---
title: "Táojiāng zhúyè"
url: https://thetea.app/article/taojiang-zhuye
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Táojiāng zhúyè (桃江竹叶)

*Táojiāng zhúyè* (桃江[竹叶](https://thetea.app/article/zhuye)) is a flat green tea from Taojiang County (桃江县) of Yiyang prefecture-level city, Hunan Province. The word *zhúyè* (竹叶) means “bamboo leaf”: the tea is named for its shape — narrow, flat and smooth. The protection document also compares the shape to a sword, the color to “black jade”, and in the aroma it names a rich chestnut note. According to the protection document, the leaf is picked only before the Qingming festival, that is, before the beginning of April. In 2025 the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized the name as a geographical indication product.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*), unfermented. The class is not stated in the name: “bamboo leaf” describes the shape, not the processing. The class is determined by the technology in the protection document — spreading, fixation by heat in a wok, shaping of a flat leaf, final drying and — in two of the three schemes — polishing in the wok (辉锅, *huīguō*), without withering for oxidation and without sweltering. A reference article about the tea, reprinted on a tea website, directly calls it a flat green tea (扁形烘炒绿茶).
* **Category:** Flat (扁形, *biǎnxíng*) green tea; geographical indication product (CNIPA, 2025); agricultural product geographical indication of the Ministry of Agriculture (number AGI03212).
* **Origin:** China, Hunan Province (湖南, *Húnán*), Yiyang prefecture-level city (益阳, *Yìyáng*), Taojiang County (桃江, *Táojiāng*).
* **Protection zone:** According to the protection document — 15 towns and townships of Taojiang County: Taohuajiang ([桃花](https://thetea.app/article/taohua)江), Fuqiushan Township (浮邱山), Gaoqiao Township (高桥), Zhanxi (沾溪), Xiushan (修山), Santangjie (三堂街), Lucidu (鸬鹚渡), Daligang (大栗港), Zhabu Hui Ethnic Township (鲊埠回族乡), Wutan (武潭), Majitang (马迹塘), Shiniujiang (石牛江), Niutian (牛田), Songmutang (松木塘) and Huishangang (灰山港).
* **Geographic coordinates:** 111°35′59″–112°18′52″ E, 28°12′48″–28°40′52″ N.
* **Applicant:** Taojiang County Tea Association (桃江县茶业协会).

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:** I have not found a primary source on when the tea appeared. A reference article on a tea website dates its creation to 1985; this date has not been checked against documents. What could be checked against documents is the history of protection:
    * **Agricultural indication.** The number in the Ministry of Agriculture register is AGI03212; I have not checked the date of entry against the primary source.
    * **2024.** In the Hunan provincial reference the name “桃江竹叶” appears neither among collective and certification marks nor among geographical indication products. Among the marks, however, is “[桃江绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/taojiang-lucha)” — “Taojiang green tea”; how these two names relate is not stated in the sources consulted.
    * **2025.** By CNIPA announcement No. 640 (signed on July 16, published on August 13) “桃江竹叶” was recognized as a geographical indication product; in the appendix it is item 985.
* **Name:** *Táojiāng* (桃江), “Peach River”, is the name of the county; the central town of the zone is called Taohuajiang (桃花江) — “River of Peach Blossom”. The word *zhúyè* (竹叶) means “bamboo leaf”. The reference article describes the leaf as “flat and slender, like a young bamboo leaf” (扁平挺秀似新嫩竹叶).
* **Cultural significance:** No data in the sources consulted.

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

* **Varieties / Cultivars:** The protection document names three: *Bìxiāngzǎo* (碧湘早), *Zhūyèqí* (槠叶齐) and *Huángjīnchá* (黄金茶). The first is written as 碧湘早; in the document of the same announcement for Changsha Lücha the similar name 碧香早 appears — whether this is the same entry, the document does not explain.
* **Propagation:** Vegetative (无性繁殖) — according to the protection document.
* **Harvest:** According to the protection document — every year before the Qingming festival (清明). The reference article gives a different period, from Qingming to Guyu (谷雨), and different raw material — a bud with two barely opened leaves (一芽二叶初展); what explains the discrepancy is not stated in the sources.
* **Harvest standard:** For the special grade (特级) — a single bud or a bud with one barely opened leaf (一芽一叶初展); for the first grade — mainly a bud with one opened leaf (一芽一叶开展).

