea is made. **Hong (红, *hóng*)** means “red,” that is, the class of tea.
    * **Kui (魁, *kuí*).** Sources do not analyze the meaning of this character in the name. The 2025 press writes that the Houkui association “connected 猴魁 with black tea” (将猴魁与红茶结合), but does not explain the name. The producer 俏天红 plays on the same character in advertising the appearance: “shaped like a 魁龙, mighty and dense” (形似魁龙，魁伟重实).
    * **Latin script.** In scientific articles the name is written without tones as *Taiping Kuihong*. Pinyin with tone marks does not appear in the sources found; the form in the heading follows the standard reading of the characters.
    * **Short form — 魁红 (*kuíhóng*).** It appears in the name of a producing company, in the 2020 Chinese online publication, and in the 2025 press. The shared element 魁 with names of other teas does not imply identity.
    * **魁里红.** This is how a newspaper feature names one master’s product; it is not used as the category name in the sources found.
* **Cultural significance:** Kuihong is connected to green Houkui by place and raw material, and differs in processing. According to the Food Chemistry: X article, spring Shi Da Cha leaf is widely used for high-grade green tea, while summer and autumn leaf remains largely unused. Xinming Township described its work with this black tea by the formula “compensate for spring with summer” (以夏补春, *yǐ xià bǔ chūn*).

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

* **Cultivar:** Shi Da Cha (柿大茶, *Shì Dà Chá*); in English-language articles called ‘Shidacha’, Shida tea plant, and Persimmon Big Leaf. Both 2026 scientific studies name it as the raw material for Taiping Kuihong. According to GB/T 19698-2008 it is the main cultivar for green Taiping Houkui; the Houkui standard also permits cultivars derived from it, so “main” does not mean “only.” Whether district producers use other cultivars for the black tea is not stated in the sources found.
* **Harvest:** No season requirement appears in the sources found, and leaf of different seasons occurs. The sample for the Foods article was collected in April 2025; that for the Food Chemistry: X article on 10 May 2025; the latter study examines Kuihong from summer leaf. According to district press, Xinming Township makes it from summer leaf, and one master tried a version from leaf picked before Qingming (明前, *míngqián*).
* **Plucking standard:** The samples of both studies were collected within the formula “one bud with two or three leaves”: the Foods paper states that plucking followed “the standard of one bud, two or three leaves,” and its experimental raw material is named one bud with two leaves. The definition from the group standard, as reprinted in the association announcement, states the same: from one bud with two leaves to one bud with three (一芽二叶至一芽三叶). The standard text was not read.
* **Raw material requirements:** According to the Food Chemistry: X article, Shi Da Cha leaf has long thick stems and high moisture content of about 82%, which makes natural withering difficult. No other raw material requirements appear in the sources found.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Huangshan District of Huangshan City in southern Anhui, the former Taiping County. This is the same territory that GB/T 19698-2008 describes as the protection zone for green Taiping Houkui. Among townships, the sources name Xinming: according to district press, several enterprises there make this tea.
* **Growing altitude:** Not given for this tea in the sources found.
* **Soils and climate:** No descriptions specifically relating to Kuihong appear in the sources found. The raw material grows on the same land and belongs to the same main cultivar as Houkui, but transferring data from the green tea to the black tea without a source is not possible.

**5. Processing Technology:**

No detailed description of the category’s processing — regimes, temperatures, oxidation level — appears in the sources found. What is known is the general scheme and the results of two experiments on individual batches. According to the Food Chemistry: X article, the tea is made by traditional black tea processing.

The definition from the group standard, as reprinted in the association announcement, lists five steps. The explanations to the steps describe what each step does in most black teas, not Kuihong regimes.

1.  **Withering (萎凋 — *wěidiāo*).** The leaf loses part of its moisture and becomes soft.
2.  **Rolling (揉捻 — *róuniǎn*).** Leaf cells are broken, and juice comes to the surface.
3.  **Oxidation (发酵 — *fājiào*),** in Chinese “fermentation.” The leaf darkens, and the infusion turns red.
4.  **Shaping (做形 — *zuòxíng*).** In the definition this step is in parentheses; whether it is mandatory cannot be understood from the retelling.
5.  **Drying (干燥 — *gānzào*).** Oxidation is stopped, and the leaf is dried for storage.

The control batch in the Foods study underwent four steps: withering, rolling, oxidation, and drying. A 2023 district announcement describes the technology as the primary processing of Qimen Hong Cha “with optimization” (并加以优化), also in four steps, without shaping. A 2020 Chinese online publication names the same basis in Qimen, but it is not a primary source.

