Xiāngxī huángjīn chá

Xiāngxī huángjīn chá (湘西黄金茶) is “the golden tea of Xiangxi”, the prefecture-wide name for tea from the local huangjincha (黄金茶) population and the varieties selected from it in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in western Hunan Province. The name has been protected by a geographical indication certification mark since 2018. It does not belong to a single class: group standards for green, red and white tea have been issued under it. The “gold” in the name comes from a legend about the price; it does not refer to yellow tea or to the color of the leaf. A dispute with the earlier county mark Baojing Huangjin Cha went to court, and the prefecture mark stood.

1. Classification and Origin

Type and category: A prefecture brand with no single class. Group standards of the Hunan Tea Society: T/HNTI 010-2019 — green tea processing, T/HNTI 011-2019 — red tea processing (in force since 1 September 2019), T/HNTI 009-2019 — white tea, T/HNTI 020-2020 — white tea processing. The best known is the green tea.
Name trap: 黄金 (huángjīn) — “gold”: not yellow tea (黄茶) and not a yellow-leaf variety such as 黄金芽.
Origin: China, Hunan Province (湖南, Húnán), Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (湘西, Xiāngxī). The red tea standard applies in all eight counties and cities of the prefecture: Jishou, Luxi, Fenghuang, Huayuan, Baojing, Guzhang, Yongshun and Longshan.
Protection: Geographical indication certification mark No. 15887938, class 30, goods — “tea”; holder — the agrotechnical station of Jishou City (吉首市经果技术推广站). The name is not registered as an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI).
Geographic coordinates: Jishou — about 28.3° N and 109.7° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Origins. An article on the “China Rural Revitalization Network” (2023) traces the tea of these places back to the Song-dynasty “Xizhou tea” (溪州茶). Huangjincha grows along the Lengzhai River (冷寨河), above all in Aikou village (隘口村) of Jishou City and Huangjin village (黄金村) of Baojing County, where the main surname is Xiang (向) and the families are related.
- Three names. At first the tea was named after the river; from the 1990s to the early 2000s it was called “换金茶” (huànjīn chá, “tea traded for gold”), and now “黄金茶”.
- Legends. There are more than ten versions. The best known, according to legend: in 1539 (嘉靖十八年) the detachment of the censor Lu Jie (陆杰) fell ill in the mountains from “miasma” (瘴气); an old Miao woman gave the men tea from her century-old bushes, and Lu Jie granted her an ingot of gold. Hence the saying “一两黄金一两茶” — “a liang of gold for a liang of tea”. The 2023 article did not find the episode either in the History of Ming or in the Veritable Records of the Shizong Emperor; a reference on “China Gate” (2013), by contrast, cites the Veritable Records, and in addition gives the year 1545 in parentheses for that same 18th year of Jiajing. According to a second version, from a Qing-dynasty gazetteer of Baojing County, in the Jiaqing years (嘉庆) a certain daotai rewarded the tea with a liang of gold and made it a tribute tea.
- From 2004 the revival of the industry began.
- From 2009, according to the finding of the Beijing High People’s Court as retold by China Intellectual Property News (2025), plantings spread from Baojing to Jishou, Longshan and other counties: Xiangxi golden tea “引种自保靖黄金茶” — originates from the Baojing tea.
- 2014–2018. According to China Intellectual Property News (2025), the application was filed in December 2014; after opposition proceedings the mark was registered in February 2018.
- The dispute over the marks. In March and December 2018, county institutions of Baojing demanded that the mark be declared invalid; the China National Intellectual Property Administration kept it in force. The county tea industry bureau also lost in the court of first instance — the court judged the similarity of two marks containing a geographical indication by whether the buyer confuses the place of origin — and withdrew its appeal. A demand filed in January 2019 by an association and a cooperative union from Baojing went through several rounds: in February 2023 the Administration again upheld the mark, and the court of first instance and the Beijing High People’s Court agreed with it. The zones of the marks overlap, but each has its own rules of use and quality control.
Name: 湘西 (Xiāngxī) — “west of Hunan”, 黄金 (huángjīn) — “gold”. According to press materials, specialists call the oldest tree of Huangjin village “可以喝的文物” — “a monument you can drink”.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Population: Huangjincha is a seed-propagated population with complex genetics and many genotypes and phenotypes (reference on “China Gate”, 2013).
Old gardens: The seven old gardens of Huangjin village hold 2,057 trees from the Ming and Qing eras; according to a 2020 report, the oldest is 414 years old, and it is the only living plant object in Hunan protected as intangible heritage.
Varieties: According to the 2023 article, 104 lines have been identified in the old gardens, and “1号”, “2号”, “8号”, “168号” and individual bushes were selected for propagation by cuttings. The varieties 保靖黄金茶1号 and 2号 were bred together with the Hunan Tea Research Institute; 1号 passed provincial registration.
Raw material: The white tea standard speaks of buds, leaves and stems of huangjincha varieties; requirements for green tea raw material are not available in open sources.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The Wuling Mountains in western Hunan. The original zone is the junction of Jishou and Baojing — according to the 2023 article, the old border between Han lands and the Miao mountains.
Climate and soils: Data on altitudes, soils and precipitation for the mark zone were not found in the sources consulted. According to a 2020 report, the gardens of Baojing County are a land of fog, abundant rain and fertile soils within a belt of selenium-bearing soils.

