---
title: "Xīndòng chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/xindong-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Xīndòng chá (新垌茶)

*Xīndòng chá* (新垌茶) is a green tea of Xindong town (新垌镇), Gaozhou county-level city (高州市), Maoming prefecture, in the southwest of Guangdong Province. Since July 2014 it has been a geographical indication product, and the protection document describes it in detail: a local population variety, hand picking, fixation at 250–300 °C and a final hand pan-firing in a wok. The local press traces its history to the Deng clan, who moved here from Fujian in the Ming era — this is a family legend, not a document.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*). The protection document does not name the class in words, but it sets the technology of a green tea: fixation, rolling, drying, pan-firing — without oxidation and without sweltering. The local newspaper directly calls it green (新垌绿茶).
* **Category:** Guangdong green tea; geographical indication product (2014).
* **Origin:** China, Guangdong Province (广东, *Guǎngdōng*), Maoming prefecture-level city (茂名, *Màomíng*), Gaozhou county-level city (高州, *Gāozhōu*), Xindong town.
* **Protection zone:** Xindong town within its current administrative boundaries (新垌镇现辖行政区域) — as recorded in the 2014 announcement.
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 22° N and 111° E — approximately, by the position of Gaozhou; the document gives no coordinates for the zone.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Ming era — a clan legend.** According to a publication on the website of the newspaper *Maoming Ribao* (2022), in the fourth year of Wanli (万历, 1576) the founding ancestor of the Deng (邓) clan moved to Xindong from Fujian and brought tea seeds with him. In one place the newspaper writes that “more than five hundred years” have passed since then, in another — “more than four hundred”; counting from 1576 gives 446.
    * **The chronicle.** The newspaper quotes from *Gaozhou Fuzhi* (高州府志) the words: “茶产茂名新垌者，树高数尺，谷雨前摘取者最佳，以出水龙者为极品” — tea from Xindong grows as trees several chi tall, the best is picked before the Guyu season, and the highest grade comes from Chushuilong. I have not seen the chronicle itself.
    * **Poems.** The same source also gives lines by the Qing poet Yang Kang (杨康), ending with the words “今朝新垌采茶回” — “today we return from picking tea in Xindong”.
    * **2014.** The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 77 of 14 July 2014, placed *Xīndòng chá* under protection as a geographical indication product.
    * **2024.** In March the Tea Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences surveyed the Chushuilong tea farm (出水窿茶场) and farmers' workshops. According to the institute, the town asked for help with a development plan for the tea industry and to “clarify the quality characteristics” of the product, and the institute proposed creating a demonstration ecological garden, a processing line, a system of production standards, a public brand and a leading enterprise.
* **Name:** “Xindong” (新垌) — the name of the town; “cha” (茶) — tea.
* **Best plot:** The sources write it differently: 出水窿 (Chushuilong) — by the Academy and in the registry card, 出水龙 — in the quotation from the chronicle, 出瑞龙村 (Churuilong) — in the newspaper text. I have not established which spelling is official.
* **Cultural significance:** According to the newspaper, Xindong is called the “land of tea and fruit” (茶果之乡).

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** A local population variety (当地[群体种](https://thetea.app/article/qunti-zhong), *dāngdì qúntǐzhǒng*) — the document's only requirement for the variety. Propagation — by seeds or cuttings.
* **Harvest:** Spring — until the end of April, autumn — from August to October. By hand only.
* **Harvest standard:** According to the protection document:

| Grade | Fresh leaf requirement |
| :--- | :--- |
| Special (特级) | Whole buds no less than 80%, bud with one leaf — no more than 20% |
| First (一级) | Bud with two leaves — no less than 70%, bud with three leaves — no more than 30%; shoots intact, the bud no shorter than the leaf, uniform size |

The newspaper describes the picking with the formula “采早、采细、采嫩、采二叶一针” — early, fine, tender, “two leaves and a needle”.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The east of Gaozhou county-level city, the southwest of Guangdong.
* **Topography and climate:** According to the newspaper, behind Chushuilong village lies a mountain ridge among high mountains; the land is fertile, with much fog and rain. Climate figures were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Growing altitude:** The document does not set an altitude; data were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Soils:** According to the document — three types of red and yellow soils (赤红壤、红壤、黄壤), pH 4.5–6.0, a soil layer deeper than 1 m, organic matter no less than 1.5%.
* **Agronomy according to the document:** No more than 30,000 bushes per hectare; every year — no less than 15 t of well-rotted organic fertilizer per hectare.
* **Area:** According to the newspaper — “more than a thousand mu” of gardens with a yield of over 100 kg per mu; the newspaper does not give the year of the data.