What the studies showed. These are experiments on individual batches, not a description of production:

* **Foods (2026).** In traditional processing, strong rolling improves taste but breaks the leaf. The authors considered freezing the withered leaf at −20 °C the best way to reconcile appearance — the “two leaves and a bud” shape — with internal quality; in harmony of taste this variant differed little from the control. The authors themselves note that they worked with one batch from one place.
* **Food Chemistry: X (2026), summer leaf.** Hot-air withering gave more pronounced floral, fruity, sweet, and “potato-like” notes, while a constant temperature and humidity chamber gave grassy notes.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

No tasting protocol or sensory requirements from the standard appear in the sources found. The basis below is the district descriptive formula of 2023 (its words in parentheses). This is not a measurement and not a standard requirement.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Thick, coarse strips (条形粗壮), dark color with luster (色泽乌润). The producer 俏天红 in advertising writes of tightly rolled, heavy strips (条索紧卷重实). The shape, judging by the sources, differs between batches: traditional rolling gives strips, researchers try to preserve the “two leaves and a bud” form, and the standard mentions shaping in parentheses.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description appears in the sources found.
* **Infusion aroma:** Sweet and long (甜香悠长); the district formula does not separate dry leaf and infusion. The producer 俏天红 claims that the “orchid” aroma of Houkui raw material is retained in the tea and a floral-fruity note from black processing is added; this is advertising. In the Food Chemistry: X experiment, hot-air withering of summer leaf gave floral, fruity, and sweet notes.
* **Taste:** Full-bodied and mellow (滋味醇厚). A 2023 newspaper feature describes one master’s product, 魁里红, as full-bodied, soft, and sweet, with a dense floral aroma. The report on the 2024 district competition repeats this formula verbatim, so it is one description, not two.
* **Infusion color:** Bright red and clear (汤色红艳明亮).
* **Wet leaf (spent leaf):** Plump and bright red (叶底肥壮红亮).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No data on the chemical composition of Taiping Kuihong as a category appear in the sources found; the text of the group standard, where physicochemical requirements might appear, was not read. The Food Chemistry: X study examined aroma substances of individual experimental batches by metabolomics and enzyme activity analysis. Its conclusions concern differences between withering methods, not the composition of this tea in general.

As with most black teas, during oxidation some catechins transform into theaflavins and thearubigins, which give the infusion its red color and full taste; the leaf contains caffeine and amino acids, including L-theanine. Figures for this tea are not known.

**8. Health Benefits:**

No verified data on the effects of this specific tea exist. The scientific studies found address processing, aroma, and taste, not health.

**9. Brewing:**

No data on brewing this specific tea appear in the sources found. Below is the practice for most black teas.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Amount of tea:** 3–5 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A gaiwan or a small porcelain teapot; a white cup shows the infusion color well.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Add the tea and pour water over it.
    3. First infusion: about one minute.
    4. Pour off the infusion completely.
    5. Lengthen each subsequent infusion slightly.
    6. The producer 俏天红 writes that the aroma persists through the third and fourth infusion; this is a seller’s claim, not a verified property.

**10. Storage:**

No information on storing this specific tea exists. As with most black teas: in a tightly sealed opaque container, in a dry dark place at room temperature, away from foreign odors. The main enemy is moisture.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No retail prices appear in the sources found.

* **How to avoid counterfeits and confusion:**
    * Ask the place of production: Taiping Kuihong is a tea of Huangshan District, the former Taiping County, in Huangshan City.
    * Do not confuse it with Taiping Houkui: the names are similar, and the district and main cultivar are the same, but Houkui is a green tea, while Kuihong is a black tea.
    * Remember that no geographical indication for this name appears in the sources found, and the district standard is group-based and voluntary: the name on the package alone does not confirm origin.
    * Compare the appearance with the district description: large dark strips with luster, bright red clear infusion.
    * Treat advertising promises — for example, the “orchid” aroma of Houkui raw material — as a seller’s words, not a sign of authenticity.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* Kuihong and green Houkui are made from the leaf of one main cultivar, Shi Da Cha, on one land, in the former Taiping County.
* According to the Food Chemistry: X article, Shi Da Cha leaf is difficult to wither naturally: long thick stems and about 82% moisture.
* In a 2026 experiment, withered leaf was frozen to combine the preserved “two leaves and a bud” shape with internal quality; of several freezing temperatures, the authors considered −20 °C best for this.
* In the summer leaf experiment, hot-air withering gave, among others, a note the authors call “potato-like.”
* According to a newspaper report, producers and sellers submitted 131 samples to the second district competition in 2024.

**13. Comparison with Neighboring Teas:**

* **Taiping Houkui ([太平猴魁](https://thetea.app/article/taiping-hou-kui), *Tàipíng hóu kuí*):** A green tea of the same district and the same main cultivar, with a protected geographical indication and national standard GB/T 19698-2008. The similarity of names is the main cause of confusion.
* **Qimen Hong Cha ([祁门红茶](https://thetea.app/article/qimen-hongcha), *Qímén hóngchá*):** A black tea of Qimen County, also part of Huangshan City; its name and production area are its own. According to the district announcement, Kuihong processing builds on its primary processing.

**In conclusion:**

Taiping Kuihong is a black tea of Huangshan District, the former Taiping County, made from the same main cultivar Shi Da Cha as green Houkui. A scientific article and district press describe it in part as a way to use summer and autumn leaf that remains largely unused after spring green tea. Within a few years district competitions and, according to industry press reports, an association group standard appeared around it, and two scientific studies of its processing were published in 2026.

Reliably little is known about it: the cultivar, the district, and the general black tea scheme. The processing regimes, the sensory requirements of the standard, and the date of the category’s appearance are not yet confirmed by primary sources. That makes this tea all the more interesting as a pair to its green neighbor: one leaf, one land, and two different technologies.