Tiānhuá gǔjiān

Tiānhuá gǔjiān (天华谷尖) is a green tea from Taihu County (太湖县) of Anqing prefecture-level city in the south-west of Anhui Province, on the southern slopes of Dabieshan. The dry leaf resembles a grain of rice (形似稻谷), and the liquor is emerald green. The tea was created in April 1986 under the guidance of Professor Chen Chuan (陈椽): the historical local tea Nányáng gǔjiān (南阳谷尖) was taken as the basis and given a new name. In December 2015 the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine placed it under protection as a geographical indication product; the protected name is written in a double form, “天华谷尖（南阳谷尖）”. The county has no connection with Lake Taihu in Jiangsu.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá): withering, fixation, drying. The county bureau of culture and tourism (2023) calls it a green tea of the hongqing (烘青) type, that is, dried with hot air.
Category: Recreated famous tea of Anhui (1986); geographical indication product (2015).
Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Anqing prefecture-level city (安庆, Ānqìng), Taihu County (太湖, Tàihú). Its second name is Nanyang Gujian (南阳谷尖, Nányáng gǔjiān).
Protection zone: Ten townships and towns of Taihu County: Tianhua (天华镇), Liufan (刘畈乡), Mituo (弥陀镇), Beizhong (北中镇), Baili (百里乡), Niuzhen (牛镇镇), Tangquan (汤泉乡), Siqian (寺前镇), Jinxi (晋熙镇) and Chengxi (城西乡) — according to a reference article on the product.
Geographic coordinates: Taihu County — about 30.4° N and 116.3° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Before 1986. County sources write that under the Ming and Qing the local “bud tea” (芽茶) was sent as tribute to the Ministry of Finance (户部贡品), and that Nányáng gǔjiān was known in south-western Anhui; they do not cite chronicles.
- 1986. According to county descriptions, in April 1986, under the guidance of the well-known tea specialist Professor Chen Chuan, the historical Nányáng gǔjiān was “excavated”, the tea was made “by a special method” and renamed Tiānhuá gǔjiān. Production, according to the county portal, was restored in 1987.
- December 1986. County leaders brought two jin of the new tea to Beijing for Zhao Puchu (赵朴初) — a native of Taihu who had lived far from his homeland for decades. He replied with the poem “咏天华谷尖茶” (section 12).
- Awards. According to the county portal: in 1987 and 1988 the Anhui Provincial Tea Society recognized the tea as a famous tea of the province; in 1989 the Ministry of Agriculture gave it the title of “excellent famous tea” (部优名茶); in March 2002 the tea received a “green food” certificate, and at the end of 2002 the title of a famous brand of Anhui.
- Local standard. The provincial standard “地理标志产品天华谷尖茶” DB34/T 426-2015 was published on 30 December 2015, came into force on 30 January 2016 and replaced the DB34/T 426-2004 edition.
- December 2015 — protection. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine approved Tiānhuá gǔjiān as a product with a protected geographical indication.
- December 2025. The name appears in announcement No. 660 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on authorizing enterprises to use the special mark.
Name: The county portal interprets it as follows: “tian” (天) is the height of the mountains, “hua” (华) is the best in a thing, “gu” (谷) is the shape of the tea, resembling a grain, and at the same time the Guyu season (谷雨, “grain rain”). “Jian” (尖) means “tip”; the portal does not interpret this character. The name also coincides with the name of Tianhua Town and Tianhua Peak.
Cultural significance: On tea the county builds a brand system of “two green and one red” (两绿一红): Tiānhuá gǔjiān, the green Tianhua Yunwu (天华云雾, formerly “二祖禅茶”) and the red Tianhua Hong (天华红). In an interview with the deputy head of the county, the tea culture is linked to the legend of the second patriarch of Chan, Huike (慧可), who supposedly lived here for more than thirty years and grew tea with the monks. According to a 2023 report, Tiānhuá gǔjiān has been included in the county-level list of intangible cultural heritage.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Variety / Cultivar: The tea bush varieties are not named in the sources consulted. The local standard divides the tea into quality grades (分级), but its text is not available.
Harvest: According to a report by the county bureau of culture and tourism (2023), the tea is picked and made around the Qingming festival (清明); the interpretation of the name also links it to the Guyu season (谷雨). Exact dates are not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest standard: No data in the sources consulted.
Raw material requirements: No data in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Hills and low mountains of south-western Anhui; according to the reference article, spurs of Dabieshan with peaks above 800 m stretch to the north-west of the county seat.
Climate: Northern subtropical monsoon with a clear change of seasons. The reference article gives a mean annual temperature of 16.4 °C, about 1937.7 hours of sunshine a year, a frost-free period of 249 days and 1368.4 mm of precipitation.
Growing altitude: A journalistic text about Zhao Puchu’s poems names Tianhua Peak (天华峰) on the southern slope of Dabieshan, “about a thousand meters” high, as the homeland of the tea, with dense forest, a large difference between day and night temperatures and fog all year round. There is no official altitude figure.
Soils: No data in the sources consulted.
Garden area: The reference article gives 103,000 mu of gardens in the county by the end of 2017; the deputy head of the county, in an interview, gives 136,000 mu and 6030 t of dry tea for 2024. These are figures for all the county’s tea, not for Tiānhuá gǔjiān alone.