**5. Production Technology:**

The protection document sets the scheme: spreading → fixation → rolling → partial drying → drying → pan-firing. The parameters are from the document.

1.  **Spreading (摊青, *tānqīng*):** At 15–20 °C the leaf is spread in a layer of 3–10 cm until it loses 15–30% of its moisture.
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** At 250–300 °C. Readiness: the leaf darkens, the stalk does not break when bent, the leaf is soft and slightly sticky, squeezed in a handful it forms a ball and springs back a little, and the smell of raw greens gives way to a tea smell.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*):** Until no less than 95% of the leaf is twisted into strips.
4.  **Partial drying (辉干 — as written in the document, *huīgān*):** At 80–90 °C to eight-tenths dryness: the strips become tighter, and the color turns green with a sheen.
5.  **Drying (烘干, *hōnggān*):** At 60–70 °C to a moisture content of no more than 9%.
6.  **Pan-firing (炒茶, *chǎochá*):** By hand, in a wok. It starts at 50–60 °C; five minutes before the end the heat is raised to 90–100 °C. The moisture of the finished tea is no more than 5%.

According to the newspaper, the tea is still mostly made by hand.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The description is from the protection document unless stated otherwise.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Tight, curled strips, green, with a sheen (条索紧结、卷曲，色泽绿润).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** Data were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Rich, sweet and lasting (馥郁，甘香持久).
* **Taste:** Strong and mellow, with a sweet return (浓醇，回甘).
* **Liquor color:** According to the document — orange-yellow, clear (橙黄，清亮). The newspaper writes otherwise — “green and clear” (汤色绿明). I have not resolved the discrepancy; the document is the one to rely on.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** The document does not describe them. According to the newspaper, in the cup the leaf unfolds and the fine buds stand upright.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical requirements of the protection document:

| Indicator | Norm |
| :--- | :--- |
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 25.0% |
| Water-soluble extractives | no less than 37.0% |

The newspaper claims that Xindong tea contains more polyphenols, amino acids, vitamins and aromatic substances than ordinary green tea, but gives neither figures nor a method. Data on caffeine and amino acids were not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. The newspaper lists folk remedies that use this tea; I have not found supporting studies and will not repeat them.

**9. 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:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    5. Top up with water.
    6. Two or three more infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data were not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the special geographical indication product mark.
    * Check that the producer is from Xindong town.
    * Dry leaf — tight, curled green strips with a sheen.
    * Aroma — rich and lasting; taste — strong, with a sweet return.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* *Xīndòng chá* and Matu Lücha were placed under protection by the same 2014 announcement — two Guangdong teas in a list of twenty-two products.
* Pan-firing in the wok comes last, after the drying, and toward the end the heat is almost doubled.
* The document calls the liquor of this green tea orange-yellow.
* According to a legend retold by the newspaper, in the Guangxu (光绪) years the prefect of Gaozhou, passing through the village, drank this tea, and his stomach ache went away. This is a legend, not evidence of the tea's effect.

**13. Comparison with Other Guangdong Green Teas:**

* **Matu Lücha ([马图绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/matu-lucha)):** A pan-fired green tea of Fengshun County in the northeast of the province; protected by the same 2014 announcement.
* **Jiaoling Lücha ([蕉岭绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/jiaoling-lucha)):** A green tea of Jiaoling County made from varieties typical of oolong.
* **Huaiji Lücha ([怀集绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/huaiji-lucha)):** A green tea of northwestern Guangdong, near the junction with Guangxi and Hunan.
* **Lechang Bai Mao Cha ([乐昌白毛茶](https://thetea.app/article/lechang-bai-maocha)):** A green tea of the north of the province from a white-down variety.

**In Conclusion:**

*Xīndòng chá* is a green tea of one town, about which the document says more than the press: a local population variety, a special grade made almost entirely of buds, fixation at 250–300 °C, a final hand pan-firing, a rich lasting aroma, a strong taste with a sweet return and an unexpectedly orange-yellow liquor. The Deng clan, the lines of the chronicle and the verses of the Qing poet rest on the retelling of the local newspaper.