Xiāndū sǔnfēng chá

Xiāndū sǔnfēng chá (仙都笋峰茶) is “the tea of the Xiandu bamboo-shoot peak”, a flat green tea of Jinyun County (缙云县) in Lishui prefecture-level city, Zhejiang Province. The name is taken from the Xiandu scenic area (仙都) and its rock pillar, the “stone bamboo shoot” (仙都石笋), which, according to descriptions, the leaf resembles. The modern brand, according to a reference book of tea terms, was created in 1984. In 2010 the tea became the official tea of the Belgium and European Union Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. The name is protected as a geographical indication certification mark.

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The reference book of tea terms assigns it to green teas of mixed drying — half pan-fired, half baked (半烘炒, bàn hōng chǎo).
• Category: A flat green tea of Zhejiang; geographical indication certification mark.
• Origin: China, Zhejiang Province (浙江, Zhèjiāng), Lishui prefecture-level city (丽水, Lìshuǐ), Jinyun County (缙云, Jìnyún), the mountains around the Xiandu scenic area.
• Protection: Geographical indication certification mark. In the register list on which the editors rely, the mark is listed under No. 9178091; the register document itself could not be opened, so the registration date, the holder of the mark and the boundaries of the production zone are not given here.
• Geographic coordinates: Jinyun County — about 28.7° N and 120.1° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • The county’s tea before the brand. A portal of local products quotes Song verse lines about tea planted among bamboo, and an entry from the Ming compilation “括苍汇记” of the Wanli (万历) period: “缙云物产多茶” — “among the products of Jinyun there is much tea” — and “缙云贡茶三斤”, three jin of tribute tea from the county. From these entries the portal derives more than a thousand years of history of Xiandu tea. These are records of the county’s tea, not of the brand with its present name.
  • 1984. According to the reference book of tea terms, the brand was created in 1984.
  • 2008. According to a report of the Zhejiang forestry department (June 2010), Jinyun County began cooperating with the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences; three standards were developed — for the environment of the area, for seedling cultivation and agronomy, and for processing technology.
  • Merging of brands. The same report says that more than ten tea brands of the county were brought under one name, “仙都笋峰”.
  • 19 April 2010. The tea entered the Belgium and European Union Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai as the pavilion’s official tea; 80 kg were sent to the Expo. The department calls it the first tea brand of Zhejiang to receive an official title from the Expo.
• Name: “Xiāndū” (仙都) means “abode of the immortals”, the name of the scenic area; “sǔnfēng” (笋峰) means “shoot peak”, after the rock pillar that local tradition calls “the first bamboo shoot under Heaven” (天下第一笋). According to legend, as retold by the portal of local products, the name “Xiāndū” was granted to the place by the Tang emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗) in the seventh year of the Tianbao (天宝) era.
• Cultural significance: The same portal retells a legend according to which the Yellow Emperor (黄帝) prepared an elixir on the top of the stone pillar and, having prepared it, ascended on a red dragon. Descriptions preface the account of the tea with this legend and a list of poets who visited the place.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Varieties / Cultivars: A specific bush variety is not named in the sources consulted. The popular book “中国茶轻图典” names “good varieties of the tea bush” as one of the three conditions of quality — along with ecology and pan-firing skill — but does not specify which.
• Raw material: Raw material requirements (a bud with one or two leaves) were not found in the sources consulted.
• Harvest time: Data were not found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: The mountains around Xiandu, a scenic area in the south of central Zhejiang; a tourist portal calls it a 4A-level area, and the popular book a national scenic area. Descriptions speak of a ring of mountains, mists, dense forest and a mild climate.
• Growing altitude: The popular book writes that all the gardens lie above 500 m and are wrapped in clouds all year round. The 2010 note of the forestry department gives both “mountains above 500 m” and “deep mountains above 600 m”.
• Area: Data were not found in the sources consulted.
• Cultivation feature: According to the department’s report (2010), cars are banned from entering the tea bases so that exhaust fumes do not reach the gardens.
• Soils: Data were not found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The reference book of tea terms gives a short scheme for this tea:

1. Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
2. Straightening and shaping (理条整形, lǐtiáo zhěngxíng): The leaf is drawn out into straight strips and given a flat shape.
3. Final drying by pan-firing (炒干, chǎogān).

