Yāntái chá (烟台茶) is the umbrella name for the tea of Yantai prefecture-level city (烟台市) on the Shandong Peninsula, Shandong Province. The name is a pure toponym plus the generic “cha”, with no indication of class: it covers the tea of the whole prefecture, from the southern districts to the island county of Changdao. The product requirements distinguish three forms — flat, curled and needle-shaped tea; in appearance all three are green, but the class is not named in the document. The zone lies between 36°16′ and 38°23′ north latitude — this is one of the northernmost tea areas of China. The name was registered as an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI) in 2021, and in 2025 it was recognized as a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: The class is not named in the product requirements. The three described forms — flat (扁形茶), curled (卷曲形茶) and needle-shaped (针形茶) tea — are emerald, gray-green or green, with a green liquor, that is, in appearance this is green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). There is no section on technology in the document that would confirm the class.
- Category: A prefecture-level umbrella name; a northern tea of China that grew out of the “Southern tea to the north” program (南茶北引, nán chá běi yǐn).
- Origin: China, Shandong Province (山东, Shāndōng), Yantai prefecture-level city (烟台, Yāntái).
- Protection zone: Fifteen districts, county-level cities and special territories of the prefecture: the districts of Zhifu (芝罘), Laishan (莱山), Fushan (福山), Muping (牟平) and Penglai (蓬莱), the economic development zone, the high-tech zone, the cities of Longkou (龙口), Laizhou (莱州), Zhaoyuan (招远), Qixia (栖霞), Laiyang (莱阳) and Haiyang (海阳), Changdao County (长岛) and the Kunyushan (昆嵛山) nature reserve. They contain 154 townships, towns and subdistricts.
- Geographic coordinates: 119°34′–121°57′ E and 36°16′–38°23′ N.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- The legend of old tea. Local descriptions trace the history of tea in Yantai back to the end of the Southern Song and the beginning of the Yuan. Documents that would confirm this were not found in the sources consulted.
- 1966. According to the Yantai Forestry Chronicle (烟台林业志) as retold by local descriptions, the transfer of tea to the north began in 1966; the seeds were brought from Anhui and Zhejiang.
- 1978. The peak output of those years was 132,450 kg. Other local publications, citing the same chronicle, give something different: a successful trial planting in May 1963 and a peak in 1977 — 187,750 kg. I have not resolved the discrepancy.
- 1985. About 600 mu of tea gardens remained — the undertaking had almost died out.
- 2004. A broad revival of green tea began; the main areas are Haiyang, Laiyang, Penglai, Muping and Laizhou. According to local data, Haiyang accounts for about 80% of the area.
- 2021. The Ministry of Agriculture included Yāntái chá in the first list of agricultural product geographical indications of 2021 (number AGI03358).
- 2025. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), by announcement No. 646, recognized Yāntái chá as a geographical indication product. The applicant is the Yantai Tea Society (烟台市茶叶学会).
- Name: “Yantai” (烟台) is the name of the city, literally “smoke tower”; “cha” (茶) means tea.
- Cultural significance: Tea here is young and rests on the image of a northern sea tea. The product requirements fix the formula of its appearance — “black-jade green, liquor the color of millet broth, bean aroma” (墨玉绿、小米汤、豆子香).
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties / Cultivars: In the product requirements the variety is called simply “Yantai tea”. The local press writes about the first variety bred in Yantai — Beicha 1 (北茶1号, Běichá 1): according to the press, it was obtained from Fuding Dabai and the Longjing population, entered in the national variety register in 2019 and tolerates frost down to −18 °C. The last point comes from local descriptions; I have not seen any trials.
- Harvest: Only by hand (人工采摘). There are no timings in the requirements.
- Harvest standard: Not given in the requirements.
- Raw material requirements: Origin from the protection zone. The requirements also set the care: organic fertilizer, 1 t per mu, before planting the seedlings (the document has “移摘”; in meaning, transplanting); special tea fertilizer, 1.5 t per mu, for the winter; drip irrigation only, 10–15 times a season; formative pruning after planting and annual trimming to the shape of the bush; treatment with lime-sulfur solution.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The north of the Shandong Peninsula, the sea coast; the zone stretches over more than two degrees of latitude — from Haiyang in the south to the Changdao islands in the north.
- Climate: Local descriptions call it maritime — with a warm winter and a cool summer by northern standards — and stress the large difference between day and night temperatures. Exact climate data were not found in the sources consulted.
- Growing altitude: Not specified in the requirements.