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Taojiang County, Yiyang prefecture.
* **Garden site:** According to the protection document — mountain plots, dry land or well-drained fields with a slope of less than 25°, with groundwater deeper than 1 m and natural water runoff.
* **Soils:** Loams on the weathering products of slate and shale (板页岩) and granite; pH 4.0–6.5; soil layer not less than 60 cm; the document calls them rich in mineral elements but gives no figures.
* **Altitude and climate:** No data in the sources consulted.
* **Planting and care:** Planting runs from November to the end of February, 60,000–75,000 plants per hectare. Two to four times a year — shallow loosening; before top-dressing — weeding between the rows no deeper than 10 cm. In early to mid-October — deep plowing to more than 15 cm with the basal fertilizer: nitrogen together with phosphorus, potassium and trace elements, and once every two or three years calcium magnesium phosphate.

**5. Production Technology:**

The protection document allows three methods. The stages below are from the document, but it gives no temperatures or times.

1.  **Entirely by hand** — the method intended for the raw material of the two special grades (特一级 and 特二级): spreading (摊青, *tānqīng*) → fixation with shaping (杀青做形, *shāqīng zuòxíng*) → first drying with shape trimming (初干整形, *chūgān zhěngxíng*) → final drying with shape setting (足干固形, *zúgān gùxíng*).
2.  **By machine with hand polishing:** spreading → machine fixation → second firing with shaping (杀二青做形, *shā èrqīng zuòxíng*) → hand final drying and polishing in the wok (手工辉锅, *shǒugōng huīguō*).
3.  **Entirely by machine:** spreading → machine pan-firing in the wok (机械炒青锅) → machine polishing (机械辉锅).

In the first two schemes shaping is named directly in the names of the stages — “fixation with shaping”, “first drying with shape trimming”, “final drying with shape setting”, “second firing with shaping”; the second and third schemes end with polishing in the wok. How exactly the leaf is shaped, the document does not describe.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The protection document gives one general description, without division by grade.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Flat, smooth, sword-like (扁平光滑似剑); the color green, “like black jade” (色绿似墨玉).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description in the document.
* **Liquor aroma:** Rich chestnut (栗香浓郁).
* **Taste:** Fresh and mellow (鲜醇).
* **Liquor color:** Yellow-green, clear and bright (黄绿清澈明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Tender green and bright (嫩绿明亮).

The reference article describes the appearance differently: the color emerald green, the down noticeable, the chestnut aroma lasting, the taste mellow and brisk with a sweet return, the spent leaves fleshy, yellow and bright. The chestnut note and the clear yellow-green liquor coincide; the color of the dry leaf — “black jade” in the document and “emerald” in the reference — differs.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The protection document contains no physicochemical requirements; other 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 flat green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the tumbler.
    2. Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    5. Top up with water.
    6. Two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and foreign odors. Best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the special geographical indication mark.
    * Check that the producer is from Taojiang County.
    * The leaf is flat, smooth, dark green; the aroma is chestnut; the liquor is yellow-green and clear.
    * Do not confuse it with Emei Zhuyeqing from Sichuan: “bamboo leaf” is in both names, but these are different teas from different provinces.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The name compares the leaf to a bamboo leaf, and the protection document also to a sword.
* The document describes the color of the leaf through “black jade” (墨玉), a dark stone.
* One of the fifteen units of the zone is an ethnic township of the Hui people.
* One CNIPA announcement lists two Hunan green teas with different harvest periods: *Táojiāng zhúyè* is picked only before Qingming, Changsha Lücha from March to September.

**13. Comparison with Other Flat and Hunan Green Teas:**

* **Emei Zhuyeqing ([峨眉竹叶青](https://thetea.app/article/emei-zhuyeqing)):** A flat green tea of Mount Emei in Sichuan; they share “bamboo leaf” in the name, but the products are different.
* **Xi Hu Longjing ([西湖龙井](https://thetea.app/article/xihu-longjing)):** A flat green tea of Hangzhou; in the corpus, polishing in the wok (辉锅) is described for it as the finishing firing that makes the leaf smooth and glossy. Two of the three schemes in the document for *Táojiāng zhúyè* also end with polishing in the wok.
* **Anhua Songzhen ([安化松针](https://thetea.app/article/anhua-song-zhen)):** A green tea of neighboring Anhua County in the same Yiyang prefecture — but in the shape of a “pine needle”, not a flat leaf.
* **Changsha Lücha ([长沙绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/changsha-lucha)):** A Hunan green tea from the same CNIPA announcement, in thin curved strands.

**In Conclusion:**

*Táojiāng zhúyè* is a flat green tea of Taojiang County, worked in the wok to the smoothness of a “bamboo leaf”. The protection document describes it sparingly but precisely: a spring harvest before Qingming, three permitted schemes of processing in the wok, a leaf the color of dark jade, a rich chestnut aroma, a fresh mellow taste and a clear yellow-green liquor. Documents do not cover the history of the tea before protection; the reference article dates its appearance to 1985.