---
title: "Xiāngxiāng shuǐfǔ chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/xiangxiang-shuifu-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Xiāngxiāng shuǐfǔ chá (湘乡水府茶)

*Xiāngxiāng shuǐfǔ chá* (湘乡水府茶) is a tea of Xiangxiang county-level city (湘乡市), Xiangtan prefecture, in the center of Hunan Province, from gardens around the Shuifumiao Reservoir (水府庙水库). The name is protected by a geographical mark and serves as the regional public brand of an area where tea of different classes is made: the main tea town, Maotian, according to a 2025 report, produces mainly red, green and white tea. None of the sources found names the class under the mark itself. The main feature of the place is water: the reservoir surrounds Maotian on three sides.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Not established. I have not seen a document for the mark setting requirements for the technology; in Maotian town, the main area of the brand, mainly red, green and white tea is made, and one of the local companies also makes yellow tea. Assigning a single class to the mark would be a misrepresentation.
* **Category:** Geographical indication certification mark (地理标志证明商标 — as the provincial press of 2021 calls it) and regional public brand (区域公共品牌).
* **Origin:** China, Hunan Province (湖南, *Húnán*), Xiangtan prefecture-level city (湘潭, *Xiāngtán*), Xiangxiang county-level city (湘乡, *Xiāngxiāng*). The main tea area is Maotian town (毛田镇), at the junction of Xiangtan and Loudi prefectures.
* **Zone:** I have not checked the legal boundary of the mark’s zone. The 2024 provincial list gives Xiangxiang as the administrative affiliation of the mark holder, not as a described boundary.
* **Geographic coordinates:** The Shuifumiao Reservoir reserve — about 27°38′ N and 112°02′ E, according to the Hunan forestry bureau.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Legend.** According to a 2025 report, people in Maotian still say that the Ming emperor Zhengde (正德) gave the local tea the name “万山贡茶” — “tribute tea of ten thousand mountains”. I have not seen a document; the press writes of “more than six hundred years” of tribute tea without naming a source.
    * **Twentieth century.** According to a 2023 publication, in the 1970s–1980s Maotian was the largest tea area of central Hunan (湘中).
    * **Reservoir.** Construction of the Shuifumiao Reservoir began in August 1958; the water flooded the lands of Maotian and neighboring townships — 40,431 mu of farmland in all, according to the forestry bureau. Of Maotian’s 37,900 residents, 11,000 are resettled people of the reservoir area (2025 data).
    * **2018 — bridge.** On 16 June 2018 the first section of the Shaoshui road with the Shuifu bridge opened, and Maotian’s 38,000 residents by the reservoir stopped depending on the ferry. According to the head of a local tea company, sales of Maotian tea doubled the following year. Since 2018 the town has been moving toward the goal of “ten thousand mu of gardens — a billion yuan industry”.
    * **Mark.** A 2021 publication already calls “湘乡水府茶” a national geographical indication certification mark. It is also in the provincial list of 229 marks and in the 2024 list of 250 marks. The exact year of registration is not found in the sources consulted.
    * **2020.** The first tea and tourism festival was held in Maotian.
    * **2025–2027.** The town adopted a three-year plan: to renovate 2,500 mu of old gardens and lay out 1,000 mu of new high-standard ones.
* **Name:** “*Xiāngxiāng*” (湘乡) — the name of the county-level city; “*shuǐfǔ*” (水府) — “water abode”, after the Shuifumiao Reservoir, literally “temple of the water abode”; “*chá*” (茶) — tea.
* **Cultural significance:** Maotian is included among the national demonstration towns of “one village, one product” (一村一品); the press writes about this in a story about tea. In 2025 tea was grown by 14 of the town’s 18 villages.

