---
title: "Xīngshān báichá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/xingshan-baicha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Xīngshān báichá (兴山白茶)

*Xīngshān báichá* (兴山白茶) is a green tea from a light-leaf variety of Xingshan County (兴山县), Yichang prefecture-level city, Hubei Province. The word “*báichá*” in the name does not denote the class: the raw material comes from local bushes with “albino” leaves, whose spring shoots turn pale in the cold, and the tea is made by green tea technology. This is how the 2015 expert review described it before the registration of the agricultural product geographical indication (AGI). The county lies in the Three Gorges zone of the Yangtze and is considered the homeland of Wang Zhaojun; the local tea brand is now named after her as well — “Zhaojun Baicha” (昭君白茶).

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*) from a light-leaf variety. The 2015 expert review directly says that the tea is made by green tea technology (按照绿茶工艺制成), and the 2025 document of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) requires light pan-firing — a step of the green scheme that white tea does not have.
* **Name trap:** “白茶” here is the color of the spring leaf, as with Anji Baicha and Dazhu Baicha.
* **Category:** Tea from a light-leaf variety; agricultural product geographical indication (2015) and geographical indication product in the CNIPA list (2025).
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Yichang prefecture-level city (宜昌, *Yíchāng*), Xingshan County (兴山, *Xīngshān*).
* **Protection zone:** Three units of the county — the towns of Shuiyuesi (水月寺镇) and Xiakou (峡口镇) and Gaoqiao township (高桥乡). The boundaries are set by extreme points: in the east — Maliangping (马粮坪) of Shuiyuesi town, in the south — Yezhuchi (野竹池) of the same town, in the west — Hejiaping (贺家坪) of Gaoqiao township, in the north — Hongshuihe (洪水河) of Shuiyuesi town.
* **Geographic coordinates:** 110°25′–111°09′ E, 31°08′–31°25′ N.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **The old tree.** In the 1990s, in Longtan village (龙潭村) of Gaoqiao township, a wild old “white” tea tree was found. According to *Economic Daily* (经济日报, 2025), there are two such trees in the country. A publication about the brand from the same year adds: the tree is 358 years old, the second one grows in Anji (Zhejiang), and the Xingshan tree is called the “mother tree of *Xīngshān báichá*” (兴山白茶母本树). In 2022 the press gave 355 years, citing an examination by the Academy of Sciences; the sources do not give the method.
    * **2015.** According to a report in the magazine *Minsheng Zhoukan* (民生周刊) of August 2015, the name passed a field expert review by the provincial and city agriculture administrations for registration of an agricultural product geographical indication. It is the fourth tea of Yichang prefecture with such an indication — after Dengcun Lücha, Yidu Yihongcha ([宜都宜红茶](https://thetea.app/article/yidu-yihong-cha)) and Yuan'an Huangcha. The indication number is AGI01762.
    * **2023.** In December the Yicha group (宜茶集团) opened a company in Pu'an village (普安村) of Xiakou town; the company promotes the “Zhaojun Baicha” brand.
    * **2025.** By CNIPA announcement No. 640 of 16 July, the name was included in the list of geographical indication products; the applicant is the county's local products service (兴山县特产服务中心).
* **Name:** “Xingshan” (兴山) — the name of the county; “*báichá*” (白茶) — “white tea”, after the light color of the spring shoots.
* **Cultural significance:** Xingshan is called the homeland of Wang Zhaojun (王昭君), and the county builds its tea brand on this name. In the county strategy, according to a 2025 publication, white-leaf tea comes first: “premium white tea, quality green, special red” (精品白茶+优质绿茶+特色红茶). Gaoqiao township has turned the place where the old tree was found into a landmark.

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

* **Variety:** The 2025 CNIPA document names the clonal variety *Xīngshān báichá* (兴山白茶无性系良种). The 2015 report speaks of a local variety of “white” tea sensitive to low temperature (低温敏感性白化茶地方变异良种). A reference website of local specialties writes otherwise: in 2004 the Anji Baicha variety from Zhejiang was planted on a trial basis in Maliangping village. The sources do not explain how the local variety and the Anji variety relate to each other.
* **Harvest standard:** According to a 2025 publication, a bud with one leaf is picked (一叶一心).
* **Harvest time:** According to the document — from 10 March to 30 April, in batches, in several rounds. In 2025 the harvest began on 25 March.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The west of Hubei Province, the Three Gorges zone of the Yangtze. A 2025 publication links the county's tea growing with the microclimate of the Three Gorges.
* **Growing altitude:** According to the document — **600–800 m**, sunny slopes with a gradient of no more than 25°.
* **Climate and soils:** According to the document — average annual temperature above 15 °C, absolute minimum no lower than −8 °C, groundwater deeper than 1 m, soil pH 4.5–6.5.
* **Planting and care:** According to the document — 33,000–45,000 bushes per hectare, mainly organic fertilizers, 2–3 times a year, no more than three pest treatments a year.
* **Area and output:** The 2015 report — more than 20,000 *mu* of white-leaf tea; the reference website — 1400 ha and 420 t for 2015; the 2025 publication — 25,000 *mu* out of 65,000 *mu* of all the county's tea gardens.
* **Neighbors:** The territory of Xingshan is also part of the zone of Yichang red tea (宜昌宜红). On the same land, two names of different products legally coexist.

