Xiāngyáng gāoxiāng chá

Xiāngyáng gāoxiāng chá (襄阳高香茶) is “the high-aroma tea of Xiangyang”, the common tea brand and geographical indication certification mark of Xiangyang (襄阳) prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hubei Province. Brands of different counties operate under it, and, according to local descriptions, green, red and dark tea are produced, but the face of the brand is green: the quality formula is “a high chestnut aroma, a mild taste, a bright liquor, withstanding many infusions” (高栗香、滋味醇、汤色亮、耐冲泡). The mark was registered in 2012.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: There is no single class. Local descriptions list green, red and dark tea under the brand; at the “楚茶杯” contests of 2024–2025, according to the Xiangyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, teas of the brand were awarded both as green and as red teas. The quality formula, the description of the mark and the reference samples relate to green tea; a document assigning a single class to the mark was not found in the sources consulted.
Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Xiangyang prefecture-level city (襄阳, Xiāngyáng).
Zone of the mark: The register of the geographical indications portal names the whole present administrative territory of Xiangyang as the area of origin (襄阳市现辖行政区域). Production is concentrated in the south — in Nanzhang (南漳), Baokang (保康) and Gucheng (谷城) counties.
Geographic coordinates: About 32° N and 111–112° E.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Antiquity. Local publications write of “more than three thousand years” of tea growing in Xiangyang. This is a traditional formula of such texts, not a verified date.
- Ming and Qing. According to the same publications, Xiangyang was an important transit hub of the Great Tea Road (万里茶道).
- 2012. On 14 January the registration of the geographical indication certification mark “襄阳高香茶” was published — No. 9011381, the holder is the Xiangyang Tea Association.
- 2013. The Hubei Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision approved the provincial standard DB42/T 897-2013 “襄阳高香茶 (地理标志证明商标)”: issued on 8 April, in force from 14 May 2013. Its text was not found in the sources consulted.
- 2023. At the first provincial “楚茶杯” contest, the brand “襄阳高香茶 · 玉皇剑” received the title of “king” of green tea.
- Agreement with the European Union. The name appears in the list of 175 Chinese names of the second batch of the China–EU agreement on geographical indications; the local press (2023) dates the inclusion to 2022.
- 2024. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) included Xiāngyáng gāoxiāng chá in the first group of 44 projects of the national program for the protection of geographical indications.
- 2026. The provincial standard DB42/T 2501-2026 “襄阳高香茶加工技术规程” — rules of processing — was introduced. According to the Xiangyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 30 enterprises apply it.
Name: “Xiāngyáng” (襄阳) is the name of the prefecture, “gāoxiāng” (高香) means “high aroma”.
Cultural significance: The “enterprise brand plus common brand” model: under the common name are the brands “汉家刘氏”, “玉皇剑”, “水镜庄”, “荆山锦” and local names such as “磨坪贡茶”.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: Names of cultivars for this brand were not found in the sources consulted.
Harvest standard: When the reference samples of 2024 were developed, the requirements for raw material were broadened: instead of a single bud or a bud with one or two leaves — up to “a bud with two or three leaves” (一芽二三叶).
Harvest time: The same requirements cover pre-Qingming tea (明前), tea of the Guyu (谷雨) season and, finally, the May “summer-autumn” tea.
Reference samples: According to a report of the Xiangyang agriculture bureau (September 2024), experts assessed 41 samples from 15 enterprises and established four grades: top (特级), first, second and third; the four former leaf forms were reduced to two — curled (曲形) and strip-shaped (条形). Seven reference samples resulted: curled ones of four grades and straight strip-shaped ones of three.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The mountains of the south of Xiangyang; local descriptions place the prefecture in the zone of high-aroma green teas of the Qinba Mountains (秦巴山).
Climate: Subtropical monsoon, with cold winters and hot summers; the 2013 description notes large temperature differences and scant spring rains. According to the publication on the reference samples, the winter dormancy of the bushes here is longer than in Zhejiang and Fujian, and the leaf manages to accumulate more substances.
Main zone: According to Hubei Ribao (2024), the core of cultivation is Wushan town (五山镇) of Gucheng County — about 58,000 mu of gardens.
Area and output: According to Hubei Ribao, in 2022 there were 460,000 mu under tea and 22,000 t of dry tea were produced; according to prefecture data, in 2024 the area of gardens approached 500,000 mu, output was about 30,000 t, and exports went to more than 40 countries and regions.
Soils and altitude: According to the 2013 description — mainly gravelly permeable soils of the yellow-brown earth subtype (黄棕壤). Altitudes in meters were not found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The provincial standard DB42/T 2501-2026, according to its developers’ description, regulates all processing — from the picking of fresh leaf to packaging. The text of the standard and the parameters of the operations were not found in the sources consulted.

