---
title: "Téngchōng hóngchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/tengchong-hongcha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Téngchōng hóngchá (腾冲红茶)

*Téngchōng hóngchá* (腾冲红茶) is a red tea of the county-level city of Tengchong (腾冲市) in the prefecture-level city of Baoshan in western Yunnan Province, on the border with Myanmar. The name is one of five geographical indication certification marks that Tengchong, according to local authorities, registered in 2016 for five classes of tea. The mark's description names four products: gongfu and broken red tea, each made from large-leaf and from medium- and small-leaf varieties. The application for the mark was filed by the county tea association.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*). The class is stated in the name, which stands in a series of five marks by class — 绿茶, 红茶, 乌龙茶, 黑茶, 白茶 — and is confirmed by the mark's description: all four products in it are red.
* **Category:** Yunnan red tea; a geographical indication certification mark from the “腾冲茶” series.
* **Products of the mark:** Gongfu (工夫红茶, *gōngfu hóngchá*) and broken red tea (红碎茶, *hóngsuìchá*), each from large-leaf and from medium- and small-leaf varieties. The national standards GB/T 13738.2-2017 (gongfu) and GB/T 13738.1 (broken) divide red tea in the same way.
* **Origin:** China, Yunnan Province (云南, *Yúnnán*), Baoshan prefecture-level city (保山, *Bǎoshān*), Tengchong county-level city (腾冲, *Téngchōng*).
* **Mark zone:** According to the consolidated geographical indication database “地理标志特产大全”, the whole present administrative territory of Tengchong County (腾冲县现辖行政区域). The applicant, according to the Yunnan intellectual property platform, is the Tengchong County Tea Association (腾冲县茶叶协会). I did not find the mark's rules.
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 25.0° N and 98.5° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Beginnings.** According to a 2014 county publication, tea has been planted in Tengchong since the Hongwu (洪武) years of the Ming (明) dynasty. When red tea in particular began to be made here, the sources consulted do not say.
    * **1912–1921.** According to a publication on the Tengchong government website (2021), Feng Zhenguo (封镇国), who from 1912 served as an inspector in Xiaomengtong (小猛统), next to tea-growing Mengku (勐库), bought more than 12,000 jin of Mengku tea seeds and planted them on his own slopes near his home village of Cuanlong (窜龙村). He died in 1921. The 2014 county publication dates the introduction of the seeds to the 1920s.
    * **1941–1942.** According to the same 2021 publication, at the beginning of 1941, at the invitation of Li Genyuan (李根源) and Feng Weide (封维德), Feng Zhenguo's son, the tea specialist Lu Ying (陆溁) came to the county; on January 30 tea-growing courses opened, and more than a hundred students enrolled. In the preface to Feng Weide's manual, Lu Ying wrote that the county could make tens of thousands of dan of export tea a year and ship it out via Rangoon; what kind of tea this was to be, the text does not specify. In May 1942 Tengchong was occupied by Japanese troops, and the courses were disbanded.
    * **1986.** In March a county tea bureau was established; in 2019 it became part of the agriculture bureau (according to a reply from the bureau, 2024).
    * **2015–2016.** According to the county tea bureau, in 2015 the Tengchong Tea Association applied for five marks by tea class; according to the government, the marks were registered in 2016, among them 腾冲红茶.
    * **2019.** The mark is in Yunnan's provincial list of geographical marks as of December 28, 2019 (row 64).
    * **2024.** The agriculture bureau reported five geographical indication certification marks for tea in the county.
* **Name:** 腾冲 (*Téngchōng*) is the name of the county-level city, formerly Tengyue (腾越); 红茶 (*hóngchá*) is red tea.
* **Cultural significance:** The county develops “腾冲茶” as one of its six industry clusters. According to a reply from the city agriculture bureau (2024), at the 2023 competitions red tea was judged among six categories — together with green tea, pu-erh, oolong, white tea and the local “moguocha” (磨锅茶, *móguōchá*).

