Xījiàn chūnxuě

Xījiàn chūnxuě (西涧春雪) is a flat green tea from Shiji Town (施集镇) in Nanqiao District of Chuzhou city, in the east of Anhui Province. The name translates as “spring snow of the Western Stream”: “Western Stream” refers to a poem by the Tang poet Wei Yingwu (韦应物), “snow” to the dense white down. The leaf is straight and flat, with down; the aroma is clean and high, with a floral note. It is a newly developed tea (the dictionary gives 1989), protected since 2020 as an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI), and since 2025 as a geographical indication product of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The tea dictionary places it among flat green teas of combined baking and pan-firing (扁形烘炒绿茶).
• Category: Flat green tea with a geographical indication.
• Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), the city of Chuzhou (滁州, Chúzhōu), Nanqiao District (南谯区, Nánqiáo), Shiji Town.
• Protection zone: Under the 2025 CNIPA requirements — ten villages and communities of Shiji Town: 花山, 丰山, 杨饭店, 明张, 井楠, 孙岗, 李集, 大林, Shiji community and Liji community. The applicant is the Chuzhou tea industry association. The geographical indication catalog names the whole of Nanqiao District as the zone; which document this relates to could not be verified.
• Geographic coordinates: 118°14′6″–118°16′30″ E, 32°18′55″–32°19′37″ N (according to the CNIPA requirements).

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • Legend. According to a column in the city tourism publication, in the Yuan era the abbot of Mituo Monastery (弥陀寺) on Mount Huangfu, the monk Shenzhen (慎真), brought tea seeds from Sichuan and Guizhou (川贵); later the tea supposedly became tribute under the Hongwu Emperor under the name “南谯贡茶”. A district representative, in a 2025 interview, traces the tea’s history back to the Song, and its tribute status to the Ming. Reference summaries retell the legend differently: the seeds were brought in the Song era by the abbot of the same monastery, Wuzhen (悟真), and Zhu Yuanzhang, having tasted the tea, supposedly set a tribute of 200 jin a year. How many old bushes survive at the monastery is also reported differently: the column says about a thousand six-hundred-year-old bushes, the summaries more than a thousand. Documents confirming any of the versions are not found in the sources consulted.
  • Creation. The tea dictionary gives 1989 as the year of development. Reference summaries write of 1991: according to them, the tea was created by specialists of the Chuzhou famous-tea development group, it is produced at the Mount Huangfu forest farm (皇甫山林场), and its predecessor is named as “南谯贡茶”.
  • Awards. According to the district representative, in 1992 the tea received the title of Anhui Province famous tea, then a bronze award at the China Agricultural Exposition. The tourism publication’s column adds a second prize at the first “Zhongcha Cup” (中茶杯) competition. Reference summaries date the provincial famous tea title and the exposition bronze to 1993, and the “Zhongcha Cup” prize to 1994.
  • 2020. In December, after three years of preparation, the tea was registered as an agricultural product geographical indication; the catalog of indications gives certificate number AGI03151.
  • 2025. By CNIPA announcement No. 632 (signed 9 June, published 27 June), Xījiàn chūnxuě was recognized as a geographical indication product; by announcement No. 633 (published 7 July), its producers were authorized to use the special mark.
• Name: The name is taken from Wei Yingwu’s poem “The Western Stream at Chuzhou” (《滁州西涧》). The line “春潮带雨晚来急” — “the spring tide, with rain, runs swift toward evening” — gave its name to the scene “西涧春潮”, one of the “twelve views of Chuzhou”. “Spring” in the name is the harvest season, “snow” the white down; the district representative, in a 2025 interview, adds that the early harvest sometimes coincides with spring snow.
• Cultural significance: Chuzhou holds a hand-made tea competition, the “Xījiàn chūnxuě Cup”.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Variety / Cultivar: Under the CNIPA requirements — Fuding Dabaicha (福鼎大白茶, Fúdǐng dàbáichá), the Huangshan population (黄山群体种) and other suitable improved varieties. The legend of seeds from Sichuan and Guizhou does not name a variety.
• Raw material and harvest standard: Under the CNIPA requirements:
  • top grade (特级) — a bud with one barely opened leaf, shoot length about 2.5 cm;
  • first — mainly a bud with a half-opened leaf;
  • second — mainly a bud with an opened leaf;
  • third — mainly a bud with two barely opened leaves.
• Harvest time: From the eve of Qingming to Guyu.
• New varieties: According to the district representative (2025), the district, together with the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, set up a base for conserving and demonstrating the gene pool and introduced 29 new high-yielding varieties; this is said of the district’s tea as a whole.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: The hilly belt of the Yangtze–Huai watershed (江淮分水岭) at the western foot of Mount Langya (琅琊山), between 32° and 33° N. The Chuzhou tourism publication’s column names Shiji Town and Mount Huangfu (皇甫山) as the core of the brand.
• Climate: According to the district representative — mild, with abundant precipitation and a large day-night temperature range. Exact climate figures from a primary source are not found in the materials consulted.
• Soils: Under the CNIPA requirements — sandy loam on quartz keratophyre and phyllite, well drained, pH 5.5 on average, a layer of not less than 60 cm, fairly rich in organic matter. The Chuzhou tourism publication gives an organic matter content of 1.2–2.5%.
• Gardens: The CNIPA requirements prescribe intercropping tea with forest (茶林间作). The tourism publication’s column writes that the gardens neighbor chestnut groves.
• Altitude: No data found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The CNIPA requirements set out the scheme without parameters: fixation → straightening and shaping (理条整形) → raising the down and setting the shape (提毫定形) → first drying → repeated drying. Temperatures and times are not found in the sources consulted.