**5. Production Technology:**

The 2025 CNIPA document describes the processing in one line: long spreading of the fresh leaf, light pan-firing and light rolling, long drying at low temperature in several stages (长摊青，轻炒轻揉，低温长烘，多次烘干). It gives no temperatures or times. The explanations of the stages below are the general scheme of green tea, not a description of this particular tea.

1.  **Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊青, *tānqīng*):** According to the document — long. The leaf gives up part of its moisture.
2.  **Fixation by pan-firing (炒, *chǎo*):** According to the document — light. Heating stops oxidation.
3.  **Rolling (揉, *róu*):** According to the document — light.
4.  **Drying (烘干, *hōnggān*):** According to the document — long, at low temperature, in several stages.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The 2025 CNIPA document and the brand description (2025) differ, so both are given.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** According to the document — even, whole strips, green with a sheen (条索匀齐、完整，色泽绿润). In the brand description — emerald with touches of yellow (翠绿间黄).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** Descriptions were not found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Clean and lasting (清香持久).
* **Taste:** Fresh, mellow, with sweetness (鲜醇、甘爽); in the brand description — fresh and sweet (鲜爽甘甜).
* **Liquor color:** According to the document — tender green, bright (嫩绿明亮); in the brand description — gosling yellow, transparent (鹅黄透亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** According to the document — whole, with a jade tint (完整、显玉色); in the brand description — jade-white with green veins (玉白脉绿).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Norms of the 2025 CNIPA document:

| Indicator | Norm |
| :--- | :--- |
| Water-soluble substances | no less than 35% |
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 12% |
| Free amino acids | no less than 3.5% |

The 2015 report gives an amino acid content of 6.5% — more than twice that of other green teas — and half as many polyphenols as in ordinary green tea. The 2025 publication already writes of a four- to fivefold excess. The sources do not name the method.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**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. The tea is best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Prices for the finished tea were not found in the sources consulted. According to a 2025 publication, on the first day of the harvest fresh leaf was bought at 100 yuan per jin, and pickers were paid 30 yuan per jin picked.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication product mark (the right to it is approved by CNIPA) and check that the raw material comes from the towns of Shuiyuesi and Xiakou or Gaoqiao township.
    * Remember that according to the documents this is a green tea, not a white tea by technology.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* Three of the four extreme points of the indication zone lie in one town — Shuiyuesi.
* The eastern extreme point of the zone, Maliangping, is also a thousand-mu garden which, according to a 2025 publication, receives more than ten thousand tourists a year.
* The mother tree, according to reports, is one of two in the country; the second grows in Anji.

**13. Comparison with Other Teas:**

* **Anji Baicha ([安吉白茶](https://thetea.app/article/anji-baicha)):** A green tea from a light-leaf variety of Zhejiang, the best known in this group. The documents call the variety of *Xīngshān báichá* local (section 3).
* **Dengcun Lücha ([邓村绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/dengcun-lucha)):** A high-mountain green tea of the same Yichang prefecture, one of the three earlier tea indications of the prefecture.
* **Yuan'an Huangcha ([远安黄茶](https://thetea.app/article/yuanan-huangcha)):** A tea of the same prefecture, yellow by technology, with sweltering.
* **Yihong Gongfu ([宜红工夫](https://thetea.app/article/yihong-gong-fu)):** Yichang red tea; Xingshan is also part of its zone.

**In Conclusion:**

*Xīngshān báichá* is a green tea with a deceptive name: what makes it “white”, according to the documents, is a local variety whose spring shoots turn pale in the cold, not the technology. The 2025 CNIPA document sets the clonal variety, an altitude of 600–800 m, harvest from 10 March to 30 April, light pan-firing and long drying, norms for amino acids and polyphenols, and a zone of three units of the county. The rest are descriptions of the “Zhaojun Baicha” brand, and their amino acid figures disagree with one another.