- Soils: pH from 5.6 to 7.5, organic matter on average 1.26%, the subsoil is well drained. The requirements list phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and selenium in the soils, without quantities.
5. Production Technology
There is no section on technology in the product requirements — only the appearance of the three forms. The local press describes manual pan-firing at 180–200 °C, which lasts more than forty minutes, and a yield of about two liang of dry tea from a jin of fresh leaf; which form this refers to is not specified.
For green tea, which is what all three forms look like, the general scheme of the class is as follows: withering (摊放, tānfàng), fixation (杀青, shāqīng), shaping — by pressing in the pan for flat tea, by twisting for curled tea, by straightening for needle-shaped tea — and drying (干燥, gānzào). This is the general scheme of the class, not a description of the technology of Yāntái chá.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The general formula of the requirements: the leaf is thick, the aroma high, the taste rich, the tea withstands many infusions (叶片厚、香气高、滋味浓、耐冲泡).
- Dry leaf appearance:
- Flat tea — flat and straight, smooth and fresh, emerald (扁平挺直、光滑鲜润、色泽翠绿).
- Curled — a fine or tight twist, even and firm, gray-green with a bloom (灰绿起霜).
- Needle-shaped — tight, fine, round, straight, green, with white down.
- Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: For flat tea — rich, long and lasting (浓郁悠长); for curled — clean, high and lasting (清高而持久); for needle-shaped — clean and high (清高). The general formula names a bean aroma.
- Taste: For flat tea — mellow and full (醇厚); for curled — rich, with a sweet return (浓醇而回甘); for needle-shaped — mellow and harmonious (醇和).
- Liquor color: For flat tea — emerald and bright (碧绿明亮); for needle-shaped — clear, light green (清澈、绿亮); for curled it is not given separately.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): For flat tea — even, the leaves open into whole shoots (匀齐成朵); for curled — tender green and substantial (嫩绿而厚实); for needle-shaped — plump, tender and even (肥嫩、匀齐).
7. Chemical Composition
Physicochemical requirements for the product:
| Indicator | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Moisture | no more than 6 g/100 g |
| Total ash | no more than 7 g/100 g |
| Extractives | no less than 37% |
| Broken leaf and dust | no more than 0.5% |
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 14% |
| Free amino acids (on a dry basis) | no less than 4% |
| Caffeine | no less than 2 mg/kg (as in the document) |
These are acceptance thresholds, not a measured composition. The caffeine threshold is written in milligrams per kilogram — an unusually small value for tea, and the unit may have been given in error; I give it as is. Local descriptions claim that Yantai tea has more amino acids and extractives than southern teas, but I have not seen comparative data with a method.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea: in appearance all three forms are green.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C; for tight curled tea — up to 90 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler for flat and needle-shaped tea, a white gaiwan for curled.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
- The first infusion — 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Three or four further infusions: the requirements stress that the tea withstands many infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice for green tea. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and foreign odors. Best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the geographical indication mark; the umbrella name does not name the form, so look at which form is in the pack.
- Check that the producer is located in one of the fifteen units of Yantai prefecture.
- Compare the appearance with the requirements: flat — emerald and smooth, curled — gray-green with a bloom, needle-shaped — straight, with white down.
11. Interesting Facts
- The northern boundary of the zone is 38°23′ N, the islands of Changdao County.
- The Kunyushan nature reserve is included in the protection zone.
- Tea in Yantai was started twice: the 1966 transfer died out by 1985, down to 600 mu, and the revival had to be started in 2004.
- One umbrella name covers three leaf forms — flat, curled and needle-shaped.
12. Comparison with Other Teas of Shandong
- Yantai Lü Cha (烟台绿茶): A green tea of the same prefecture with a separate, narrower registration; we have an article about it. There the formula of appearance sounds different — “black-jade green, roasted-bean aroma, amber liquor”. Yāntái chá is an umbrella over the tea of the prefecture as a whole, and the two names must not be equated.
- Laoshan Lü Cha (崂山绿茶): A green tea of Mount Laoshan near Qingdao, farther south on the peninsula.
- Rizhao Lü Cha (日照绿茶): A green tea of seaside Rizhao in the south of Shandong.
In Conclusion:
Yāntái chá is the prefecture-wide name of a northern sea tea: fifteen units of the prefecture, from Haiyang to the Changdao islands, three leaf forms and one common formula — a thick leaf, a high aroma, a rich taste. The class is not named in the description found, although in appearance all the forms are green. The history is short and uneven: the 1966 transfer, the fading by 1985, the revival from 2004, the 2021 mark and the 2025 recognition.