5. Production Technology

The reference article paraphrases the technical requirements of the protection. The stage at which the leaf takes the shape of a grain of rice is not described in the texts found.

Withering of the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng): In a cool, ventilated place for 4–6 hours, until the moisture of the leaf falls to about 70%.
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): At 120–140 °C, until the leaf squeezed in the fist begins to form a ball and fall apart, and the color darkens; the edges must not scorch.
Drying (烘焙, hōngbèi) in two stages: The first drying is at 100–120 °C, the final drying at 80–100 °C. About 5% moisture remains in the finished tea.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Dry leaf appearance: Resembles a grain of rice (形似稻谷), emerald green (色泽翠绿).
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Clean (香清) — according to Zhao Puchu’s postscript to the poem; other descriptions say high and long-lasting.
Taste: Fresh, brisk and full (滋味鲜爽、醇厚). The county portal notes that the tea stands up to many infusions.
Liquor color: Emerald green (汤色碧绿).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Even and bright (叶底匀整明亮).

According to a journalistic text about Zhao Puchu’s poems, in the glass the leaves stand upright and sway like blades of grass.

7. Chemical Composition

The protection requirements name one physical and chemical indicator: water extract (水浸出物) — not less than 38%. No other data in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea: no brewing modes for Tiānhuá gǔjiān itself are found in the sources consulted.

Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: Glass tumbler.
Process:
1. Warm the glass, put in the tea, pour the water down the side.
2. The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds; drink, leaving part of the liquor.
3. Top up with water; two or three further infusions.

9. Storage

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

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special mark of a geographical indication product; the double name “天华谷尖（南阳谷尖）” is the official name of the protected product.
- Check that the producer is from the ten townships and towns of Taihu County in Anqing.
- The leaf is shaped like a grain of rice, emerald; the liquor is emerald green.
- Texts that assign the tea to Lu’an, link it with Anhua in Hunan or call it “one of the ten famous teas” are not confirmed by county sources.

11. Interesting Facts

In the poem “咏天华谷尖茶” Zhao Puchu goes through Ceylon tea and Japanese Uji and gives first place to his native tea: “清芬独赏我天华”. In the postscript to the poem (跋) he described the tea in three words: the color emerald, the aroma clean, the taste long (色碧、香清而味永).
A local standard for this tea already existed in 2004 — eleven years before the state protection of the name.

12. Comparison with Other Anhui Teas

Tianzhu Jian Hao (天柱剑毫): A green tea of Tianzhu Mountain in neighboring Qianshan; its leaf is flat and “sword-shaped”, while that of Tiānhuá gǔjiān is grain-shaped.
Yuexi Cui Lan (岳西翠兰): A green tea of Yuexi County in the heart of Dabieshan, also a new famous tea of the 1980s.
Lu’an Gua Pian (六安瓜片): The famous green tea of neighboring Lu’an prefecture; some texts wrongly assign Tiānhuá gǔjiān to Lu’an.

In Conclusion:

Tiānhuá gǔjiān is a green tea of Taihu County, recreated in 1986 from the historical Nányáng gǔjiān: a leaf shaped like a grain of rice, an emerald liquor, a fresh and full taste. Behind it stand a provincial standard since 2004, state protection since 2015 and the poems of Zhao Puchu, a native of the county, who gave it first place over the teas of Ceylon and Uji.