Wénxiàn lǜchá (文县绿茶) is a green tea of Wen County (文县) of Longnan prefecture-level city in the south of Gansu Province, in the only tea-growing corner of this northwestern province. According to the county newspaper, the gardens lie in the mountains at 600–1560 m along the edge of the Baishuijiang nature reserve, among clouds and mists. The protection requirements recognize two forms: flat — emerald, with a clean, high aroma — and curled. The name is protected twice: as a geographical indication product since 2013 and as a geographical indication certification mark since 2024 — the county’s first such mark.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is stated in the name; the protection requirements describe green-tea processing.
- Category: County mountain green tea of southern Gansu; geographical indication product (2013) and geographical indication certification mark (2024).
- Origin: China, Gansu Province (甘肃, Gānsù), Longnan prefecture-level city (陇南, Lǒngnán), Wen County (文县, Wénxiàn).
- Geographical indication product zone: According to the 2013 announcement — four units of the county: Bikou Town (碧口镇) and the townships of Zhongmiao (中庙乡), Fanba (范坝乡) and Liujiaping (刘家坪乡).
- Certification mark zone: According to the report on the preliminary approval (January 2024) — three towns and two townships: Bikou (碧口镇), Zhongmiao (中庙镇), Fanba (范坝镇), Yulei (玉垒乡) and Liujiaping (刘家坪乡). The mark zone is wider by Yulei Township; in it Zhongmiao and Fanba are already towns, not townships.
- Geographic coordinates: According to the same report — 104°16′–105°27′ E, 32°35′–33°20′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- 2013. By General Administration of Quality Supervision (质检总局) announcement No. 128 of 24 September, Wénxiàn lǜchá was placed under protection as a geographical indication product, with quality requirements attached.
- 2023. According to China News Service, Bikou Town reported that it had completed geographical indication, organic and “green” certification for “文县绿茶”.
- 2024. In January the application for the geographical indication certification mark passed preliminary approval: issue 1871 of the Trademark Gazette, the applicant being the county tea industry development center (文县茶叶产业开发服务中心). On 8 May, according to Longnan Ribao, the trademark website of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced the registration. A reference source gives the mark number as 68117279; I have not checked it against the register.
- 2025. By CNIPA announcement No. 642, an enterprise was approved to use the special geographical indication mark for the product “文县绿茶”.
- Name: “Wénxiàn” (文县) means “Wen County”, the name of the county; “lǜchá” (绿茶) means green tea.
- Cultural significance: According to China News Service, Longnan is the only area of Gansu lying entirely in the Yangtze basin (“陇上江南” — “Jiangnan in the land of Long”); Wen County, Kang County and Wudu District are the only place in the province where tea is produced. According to Longnan Ribao (2024), in the county’s main tea-growing areas tea provides more than 75% of farmers’ income.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: The 2013 protection requirements name the clonal varieties Yingshuang (迎霜, Yíngshuāng) and Fuding Dabaicha (福鼎大白茶, Fúdǐng dàbáichá) and the seed-propagated Xinyang (信阳种), Jiukeng (鸠坑种), Yixing (宜兴种) and others. According to China News Service (2023), in Bikou the gardens were renewed, and Longjing 43 (龙井43号), Zhongcha 108 (中茶108), Huangjin Ya (黄金芽), Wuniu Zao (乌牛早), Longjing Changye (龙井长叶) and Zhonghuang 1 (中黄1号) were brought in from Zhejiang and other places.
- Harvest: According to the same report, in Longnan picking takes place around the Qingming festival (清明, qīngmíng), in early April, and processing begins the same day.
- Harvest standard: According to the requirements, for flat tea the top grade is single buds of 1.5–2 cm picked before Qingming, the first grade a bud with one leaf around Qingming, the second a bud with one or two leaves before Guyu (谷雨, gǔyǔ). For curled tea — from a bud with one or two leaves to a bud with three. Picking is by hand, without stripping by the handful.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: According to a reference source, Wen County lies at the northern limit of tea growing in China, in the Jiangbei tea region (江北茶区, Jiāngběi cháqū) north of the Yangtze. Bikou stands on the Bailongjiang River (白龙江).
- Growing altitude: The protection requirements — 600–1600 m. According to Longnan Ribao (2024), the gardens lie at 600–1560 m, in the mountains along the edge of the Baishuijiang nature reserve (白水江自然保护区).