**3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:**

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The varietal composition of the gardens is not found in the sources consulted. A 2025 report says only that in 6,700 mu of old gardens the varieties need replacing and the irrigation repairing. According to a 2024 publication, Qingxi village (清溪村) set up a nursery in an old garden and propagates the varieties Huangjin No. 1 and Huangjin No. 8 (黄金1号, 黄金8号).
* **Old gardens:** In Wanzhou village (万洲村) the town plans to develop an “old-tree garden” ([古树茶](https://thetea.app/article/gu-shu-cha)园); the source does not give the age of the trees.
* **Harvest standard and timing:** No data in the sources consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Central Hunan, the middle reaches of the Lianshui River (涟水), a tributary of the Xiangjiang. The Shuifumiao reserve (177.2 km²) lies at the junction of Xiangxiang, Loudi and Shuangfeng; about 90% of its area is within Xiangxiang.
* **Reservoir:** Water surface area 44.3 km², volume 600 million m³, shoreline 431 km, 34 islands — according to the Hunan forestry bureau.
* **Altitude:** Elevations in the reservoir area range from 78 to 484 m; most lakeside peaks are 100–150 m. The altitude of the gardens themselves is not found in the sources consulted.
* **Climate:** Subtropical monsoon. According to observations of the hydro project’s weather station for 1969–1989 — about 1,800 hours of sunshine a year, an average temperature of 16.99 °C, 1,308.48 mm of precipitation, 282 frost-free days. The lake softens the climate: here it is on average 0.7 °C warmer than in the city of Xiangxiang.
* **Soils:** According to the forestry bureau, the reservoir banks are mainly limestone, and the soils are on a shale base. The press calls Maotian’s soils “high-quality”, without figures.
* **Garden care practice:** In the old garden of Wanzhou village, after the spring picking, according to the head of the garden, the grass is allowed to grow so that it shades the bushes and holds moisture in the heat; in autumn and winter it is cut and buried as organic fertilizer. In the new gardens of Dongping village — shade nets, drip irrigation and soybeans between the rows.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology is not described in the sources consulted. I do not give a general scheme here: red, green, white and yellow tea are made in the area of the mark; which of them goes under the mark the sources do not specify; each class has its own processing path — from fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*) for green to full oxidation for red.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

I have not seen a document with requirements for appearance. The only description found is in a 2024 online publication.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** No descriptions in the sources consulted; the publication calls the tea “sound in quality” (质地纯良), but this is not a description of appearance.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** No separate description.
* **Taste:** “Fresh, fragrant and pleasant, moderately strong” (味道清香可口、茶水浓淡适宜); according to the same publication, the tea withstands many infusions and leaves its aroma in the mouth.
* **Liquor color:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions in the sources consulted.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

No physico-chemical data in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice — the parameters depend on which tea under this name is in your hands.

* **Green:** 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a glass tumbler or gaiwan, first infusion 40–60 seconds, two or three re-infusions.
* **Red:** 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a gaiwan or porcelain teapot, first infusion about a minute, several infusions with lengthening time.
* **White:** 85–90 °C, 3–4 g per 150 ml, a gaiwan, first infusion about a minute.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware and put in the tea.
    2. Pour in water of the right temperature.
    3. Pour the liquor into cups.
    4. Repeat the infusion, lengthening the steeping, as long as the taste holds.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. Green tea — in airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors, drink within a year. Red and white — in a dry dark place at room temperature, in tight packaging, away from odors.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data in the sources consulted. According to a 2024 report, the whole county-level city grows about 40,000 mu of tea, with an annual output value of 160 million yuan; Maotian, according to a 2025 report, about 10,000 mu and 20 million yuan a year. Publications of 2023–2024 gave 15,000 mu for Maotian; the sources do not explain the discrepancy.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical mark “湘乡水府茶”.
    * Check that the producer is from Xiangxiang, preferably from Maotian town.
    * Ask the seller for the class of the tea: the name of the mark does not state it.
    * Do not confuse the mark with a company name: Maotian also has a firm called “水府茶”.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* According to 2023 data, Maotian had three tea factories and seven cooperatives; in 2021 the town produced 32 t of branded tea, in 2022 — 35 t.
* The tea of the Maotian company “香露红” received a gold award at the 24th Central China Agricultural Expo in Hunan (2024) — by decision of its organizing committee.

**13. Comparison with Other Hunan Teas:**

* **Pingjiang Gaoshan Cha ([平江高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/pingjiang-gaoshan-cha)):** The same case in the northeast of the province — a county brand with a geographical mark whose class the sources do not name.
* **Nanyue Yunwu Cha ([南岳云雾茶](https://thetea.app/article/nanyue-yunwucha)):** A green tea of Mount Hengshan; it is also in the provincial list of geographical marks, but the name is tied to a single class.
* **Shimen Hongcha ([石门红茶](https://thetea.app/article/shimen-hongcha)):** A red tea of northwestern Hunan — an example of a mark whose name states the class directly.

**In Conclusion:**

*Xiāngxiāng shuǐfǔ chá* is not a variety but a name of the shores: a mark and brand of tea from gardens around the Shuifumiao Reservoir, where Maotian town makes red, green, white and yellow tea. The documents about it speak of water, climate, resettled people and old gardens, but are almost silent about the tea itself. To understand the taste, one has to ask about the class and the farm.