Tōngchéng háolǜ (通城毫绿) is a green tea of Tongcheng County (通城县), Xianning prefecture-level city, in the southeast of Hubei Province, at the junction of Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi. The name means “downy green from Tongcheng”. According to the description of the county wild tea institute, this is the popular name of the local green tea of the máojiān type, which began to be made in quantity and was given its name in the 1960s. The raw material is a bud with one or two leaves, picked before the Guyu festival; the tea is dried in a mixed way — by pan-firing and by hot air — and shaped into straight twists: tight, densely downy, green. Since 2021 the name has been protected by a geographical indication certification mark.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), semi-pan-fired, semi-baked (半炒半烘, bàn chǎo bàn hōng), straight twisted (条形, tiáoxíng). The class is named both by the Xianning government (2021) and by the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration (2019).
- Category: County green tea; geographical indication certification mark (证明商标, zhèngmíng shāngbiāo).
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Xianning prefecture-level city (咸宁, Xiánníng), Tongcheng County (通城, Tōngchéng).
- Zone: The provincial register gives Tongcheng County as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder; I have not checked the legal boundary of the zone.
- Mark: Geographical indication certification mark No. 33153879; according to the 2025 bulletin of the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration, it is valid until 20 June 2031. The holder is not directly named in the documents found. The mark is promoted by the Tongcheng County Wild Tea Scientific Research Institute (通城县野生茶科学研究所): its head spoke about the tea at the time of registration, and in 2023 the institute announced a competition for an advertising slogan for the mark.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- The Song chronicle. In its 2023 announcement the wild tea institute writes that tea has been planted in Tongcheng for more than a thousand years, and cites the county chronicle (《通城县志》): at the beginning of the reign of the Song emperor Zhenzong the tea tax was so heavy that the county magistrate Zhang Yong (张詠) ordered the tea to be uprooted and mulberry planted instead; by the end of the Ming the gardens began to recover, and under the Qing the tea business revived.
- 1960s. According to the same announcement, “通城毫绿” is the popular name of the local green tea of the máojiān type (毛尖, máojiān); it began to be made in quantity and was given its name in the 1960s.
- 1980. The county tried out free production and sale of tea by the farms themselves. An article in Hubei Ribao under the headline “一场茶叶风波” (“the tea commotion”) caused, according to the institute, a strong response throughout the country, and the county’s experience proved useful for the reform of the tea marketing system.
- 1980s. According to the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration (2019), the appearance of the tea took its final shape in the 1980s.
- 1988–1994. In 1988 the tea was recognized as a quality product of Hubei Province. In 1991 the county became one of ten provincial counties that were projects for the development of famous teas, and the Main Station for Agricultural Technology Extension of the Ministry of Agriculture included Tōngchéng háolǜ among the seven model sites for famous teas in Hubei. In 1993 the provincial government named Tongcheng one of three major tea counties. In 1994, according to the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration, the tea won first prize at the “Lu Yu Cup” (陆羽杯) famous tea competition.
- 2021. The mark was registered. Xianning Ribao reported on 28 July that the CNIPA Trademark Office had granted it on 22 July and that the county now had four geographical indication certification marks. The county was then planning to refine the rules for using the mark.
- 2023. The wild tea institute announced an open competition for an advertising slogan: the four characters of the name were not to be split up, because it is a registered mark.
- 2025. The Hubei Intellectual Property Administration, in the 47th list of users of the special mark (27 May), authorized the “Baizhangtan” (百丈潭) tea cooperative to use it and updated the entry of the tea company of the same name; both were granted the right until 20 June 2031.
- Name: “Tōngchéng” (通城) is the name of the county; “háo” (毫) is the down on the bud; “lǜ” (绿) means green. For short the tea is called “毫绿”.
- Cultural significance: The Hubei Intellectual Property Administration (2019) calls Tōngchéng háolǜ a traditional famous tea of the county and its main tea product.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: No varieties are named in the sources consulted.
- Raw material: Strong new shoots — a bud with one leaf or a bud with two leaves.
- Harvest time: Every year before the Guyu festival (谷雨, Gǔyǔ), around 20 April.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The southeastern edge of Hubei, the junction of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, the northern foot of the Mufu Mountains (幕阜山, Mùfù shān). According to the description of the wild tea institute, the county is surrounded by mountains on the east, west and south, while to the north the terrain is flatter; the relief is hilly.
- Climate: According to the same description — plenty of sun and rain, the climate of a mountain basin.
- Ecology: The county, according to the same description, is a national model area of ecological civilization.
- Altitude and soils: No data in the sources consulted.
- Scale: Data on the area of the gardens and on output are not found in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
The sources name the raw material — a bud with one or two leaves before Guyu — and the type of drying: mixed, “semi-pan-fired, semi-baked” (半炒半烘). Part of the moisture leaves during pan-firing in a wok (炒, chǎo), part during drying with hot air (烘, hōng). Parameters are not found in the sources consulted.
The general scheme for such a green tea:
- Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng): The leaf gives up part of its moisture.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heating stops oxidation.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): The leaf takes the shape of a straight twist.
- Drying (干燥, gānzào): Partly in the wok, partly with hot air.
This is a general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of Tōngchéng háolǜ.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
There is no normative description in the sources consulted. There is a short formula for the appearance, repeated by the Xianning government (2021) and the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration (2019).
- Dry leaf appearance: Tight twists, much down, green color (条索紧、披毫多、色泽绿).
- Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions are found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Clean (香清) — according to the formula of the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration; it does not separate the aroma of the leaf from that of the liquor.
- Taste: Mellow, full (味醇).
- Liquor color: No descriptions are found in the sources consulted.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions are found in the sources consulted.
The same formula adds that the tea stands up to several infusions (耐冲泡).
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Two or three repeat 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
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication certification mark No. 33153879.
- Check that the producer is from Tongcheng County and appears in the lists of users of the special mark published by the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration.
- The leaf — tight, straight green twists with abundant down.
11. Interesting Facts
- According to the county chronicle, at the beginning of the Song the tea in Tongcheng was uprooted because of the tax — now the county’s tea industry rests on it.
- The name appeared in the 1960s, the appearance took shape in the 1980s, and the name has been protected by a mark only since 2021 — six decades later.
12. Comparison with Other Green Teas
- Songfeng Lü Cha (松峰绿茶): A green tea of Chibi, a county-level city of the same Xianning prefecture-level city.
- Chongyang Baicha (崇阳白茶): A tea of neighboring Chongyang County; its class has not been established by a document, and the descriptions correspond to a green tea from a pale-leaf variety.
- Xinyang Maojian (信阳毛尖): A straight twisted green tea of Henan — the same máojiān type.
- Enshi Yulu (恩施玉露): A Hubei green tea with steam fixation — for contrast.
In Conclusion:
Tōngchéng háolǜ is a downy straight green tea from the corner of three provinces at the foot of the Mufu Mountains. Its appearance is described by a short formula: tight twists, much down, green color, clean aroma and mellow taste; the tea stands up to several infusions. The history of the county is long — from the Song order to uproot the tea to the “tea commotion” of 1980 — and the name, given in the 1960s, has been protected by a mark since 2021.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page