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The mark's description names only groups — large-leaf and medium- and small-leaf varieties. According to the agriculture bureau, in 2023 the county had more than 50,000 mu of the 云南群体大[叶种](https://thetea.app/article/qiaomuguanmu) (*Yúnnán qúntǐ dàyèzhǒng*) population, 64,000 mu of the clonal cultivar 云抗10号 (*Yúnkàng shí hào*) and 47,000 mu of old tea tree communities (1 mu is about 667 m²). Which of these goes into red tea the source does not say.
* **Raw material:** The tips and the abundance of buds in the mark's description point to tender raw material; I did not find a harvest standard.
* **Harvest time:** No data were found in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Western Yunnan, near the Gaoligongshan range (高黎贡山). According to the Tengchong government, the county's area is 5,845 km², and its border with Myanmar is 150 km long.
* **Climate and soils:** Tengchong is known for its volcanoes. According to the 2014 county publication, the climate here is tropical monsoon, the mean annual temperature is 14.9 °C, precipitation is 1400–1700 mm a year, and tea grows on volcanic lava plateaus, on fertile volcanic ash soils. This is a description of the county, not the mark's requirements.
* **Growing altitude:** No data for the mark zone. According to the 2014 county publication, altitudes in Tengchong range from 930 to 3780 m.
* **Area:** According to county publications of 2014 and 2017, Tengchong has about 150,000 mu of tea gardens.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology of this tea and its parameters were not found in the sources consulted. Gongfu red tea is usually made as follows:

1.  **Withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*).**
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*):** The leaf turns red.
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**

After withering, broken tea is rolled and cut (揉切, *róuqiē*) into small particles. This is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of *Téngchōng hóngchá*.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The profile follows the mark's description in the consolidated geographical indication database.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Large-leaf gongfu — thick, tight strands with many sharp tips (条索肥壮紧结多锋苗), even, black-brown, oily, with golden tips showing (金毫显露). Medium- and small-leaf — thin, tight strands, black and oily. Broken — tight, even granules.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** For large-leaf gongfu — dense and sweet (甜香浓郁), for medium- and small-leaf — fresh, tender, sweet (鲜嫩甜香). For broken — high and lasting.
* **Taste:** Large-leaf gongfu — fresh, rich, mellow and full (鲜浓醇厚); medium- and small-leaf — mellow, full, with a sweet freshness (醇厚甘爽). Broken — strong, fresh and brisk (浓强鲜爽).
* **Liquor color:** Bright red (红艳) for large-leaf gongfu, red and clear (红明亮) for medium- and small-leaf, bright red or red and bright (红亮) for broken.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** For large-leaf gongfu — fleshy, tender, with many buds, evenly red and bright (肥嫩多芽红匀明亮); for medium- and small-leaf — thin and tender; for broken — tender, even, red.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No physicochemical data for this mark were found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Standard practice for red tea as a class.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** Gaiwan or porcelain teapot.
* **Process:** Warm the teaware; the first infusion of gongfu is about a minute, then longer with each infusion, four to six infusions. Broken tea gives up its flavor faster: one or two infusions of two to three minutes each.

**10. Storage:**

Standard practice for the class. In tight packaging, in a dry, dark place at room temperature, away from odors.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data were found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication certification mark “腾冲红茶”; according to the consolidated geographical indication database, its number is 17175217.
    * Check that the producer is from Tengchong.
    * Do not confuse the mark with the four neighboring marks of the series or with the separate Changning Hongcha mark of Changning County in the same prefecture.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* According to a 2014 county program, companies were invited to release red tea, green tea and pu-erh under the common brand “高黎贡山”, and oolong under the brand “极边”.
* Under the PRC Trademark Law, the registration of a mark is valid for 10 years and can be renewed; for the 2016 marks the term runs out in 2026. Whether they have been renewed, I have not checked.

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

* **Dianhong ([滇红](https://thetea.app/article/dianhong)):** The general name of Yunnan red tea.
* **Dianhong Gongfu ([滇红工夫](https://thetea.app/article/dianhong-gongfu)):** Yunnan large-leaf gongfu — the closest relative of the mark's first product.
* **Changning Hongcha ([昌宁红茶](https://thetea.app/article/changning-hongcha)):** Red tea with a mark from Changning County in the same Baoshan prefecture.
* **Nanjian Wuliangshan Hongcha ([南涧无量山红茶](https://thetea.app/article/nanjian-wuliangshan-hongcha)):** Red tea with a mark from Nanjian County in Dali prefecture.
* **Tengchong Baicha ([腾冲白茶](https://thetea.app/article/tengchong-baicha)):** A neighboring mark of the same series — white tea.

**In Conclusion:**

*Téngchōng hóngchá* is a red tea from the volcanic land near the Gaoligongshan range. The mark covers both whole-leaf gongfu and broken tea, from large-leaf and from medium- and small-leaf varieties, and promises a sweet aroma, a rich taste and a bright red liquor. Behind it stand the Mengku seeds that Feng Zhenguo planted near the village of Cuanlong, and the 1941 courses at which Lu Ying taught the people of Tengchong to grow tea; the sources consulted name neither the mark's rules nor the technology.