- Climate: According to the same newspaper — clouds and mists, much diffused light; it calls the local tea a typical “high-mountain cloud and mist tea” (高山云雾茶).
- Soils: According to the requirements — yellow-brown soils (黄棕壤), pH 4.5–5.5, organic matter not less than 1%.
- Scale: According to the newspaper, the county has 102,000 mu of land suitable for tea, 100,000 mu of plantings and 70,000 mu of bearing gardens; the expected output is more than 600 t a year, the output value 250 million yuan. This is all the tea of the county, not only the product under the mark.
5. Production Technology
The 2013 protection requirements give two schemes:
- Flat tea: sorting of the fresh leaf → spreading (摊青, tānqīng) → fixation (杀青, shāqīng) → straightening (理条, lǐtiáo) → flattening (压扁, yābiǎn) → drying.
- Curled tea: sorting → spreading → fixation → rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn) → breaking up lumps (解块, jiěkuài) → straightening → shaping → drying → “raising the aroma” (提香, tíxiāng).
Parameters from the requirements: spreading for 6–8 hours in a layer no thicker than 5 cm, moisture loss 15–20%. Fixation — first on high heat, then lower; tender leaf is fixed more thoroughly, coarse leaf more lightly (嫩叶老杀，老叶嫩杀). Flat tea is dried in a pan at 70–80 °C. Tender leaf is rolled lightly after cooling, coarse leaf for longer while still warm.
China News Service (2023) lists the local steps differently: spreading, fixation, “return of moisture” (回潮), sifting, removal of the down and a final firing in the pan (辉锅). Among the products of Bikou the agency names flat “longjing”, “高原扁” — “high-mountain flat” — and red tea.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
Below are the 2013 protection requirements; their wording is in parentheses.
- Dry leaf appearance: Flat — flat and straight, emerald green, oily and lustrous (外形扁平挺直，色泽翠绿油润). Curled — thin, tight, curled strands, from emerald to dark green.
- Dry leaf aroma: No data found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Flat — clean and high (香气清高); curled — high, from a tender chestnut note to fairly clean.
- Taste: Flat — sweet and mellow, fresh and brisk (滋味甘醇、鲜爽); curled — mellow (醇).
- Liquor color: Flat — tender green, bright (汤色嫩绿明亮); curled — from tender green and bright to yellowish green.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Flat — fine, tender and bright (叶底细嫩明亮); curled — from tender green and bright to yellowish green.
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical norms from the protection requirements: moisture — not more than 7.0%, total ash — not more than 6.5%, water-soluble extractives — not less than 38.0%, tea polyphenols — not less than 22.0%, crude fiber — not more than 16.0%, fines — not more than 2.0%.
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 — in glass you can see the flat leaf unfold.
- 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 more infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. It is better to drink it within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark or the certification mark “文县绿茶”.
- Check that the producer is from the towns and townships of the zone: Bikou, Zhongmiao, Fanba, Liujiaping, and for the mark also Yulei.
- The flat leaf is straight and emerald, the liquor tender green and bright, the aroma clean and high.
- The local flat tea is called “longjing”; it is a Gansu tea, not Xihu Longjing (西湖龙井).
11. Interesting Facts
- The 2024 certification mark is the first such mark of Wen County, writes Longnan Ribao.
- The zones of the two protection regimes do not coincide: the mark takes in Yulei Township, which is not in the zone of the 2013 product.
12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas of Southern Gansu
- Longnan Lücha (陇南绿茶): A prefecture-wide name with a zone of 13 townships and towns in two counties and one district; four of them — Bikou, Zhongmiao, Fanba and Liujiaping — are the same as in the product zone of Wénxiàn lǜchá. Wénxiàn lǜchá is a county name inside this umbrella.
- Longshen Cha (龙神茶) and Bikou Longjing (碧口龙井): Teas of southern Gansu described in the corpus, with gardens around Bikou — a curled one and a flat one.
- Hanzhong Xian Hao (汉中仙毫): A green tea of neighboring Shaanxi Province.
In Conclusion:
Wénxiàn lǜchá is the county green tea of the only tea-growing corner of Gansu: mountains by the Baishuijiang reserve, picking around Qingming, a flat emerald leaf with a clean, high aroma or a curled one with a chestnut note. The 2013 requirements set the varieties, altitude, soils, picking, processing and physicochemical norms. The two protection regimes give slightly different zones, and above the name stands the prefecture-wide Longnan Lücha.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page