1. Sorting the raw material. According to a report in the tourism publication, impurities are first picked out of the fresh leaf.
2. Fixation (杀青, shāqīng). Parameters are not found in the sources consulted.
3. Straightening and shaping (理条, lǐtiáo). Here the leaf takes on its straight, flat shape.
4. Raising the down and setting the shape (提毫定形, tíháo dìngxíng). That is what the stage is called in the requirements; details are not found in the sources consulted.
5. First drying (初烘, chūhōng). According to the report — first at a high, then at a low temperature.
6. Repeated drying (复烘, fùhōng). Slow, over a low fire.

The district authorities describe the rule for the district’s tea as a whole with the formula “picked before Qingming, processed the same day”.

Reference summaries add that the top grade is made by hand, and the first to third grades by machine. They describe processing more briefly — as two stages: fixation, at the end of which the leaf is given its shape, and drying in two passes (毛烘, 复焙).

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

Description according to the CNIPA requirements:

• Dry leaf appearance: Straight, flat and pressed down, even and solid, green and lustrous, with down (扁直平伏，匀齐壮实，绿润带毫).
• Dry leaf aroma: No separate description found in the sources consulted.
• Liquor aroma: Clean, high and long-lasting, with a floral note (清香高长带花香). Reports note a high “chestnut” aroma (板栗香).
• Taste: Rich and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste (滋味醇厚回甘). The tea dictionary calls the taste fresh and brisk.
• Liquor color: Tender green and bright (汤色嫩绿明亮).
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): Even, opening into a “flower”, green and bright (叶底匀成朵绿亮).

Reference summaries describe the top grade as follows: the buds are plump, the leaf wraps the bud, straight and slightly flattened, the down “like snow”; the aroma is high, with a floral note, the liquor light and clear, the spent leaves whole tender green buds.

The requirements sum up the distinctive features in the formula “形秀色翠带白毫，味醇香清露花香”: an elegant shape, an emerald color with white down, a mellow taste, a clean aroma with a floral note. The tourism publication’s column names a high aroma, mellow sweetness and endurance over many infusions as the main features, and calls the appearance modest.

7. Chemical Composition

CNIPA requirement limits: moisture not more than 6.5%, water extract not less than 38%, amino acids not less than 2.5%, tea polyphenols not less than 16%. These are limits for the product, not an analysis of specific batches.

8. Brewing

General practice for green tea as a class: the documents give no parameters.

• Water temperature: 80–85°C.
• Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
• Teaware: A glass tumbler — in it you can see the leaf open into a “flower”.
• Process: Warm the teaware, add the tea, pour the water down the side; first infusion — after 40–60 seconds; drink, leaving part of the liquor, and top up — two or three further infusions.

9. Storage

General practice for the class. 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

Price data are not found in the sources consulted. According to the district representative (2025), Nanqiao has 38,000 mu of tea gardens and about 1220 t of dry tea a year — this is all the district’s tea, including Shiji Maofeng (施集毛峰) and Shiji Hongqing (施集烘青), not Xījiàn chūnxuě alone. By the same account, the shared brand is promoted by six large companies with a single trademark and packaging, and the tea brings income to more than 3000 tea-growing households. The tea dictionary names Chuzhou, Nanjing and Bengbu as the tea’s main market.

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Look for the special geographical indication mark; the authorized producers are listed in CNIPA announcement No. 633.
  • Check that the tea comes from Shiji Town, Nanqiao District.
  • The leaf is straight, flat, pressed down, green with white down; the spent leaves open into a “flower”.
  • In the tea dictionary, the entry “西涧雪芽” stands next to it — a similar name, but a different tea.

11. Interesting Facts

• The tea is named after a poem by Wei Yingwu; the Chuzhou tourism publication recalls that the poet also wrote about tea itself — in the poem “喜园中茶生”.
• The tourism publication’s column writes that the slopes where this tea grows are also the home of the Chuzhou chrysanthemum (滁州贡菊), which it calls the first of the country’s four famous chrysanthemums.
• A 2025 piece on the district’s tea ends with the promotional formula “the first tea north of the Yangtze” (江北第一茶) — a goal the district speaks of, not a conferred title.

12. Comparison with Other Flat Green Teas of Anhui

• Dudu Cuiming (都督翠茗): A flat tea from Mount Dudu near Lake Chaohu; recognized as a geographical indication product by the same CNIPA announcement No. 632.
• Huanghua Yunjian (黄花云尖): A straight, flat, downy tea from Ningguo, from the same announcement.
• Longchi Xiangjian (龙池香尖): A flat tea from Huaining County, “like a spearhead”.
• Tianzhu Jianhao (天柱剑毫): A flat “sword-shaped” tea from Mount Tianzhu with dense down.

In Conclusion:

Xījiàn chūnxuě is a flat green tea from the hills of Chuzhou, named after a line of a Tang poem: a straight leaf with white down, a clean high aroma with a floral note, a mellow taste with a sweet aftertaste, and a leaf that opens into a “flower”. The legends about it diverge, but the 2025 norms are definite: a zone of ten villages, the varieties Fuding Dabaicha and the Huangshan population, water extract not less than 38%.

Sources

Geographical indication

• CNIPA 地理标志产品认定 №632

Full list — on the Sources page