Xīngǎng hóngchá (新岗红茶) is a red tea of Qiashui town (洽水镇), Huaiji County (怀集县), Zhaoqing prefecture-level city, in the northwest of Guangdong Province. The heart of production is the Xingang state forest farm at the foot of Dachouding, the highest point of the prefecture, 1626 m. The technology has eleven operations, and two of them — rolling in cloth and roasting for aroma — are taken from the oolong school; the liquor comes out with a distinct floral-fruity aroma. Since 2018 the tea has been protected as a geographical indication product, and local publications call Qiashui itself one of the ten tea towns of Guangdong.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Red tea (红茶, hóngchá); the class is stated in the name, and Minsheng Zhoukan directly calls it fully fermented (全发酵茶).
- Category: Mountain red tea of Guangdong; geographical indication product (2018).
- Origin: China, Guangdong Province (广东, Guǎngdōng), Zhaoqing prefecture-level city (肇庆, Zhàoqìng), Huaiji County (怀集县, Huáijí Xiàn), Qiashui town (洽水镇, Qiàshuǐ Zhèn). The protection zone is the current administrative territory of Qiashui town.
- Geographic coordinates: Huaiji County — about 23.9° N and 112.2° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Chayan village. According to a local legend retold by a local publication, several hundred years ago in the north of Qiashui there was Chayan village (茶岩村, “tea rock”), surrounded by mountains overgrown with wild tea. The villagers lived off tea: they selected the best trees and planted them. Documents on the beginning of tea growing were not found in the sources consulted.
- Xianfeng — tea for the army. According to the Huaiji County Chronicle (《怀集县志》) as retold by the same publication, in the tenth month of the ninth year of Xianfeng a Taiping detachment entered Huaiji, camped in Chayan village and collected tea from the village for the army.
- 1956 — the forest farm. According to the same publication, the Zhaoqing authorities allocated more than a hundred thousand mu in the Xingang area and created the Xingang state forest farm. There, with the involvement of foreign capital, an agricultural company was set up, which improved the local technology and produces Xingang red tea and a Dongding-type (冻顶) oolong. By the beginning of the reforms, the publication writes, Xīngǎng hóngchá was already known.
- 2016–2017 — awards. According to a local publication, in 2016 the tea received the “green food” (绿色食品) certificate and gold at the autumn competition of famous teas of Guangdong in the red tea class, and in 2017 — silver at the spring competition and the title of “famous brand of Guangdong Province” (广东省名牌产品).
- 2018. By announcement No. 31 of 2018, dated 6 March, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) placed Xīngǎng hóngchá under protection as a geographical indication product.
- 2020. Announcement No. 356 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) allowed two producers to use the special GI product mark.
- Name:
- “Xingang” (新岗) — literally “new hill”, the name of the area and of the forest farm.
- “Hongcha” (红茶, hóngchá) — “red tea”.
- Cultural significance: For Huaiji, Xingang is its tea calling card: local publications include Qiashui town in the top ten tea towns of Guangdong, and the county promotes the red tea as one of its six geographical indication products.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: The variety specified by the protection document was not found in the sources consulted. The newspaper Nanfang writes of Xīngǎng hóngchá as a “high-mountain Qingxin oolong” (青心乌龙), which may point to the variety of the raw material; confirmation in documents was not found in the sources consulted. This wording does not change the class of the tea: the name and the technology are those of a red tea.
- Harvest: Dates are not given in the sources consulted. The magazine Minsheng Zhoukan relays the local picking rule — “early, tender, often” (早、嫩、勤).
- Harvest standard: A bud with a leaf (一芽一叶); according to Minsheng Zhoukan — a bud with one or two leaves.
- Raw material requirements: Origin from Qiashui town.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Qiashui lies in the northeast of Huaiji County; on the town’s lands stands Dachouding (大稠顶, 1626 m), the highest point of Zhaoqing. The terrain is mountainous and stepped. The main area — the Xingang farm — is described by the newspaper Nanfang as a place where clouds and fog hang all year round, the difference between day and night temperatures is large and rain is plentiful.
- Growing altitude: Nanfang writes of raw material from altitudes of 600 m and above, Minsheng Zhoukan — of gardens above 800 m. No figure from the protection documents was found in the sources consulted.
