Xièshān diécuì (薤山叠翠) is a green tea of the Xieshan mountains of Gucheng County (谷城县), Xiangyang prefecture-level city, in the northwest of Hubei Province. Its name is not the name of a variety but a landscape: “the layered green of Xieshan”. Below are fields, higher up oak forests, near the summits pines and cypresses, and from afar the mountain is seen in three shades of green. Xieshan is a forest mountain and an old summer resort, and its tea has been protected as a geographical indication product since 2011.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), unfermented. The class is confirmed by the appearance given in the geographical indication document: an emerald leaf, a tender green liquor.
- Category: Mountain green tea of Hubei, a geographical indication product (2011).
- Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Xiangyang prefecture-level city (襄阳, Xiāngyáng), Gucheng County (谷城县, Gǔchéng Xiàn).
- Protection zone: The Xieshan forest farm (薤山林场), the towns of Zijin (紫金镇), Nanhe (南河镇) and Shihua (石花镇) and Zhaowan Township (赵湾乡) of Gucheng County — five units.
- Geographic coordinates: Gucheng County — about 32.3° N and 111.6° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- A summer resort. According to the provincial press, in 1903–1907 more than seventy summer villas were built on the summit of Xieshan; eighteen have survived. Local materials call the mountain the “southern summer residence of China” (中国南避暑山庄).
- Forest farm and park. After 1949 the mountain became a state forest farm, and in 1994 a national forest park. The Xieshan forest farm is still part of the tea’s protection zone today.
- 2011. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 38, placed Xièshān diécuì under protection as a geographical indication product. The name is on the list of geographical indication products of Hubei Province.
- An earlier history of this particular tea is not found in the sources consulted.
- Name:
- “Xièshān” (薤山) — the name of the mountain. 薤 is an onion plant, Chinese onion (Allium chinense). The county gazetteer, as retold by the provincial press, gives a legend: the Ming expert in medicinal herbs Li Shizhen (李时珍), while gathering herbs, saw the mountain entirely overgrown with this onion and named it Xieshan. Local people, according to the same publication, pronounce the mountain’s name as “Haishan”.
- “Diécuì” (叠翠) — “layered green”: fields below, oaks in the middle belt, pines and cypresses above give the mountain three tones of green.
- Cultural significance: For the county, the tea’s name is a continuation of the mountain’s reputation: wooded, cool, long known as a place of summer rest.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: Not named in the sources consulted.
- Harvest: Harvest dates are not given in the sources consulted.
- Harvest standard: Not given in the publicly available description of the document. The appearance — thin tight twists with sharp tips — points to tender raw material, but the exact requirement is unknown.
- Raw material requirements: Origin from the five units of the protected zone.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Xieshan stands in the center of Gucheng County and belongs to the Wudang mountain system (武当山脉). The mountain rises above the Hanjiang River as a solitary peak; on the south it is skirted by the Nanhe River, on the north by the Beihe. The main peak is 1099 m.
- Growing altitude: Data on the altitude of the tea gardens are not found in the sources consulted.
- Soils: No data in the sources consulted.
- Climate: Forest covers about 93% of the mountain’s area. Precipitation is about 1413 mm a year, foggy days about 120. According to the provincial press, the mean annual temperature on the mountain is about 12 °C, the summer temperature about 22 °C, 5–7 °C lower than in the county; air humidity is about 79%.
- Features: The tiered vegetation — fields below, oaks in the middle belt, pines and cypresses above — gave the tea its name. There are more than eight hundred trees over a hundred years old on the mountain.
5. Production Technology
The technology is not described in the sources consulted. The general scheme of green tea is as follows:
- Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, tānfàng): The leaf loses part of its moisture.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heating stops oxidation.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): The leaf takes the shape of a twist.
- Drying (干燥, gānzào).
This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of Xièshān diécuì. Parameters for this tea are not found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the geographical indication document:
- Dry leaf appearance: Thin tight twists with sharp tips; emerald in color, oily and lustrous (条索紧细显锋苗、色泽翠绿油润).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: Chestnut, lasting (栗香持久).
- Taste: Fresh, mild, refreshing (鲜醇爽口).
- Liquor color: Tender green, bright (嫩绿明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender green, bright, even (嫩绿明亮匀整).
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted.
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.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Add the tea.
- Pour in a little water and let the leaf open for 20–30 seconds.
- Top up with water; first infusion — 1–2 minutes.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- 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. Green tea is drunk fresh; it does not need aging.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data are not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging.
- Check the producer: it must be from the Xieshan forest farm, Zijin, Nanhe, Shihua or Zhaowan.
- Compare the appearance with the document: thin twists with sharp tips, emerald and lustrous; the aroma is chestnut.
11. Interesting Facts
- The tea’s name is a description of a landscape: three belts of vegetation give the mountain three shades of green.
- The plant 薤 that gave the mountain its name is Chinese onion.
- There are about 120 foggy days a year on the mountain.
- The Xieshan forest farm is not a town but a forestry enterprise, and yet it is one of the five units of the tea’s protection zone.
12. Comparison with Other Green Teas of Hubei
- Meizi Gongcha (梅子贡茶): A mountain green tea of northwestern Hubei; its document also sets physicochemical indicators, whereas Xièshān diécuì is described only by appearance.
- Wudang Daocha (武当道茶): A green tea of the Wudang mountains, associated with the Taoist tradition; Xieshan belongs to the same mountain system.
- Guishan Yanlü (龟山岩绿): A green tea of eastern Hubei, from Huanggang prefecture; it has a provincial standard, and reference descriptions also preserve traditional hand shaping in a wok.
In Conclusion:
Xièshān diécuì is a tea named after a landscape. A wooded mountain in three tones of green, cool and misty, gave it its name, and the geographical indication document gave it its appearance: thin emerald twists with sharp tips, a chestnut aroma, a fresh mild taste. On varieties, technology and figures the open sources are silent, but the appearance given in the document is recognizable at once.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page