5. Production Technology

The technology depends on the class; the texts of the group standards are not public, and there are no parameters.

Green tea. According to the 2023 article — three operations: fixation (杀青, shāqīng), rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn) and drying (干燥, gānzào); this is the general scheme of the green class.
Red tea. According to the same article, the technology took shape around 2008 under Taiwanese influence; the author criticizes the roasting — there is aroma, but no sweet return.
White tea. Under standard T/HNTI 009-2019 — withering, drying and sorting.
Leaf shape. According to Banyuetan (2023), the company 中茶 together with a research team transferred the straight-leaf technique of Guzhang Maojian to Baojing tea: the previously slightly curled leaf became straight. Whether this applies to products under the prefecture mark is not clear from the source.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

No mark document describing the appearance is available in open sources. Below is the description of the product under the mark as retold by a reference article (Baidu Baike); by its appearance this is green tea.

Dry leaf appearance: Tight, large and heavy leaf, emerald green, with noticeable down.
Dry leaf aroma: Strong.
Liquor aroma: A distinctive natural floral aroma.
Taste: Fresh, with a distinctive “grain” note (谷韵).
Liquor color: Yellow-green and clear.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender green, bright and very soft.

For Baojing tea the local press repeats the formula “四高四绝”: high amino acids, polyphenols, extractives and chlorophyll; a rich aroma, emerald liquor, freshness in the mouth and a sweet, mellow aftertaste (茶香浓郁、汤色翠绿、入口清爽、回味甘醇).

7. Chemical Composition

The reference article on the mark (Baidu Baike) gives the following composition; the harvest, year and measurement method are not named.

Indicator	Content
Extractives	46.6%
Amino acids	7.8%
Polyphenols	20.6%
Caffeine	4.12%

For early spring Baojing tea, the press (2020, 2023) gives amino acids at 7.47% — twice as much as ordinary green tea of the same harvest — polyphenols at about 20% and extractives at up to almost 50%, citing an analysis made together with the Hunan Tea Research Institute. Requirements of the mark or a standard for the composition were not found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

Class practice for green tea.

Water temperature: 75–80°C.
Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
Process: Warm the teaware, pour the water down the side, the first infusion — after 40–60 seconds; two or three further infusions.

Red and white tea under this name are brewed according to the practice of their class.

9. Storage

Class practice for green tea. 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 2023 article, there is no unified grading, and the market values the tea by the bush variety: pre-Qingming tea from variety No. 1 — about 500–800 yuan, from variety No. 2 — about 1,200–1,800 yuan (the unit of weight is not stated in the article).

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the mark “湘西黄金茶” and an indication of one of the eight counties and cities of the prefecture.
- Distinguish it from Baojing Huangjin Cha — a separate, earlier mark with a zone inside a single county.
- According to the 2023 article, the trademark “黄金茶” without a geographical qualifier is registered outside Xiangxi; local producers own only “湘西黄金茶” and “保靖黄金茶”.
- Do not confuse it with the “golden” tea of the Mount Sanqing area in Jiangxi or with the yellow-leaf 黄金芽 varieties.

11. Interesting Facts

Demands to declare the prefecture mark invalid were filed in 2018 and 2019; the press reported the latest decision of the Beijing High People’s Court in January 2025 — the mark stood.
According to a 2020 report, 32,000–35,000 buds are picked by hand for one jin of Baojing tea.

12. Comparison and Neighbors

Baojing Huangjin Cha (保靖黄金茶): The original tea of the same population; a Baojing County mark (application 2010, registration 2011) and an agricultural product geographical indication of 2010. Xiāngxī huángjīn chá is the prefecture level above it.
Baojing Huangjin Hong Cha (保靖黄金红茶): Red tea from the same raw material.
Guzhang Maojian (古丈毛尖): Green tea of Guzhang County, which is also within the mark zone.
Anji Huangjin Ya (安吉黄金芽): A yellow-leaf tea from Zhejiang that is “golden” in leaf color — for contrast: in Xiāngxī huángjīn chá the “gold” is only in the name.

In Conclusion:

Xiāngxī huángjīn chá is the prefecture-wide name for tea from one ancient population from the Lengzhai River: green, red and white, each with its own group standard. Its foundation is the amino-acid-rich huangjincha, its history — legends of gold without written confirmation, and its right to the name has been confirmed by the Administration and the courts.

Sources

Standards

Full list — on the Sources page