- Soils: According to local descriptions, fertile; the soil type was not found in the sources consulted.
- Climate: Warm and humid; climate figures were not found in the sources consulted.
- Area: The data differ. According to a local publication of 2020, the tea, having started in the Xingang area, spread to the whole town and covers more than 8000 mu; Minsheng Zhoukan in 2025 gives the area under Xingang tea as 1000 mu. Which territory each source counts is not specified in the texts found.
5. Production Technology
Eleven operations, as described by local sources:
- Picking (采摘 — cǎizhāi): A bud with a leaf.
- Solar withering (日光萎凋 — rìguāng wěidiāo).
- Indoor withering (室内萎凋 — shìnèi wěidiāo).
- Rolling and shaping (揉捻做形 — róuniǎn zuòxíng).
- Fermentation (发酵 — fājiào).
- First drying (初烘 — chūhōng).
- Cloth rolling with shaping (包揉整形 — bāoróu zhěngxíng): A technique of the oolong school: the leaf is wrapped in cloth and rolled, tightening the twist.
- Second drying (复烘 — fùhōng).
- Shape setting (定型 — dìngxíng).
- Drying (干燥 — gānzào).
- Roasting for aroma (焙火提香 — bèihuǒ tíxiāng): Also a technique of the oolong school.
Temperatures and durations were not found in the sources consulted.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
- Dry leaf appearance: Tight twists (条索紧结), black, with an oily sheen (乌润油亮).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description.
- Liquor aroma: Distinct floral-fruity (花果香明显); Minsheng Zhoukan compares it to flowers and honey.
- Taste: Fresh, tender-sweet, with a long sweet aftertaste (滋味鲜爽嫩甜，回甘持久).
- Liquor color: Brownish red, bright (汤色棕红明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No separate description.
7. Chemical Composition
No physicochemical data were found in the sources consulted. Local advertising texts speak of an elevated content of anthocyanins, but give neither a method nor figures; this claim cannot be considered verified.
8. Brewing
Class practice. No specific recommendations for Xīngǎng hóngchá were found in the sources consulted; below are the usual parameters for red tea.
- Water temperature: 90–95 °C.
- Tea amount: 3–5 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A white porcelain gaiwan or teapot — to see the color of the liquor.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in the tea.
- Briefly wet the leaf with hot water and pour it off.
- First infusion — 15–30 seconds in a gaiwan.
- Pour out completely.
- Repeat infusions, adding 10–15 seconds each time.
9. Storage
Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry, cool, dark place, away from foreign odors. A refrigerator is not needed.
10. Price and Counterfeits
Price data were not found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special GI product mark on the packaging; under the 2020 CNIPA announcement, two producers received the right to it.
- Check that the producer is located in Qiashui town: the protection zone is that town alone.
- Leaf — tight black glossy twists; aroma — distinct floral-fruity.
- Liquor — brownish red and bright.
11. Interesting Facts
- Of the eleven operations, two — rolling in cloth and roasting for aroma — came from the oolong school.
- The gardens lie at the foot of Dachouding, the highest point of Zhaoqing prefecture.
- The forest farm on whose land the tea grows was, according to a local publication, created as early as 1956.
- Huaiji County has six geographical indication products; the red tea is one of them.
12. Comparison with Other Red Teas
- Huaiji Hongcha (怀集红茶): An overview of the red teas of all of Huaiji County; Xingang is the protected name of one town within it.
- Yingde Hongcha (英德红茶): A well-known Guangdong red tea from large-leaf raw material; Xingang is a mountain red tea from a forest farm with oolong techniques in its technology.
- Qimen Hongcha (祁门红茶): A classic gongfu red tea of Anhui; a different province and a different school of processing.
- Dianhong (滇红): A Yunnan large-leaf red tea; a different type of raw material.
In Conclusion:
Xīngǎng hóngchá is a mountain red tea of Guangdong with an unusual technology, in which the red tea scheme is supplemented by two oolong techniques. A garden at the foot of the highest mountain of Zhaoqing, fog and rolling in cloth give a tight black twist, a distinct floral-fruity aroma and a fresh, tender-sweet taste. The protected zone is one town, and this is a tea recognized by its place.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page