The general scheme of the class for green tea, not a description of the technology of this brand:

Spreading (摊放, tānfàng).
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng).
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Drying (干燥, gānzào).

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The descriptions relate to green tea; for red and dark tea there are no data. The basis is the description of the mark by the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration (2022); on the four former leaf forms — a reference description of 2013.

Dry leaf appearance: A tight, round and straight strip of emerald color. The former forms are needle-shaped (from single buds), flat, curled with silvery down, and strip-shaped.
Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: A rich aroma of roasted chestnut with a floral note (板栗香浓郁带花香); for the needle-shaped and curled forms it is described as clean, fresh and lasting.
Taste: Fresh and brisk (鲜爽); in the brand formula — mild and rich (滋味醇).
Liquor color: Clear, yellow-green, bright; for the needle-shaped form — apricot-green.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Yellow-green, bright, the buds with leaves even; in the curled form they open into a “flower”.

7. Chemical Composition

Physicochemical requirements of the mark were not found in the sources consulted. The newspaper Jingji Ribao reported in 2023 that up to 68 main aromatic substances had been found in the tea, and that the content of geraniol, nerolidol and phytol is 10% or more higher than in most similar green teas. The publication names neither the method nor the sample; these are the words of the source, not a norm.

8. Brewing

Class practice; the parameters depend on which tea under the brand is in hand.

Green: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion 40–60 seconds, a glass tumbler or a gaiwan, two or three repeat infusions.
Red: 90–95 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, first infusion about a minute, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot, several infusions, each a little longer.

9. Storage

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

10. Price and Counterfeits

No price data found in the sources consulted. The value of the brand, according to prefecture data, was estimated in 2024 at 927 million yuan.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the certification mark “襄阳高香茶” (No. 9011381) and ask whether the producer is authorized to use it.
- Check that the producer is from Xiangyang prefecture-level city.
- Since 2024 the green tea of the brand has reference samples of four grades — top, first, second and third; the grade should be checked with the seller.
- A chestnut aroma is found in many green teas of China and does not prove origin.

11. Interesting Facts

The second half of the name names neither a variety nor a leaf form but a property — “high aroma”; the mark, meanwhile, covers the whole prefecture-level city.
The 2013 description calls Xiangyang an “old and young” region: tea has been here for a long time, but it began to be developed seriously from the 1970s, and there is little written evidence on the history of local tea.
When the reference samples were developed, the requirements for raw material were not tightened but relaxed — to a bud with two or three leaves and May tea.

12. Comparison with Other Xiangyang Teas

Xiangyang Hong (襄阳红): A red tea of the same prefecture with its own mark.
Baokang Lücha (保康绿茶): A green tea of Baokang County with its own mark; the press also mentions Baokang maojian and red tea under the common brand.
Moping Gongcha (磨坪贡茶): A mountain green tea of Nanzhang County; one of the local names under the common brand.
Xieshan Diecui (薤山叠翠): A green tea of the Xieshan Mountains of Gucheng County, a separate geographical indication product.

In Conclusion:

Xiāngyáng gāoxiāng chá is the common signboard of Xiangyang’s tea industry: a mark of 2012, standards of 2013 and 2026, the second list of the agreement with the European Union and the first group of the national protection program. Different classes are produced under it, but the face of the brand is a green tea with a chestnut aroma and a bright liquor, which since 2024 has been checked against reference samples.

Sources

Standards

Full list — on the Sources page