---
title: "Téngchōng lǜchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/tengchong-lucha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Téngchōng lǜchá (腾冲绿茶)

*Téngchōng lǜchá* (腾冲绿茶) is a green 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.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). 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 its products are green.
* **Category:** Yunnan green tea; a geographical indication certification mark from the “腾冲茶” series.
* **Products of the mark:** Pan-fired (炒青, *chǎoqīng*), hot-air-dried (烘青, *hōngqīng*) and sun-dried ([晒青](https://thetea.app/article/shai-qing), *shàiqīng*) green tea, each in two forms — unrefined tea (毛茶, *máochá*) and refined tea (精制茶, *jīngzhìchá*). The same division existed in the national standard for large-leaf green tea GB/T 14456.2-2008; the 2018 edition, according to its foreword, abandoned it.
* **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). I did not find the mark's rules; the application for all five marks of the series, according to the county tea bureau, was filed by the Tengchong Tea Association.
* **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.
    * **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 near his home village of Cuanlong (窜龙村), and later distributed seeds across the townships together with planting instructions. The publication calls him the pioneer of garden tea growing in the valley of the Longchuan River (龙川江). The 2014 county publication dates the introduction of the seeds to the 1920s.
    * **1941–1942.** According to the same 2021 publication, on January 30, 1941, tea-growing courses opened in the county, and more than a hundred students enrolled; among the teachers was the invited tea specialist Lu Ying (陆溁). Feng Zhenguo's son, Feng Weide (封维德), brought together the experience of two generations in the manual *Zhong Cha Qian Shuo* (《种茶浅说》) — “A Brief Account of Growing Tea”; Lu Ying reviewed it and wrote a preface. In May 1942 Tengchong was occupied by Japanese troops, and the courses were disbanded.
    * **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 腾冲绿茶.
    * **2019.** The mark is in Yunnan's provincial list of geographical marks as of December 28, 2019 (row 66).
    * **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); 绿茶 (*lǜchá*) is green tea.
* **Moguocha.** Moguocha (磨锅茶, *móguōchá*) is a local Tengchong tea. According to a reply from the city agriculture bureau (2024), at the 2023 competitions *móguōchá* was judged as a category separate from green tea, and the industry development plan for 2023–2025 sets the task of a single “磨锅茶” brand with an emphasis on protecting the geographical indication. According to an essay on the Tengchong government website (2025), in Puchuan Township (蒲川) the *móguōchá* trademark was registered in 1994, and since then many people there have made it. Which class *móguōchá* belongs to and how it relates to the “腾冲绿茶” mark, the sources do not say.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** Not named in the mark's description. 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). For 2024 the agriculture bureau recommended two tea cultivars — [紫娟](https://thetea.app/article/ziya-zijuan-puer) (*Zǐjuān*) and 佛香3号 (*Fóxiāng sān hào*). Which of these goes into green tea the sources do not say.
* **Raw material:** Refined pan-fired tea, according to the mark's description, consists of single buds, that is, the most tender raw material. In unrefined tea “tender stems occur”. 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 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.

**5. Production Technology:**

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

1.  **Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, *tānfàng*).**
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Heat stops oxidation.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*):** In a pan — pan-fired tea, with hot air — *hōngqīng*, in the sun — *shàiqīng*.

Unrefined tea is then sorted and finished into refined tea. This is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of *Téngchōng lǜchá*.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The profile follows the mark's description in the consolidated geographical indication database; below are the essentials of its six descriptions.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Pan-fired unrefined — tight, heavy, with sharp tips, grey-green and fresh (灰绿鲜润); pan-fired refined — single straight buds, entirely covered with silvery down (单芽紧直…银毫满坡). *Hōngqīng* — fleshy, with tips, green and oily, downy. *Shàiqīng* — fleshy, dark green; in the refined form the down is “especially abundant” (白毫特多).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions were found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Clean, high and lasting (清高持久) for pan-fired unrefined, a lasting aroma of tender leaf (嫩香持久) for refined, a dense aroma of tender leaf for *hōngqīng*, clean (清香) for *shàiqīng*.
* **Taste:** Rich, fresh and brisk (浓鲜爽) for pan-fired, fresh, brisk and mellow (鲜爽浓醇) for *hōngqīng*, rich and mellow (浓醇) or mellow and full (醇厚爽口) for *shàiqīng*.
* **Liquor color:** Yellow-green and clear (黄绿明亮) for almost all kinds; for refined pan-fired — green and bright (绿亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Fleshy, tender and soft, yellow-green and bright; for refined pan-fired — tender green; for *shàiqīng* — with buds. The database's description of sun-dried unrefined tea contains two obvious typos; the meaning has been restored from the neighboring descriptions.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No physicochemical data 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 green tea as a class.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** Glass tumbler or white gaiwan.
* **Process:** Warm the teaware, pour the water down the side; the first infusion is ready after 40–60 seconds; drink, leaving part of the liquor, and top up with water; two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

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

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data were found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication certification mark “腾冲绿茶”; according to the consolidated geographical indication database, its number is 17175323.
    * Check that the producer is from Tengchong.
    * Do not confuse the mark with the four neighboring marks of the series: each class has its own.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* According to the 2014 county publication, a census counted 115 local tea plant resources in Tengchong, and specialists called the county a “treasury of varieties”.
* One of Tengchong's companies is among the drafters of the national standard for large-leaf green tea GB/T 14456.2-2018.
* According to an essay on the Tengchong government website (2025), in Puchuan Township people drink “thunder tea” (雷响茶) by the hearth; how it is prepared, the essay does not describe.

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

* **Yunnan Lücha ([云南绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/yunnan-lucha)):** An overview of Yunnan green tea of all three drying methods.
* **Huilong Lücha ([回龙绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/huilong-lucha)):** Green tea of neighboring Lianghe County in Dehong prefecture.
* **Dehong Gushu Lücha ([德宏古树绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/dehong-gushu-lucha)):** Green tea from old trees of neighboring Dehong prefecture.
* **Nanjian Lücha ([南涧绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/nanjian-lucha)):** Green tea with a mark from Nanjian County in Dali prefecture.
* **Tengchong Hongcha ([腾冲红茶](https://thetea.app/article/tengchong-hongcha)):** A neighboring mark of the same series — red tea.

**In Conclusion:**

*Téngchōng lǜchá* is a green tea from the volcanic land near the Gaoligongshan range. The 2016 mark covers all three drying methods, from unrefined tea to buds in silvery down, with a yellow-green liquor and a fresh, rich taste. The sources consulted name neither the mark's rules nor the technology, and how the local *móguōchá* relates to the mark remains an open question.