Temperatures, durations of operations and raw material requirements were not found in the sources consulted; the text of the local technical regulation could not be found.

In 2010, according to the department’s report, an automatic line was launched in the county: trial operation ran from 26 April, and the line produced 250 jin of dry tea in eight hours, against 6–8 jin with hand pan-firing.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

• Dry leaf appearance: Flat, straight and smooth (外形扁平、挺直光滑), tender green with a sheen (色泽嫩绿光润). The reference book of tea terms describes the leaf slightly differently: straight, slightly flattened, with straight bud tips. The sources do not explain which description is closer to the standard.
• Dry leaf aroma: A separate description was not found in the sources consulted.
• Liquor aroma: Rich and lasting (香气浓郁持久). The popular book adds a subtle orchid note (兰花的幽香); the reference book of tea terms writes of a lasting aroma of young leaf (嫩香持久).
• Taste: Fresh and mellow (鲜醇); the popular book — “fresh, mellow and rich, with lasting freshness”.
• Liquor color: Clear and bright (清澈明亮); according to the popular book — tender green.
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.

Descriptions reduce the merits of the tea to four words: 色绿、形美、香高、味鲜 — green color, beautiful shape, high aroma, fresh taste. The popular book also calls it resistant to repeated infusions (耐泡).

7. Chemical Composition

Physico-chemical data were not found in the sources consulted. According to the department’s report (2010), for the Expo the tea was tested against the EU list of 227 pesticides; the department described the result as “almost zero residues”.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea.

• Water temperature: 80 °C — this is also what the popular book “中国茶轻图典” recommends.
• Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
• Teaware: A glass tumbler — the flat, straight shape of the leaf is visible in it.
• Process:
  1. Warm the tumbler.
  2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side to about seven tenths of the height.
  3. The first infusion — after about a minute, as the popular book recommends.
  4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
  5. Top up with water.
  6. 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

According to the department’s report, of the 80 kg sent to the 2010 Expo, 50 kg went as gifts to the pavilion’s guests and 30 kg went on sale at 220 yuan per 50 g. More recent price data were not found in the sources consulted. The main markets, according to the reference book of tea terms, are Suzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

• Grades: The reference book of tea terms distinguishes three grades: top (特级), first (一级) and second (二级).
• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Look for the geographical indication mark and an explicit reference to Jinyun County.
  • The leaf is flat, straight, smooth, tender green with a sheen; the liquor is clear and bright.
  • Remember that market descriptions can be inaccurate: one portal of local products places the tea in Huzhou, although all other sources link it to Jinyun in Lishui.
  • Published methods of authenticity testing were not found in the sources consulted.

11. Interesting Facts

• The popular book writes that the tea “was more than once designated as tribute tea” (屡被钦定为贡茶); this does not fit the brand’s creation date of 1984, and documents on such a status were not found in the sources consulted. The Ming record of tribute tea refers to the county, not to the brand.
• According to the department’s report, the 2010 automatic line pan-fired dozens of times more tea per shift than a master by hand.

12. Comparison with Other Teas of Lishui

• Jinyun Huangcha (缙云黄茶): A tea of the same county, but from the yellow-leaf cultivar 中黄2号; for Xiāndū sǔnfēng chá no cultivar is named in the sources, and the emphasis is on the flat shape.
• Songyang Yin Hou (松阳银猴): A green tea of Songyang County in the same prefecture-level city, of a different shape — the “silver monkey”.
• Huimingcha (惠明茶): A historical green tea of Jingning County in the same prefecture-level city.
• Xi Hu Long Jing (西湖龙井): The best-known flat green tea of Zhejiang — for comparing the shape of the leaf.

In Conclusion:

Xiāndū sǔnfēng chá is a young brand of an old tea county: created in 1984, in 2010 it united more than ten local names and entered the EU pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. The flat, straight, tender green leaf with a sheen, the rich lasting aroma and the fresh, mellow taste are described consistently. The bush variety, the technology parameters and the text of the local standard could not be found in open sources.

Sources

Geographical indication

• CNIPA 地理标志证明商标 №9178091

Full list — on the Sources page