---
title: "Yáolǐ nènruǐ"
url: https://thetea.app/article/yaoli-nenrui
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Yáolǐ nènruǐ (瑶里嫩蕊)

*Yáolǐ nènruǐ* (瑶里嫩蕊) is a green tea of Yaoli Town in Fuliang County (浮梁县) of Jingdezhen prefecture-level city in the northeast of Jiangxi Province. Yaoli is a mountain town near the border with Anhui that is called the source of Jingdezhen porcelain. The name “*nènruǐ*” — “tender bud” — is placed by reference texts among the old Fuliang teas known since the Tang. Since 2008 *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* has been protected as a geographical indication product, and its document is detailed: varieties, place, harvest standard, technology with temperatures and physicochemical norms.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*), unfermented. The class is not named directly in the document, but the technology — pan fixation, rolling, straightening, drying — and the appearance (straight twisted leaves with down, a tender green leaf, a clear liquor) belong to green tea.
* **Category:** A green tea of Jiangxi; a geographical indication product (2008).
* **Origin:** China, Jiangxi Province (江西, *Jiāngxī*), Jingdezhen prefecture-level city (景德镇, *Jǐngdézhèn*), Fuliang County (浮梁县, *Fúliáng xiàn*), Yaoli Town (瑶里镇, *Yáolǐ zhèn*).
* **Protection zone:** **The present administrative territory of Yaoli Town** — according to the 2008 application of the Fuliang County government.
* **Geographic coordinates:** About 29.5° N and 117.6° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Fuliang tea in the Tang era.** Yaoli lies in Fuliang County, whose tea trade has been known since the Tang era. The geographical compendium *Yuanhe Junxian Tuzhi* (《元和郡县图志》) records that Fuliang annually yielded 7 million tuo (驮) of tea and about 150,000 strings of coins in tax; modern authors estimate differently what share of all the empire's tea this made up. In 816 Bai Juyi, in the *Song of the Pipa* (《琵琶行》), mentioned a merchant who had gone to Fuliang for tea.
    * **Old names.** Reference texts list “Xianzhi” (仙芝), “*nènruǐ*” (嫩蕊), “Fuhe” (福合) and “Luhe” (禄合) as Fuliang teas known since the Tang; according to these texts, they held on under the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing and became tribute to the court. Today's *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* bears the old name; there are no data on continuity of the technology.
    * **2008.** The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 77 of 1 July 2008, took *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* under protection as a geographical indication product. The same announcement protected, among others, the baijiu 酒鬼酒 and the peaches 秦安蜜桃.
    * **2025.** A local standard for *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* is listed on the government standards portal; its text was not available in the sources found.
* **Name:**
    * “Yaoli” (瑶里) is the name of the town.
    * “Nenrui” (嫩蕊, *nènruǐ*) — “tender bud”, “tender little heart”: an image of the bud.
* **Cultural significance:** In Yaoli two old crafts of the county live side by side — porcelain and tea. The town is considered the source of Jingdezhen porcelain, and in the same county, near Ehu Town, lies the village of Gaoling (高岭), from whose name the word “kaolin” derives.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** According to the document — **浮梁槠[叶种](https://thetea.app/article/qiaomuguanmu)** (*Fúliáng zhūyè zhǒng*), the Fuliang local variety, as well as **迎霜** (*yíngshuāng*), **浙农113** and **浙农117** “and others”. Seedlings are only vegetative, from cuttings (扦插, *qiānchā*).
* **Harvest:** According to the document — in spring, by hand plucking (手工提采).
* **Harvest standard:** According to the document — from a single bud to a bud with one leaf (一芽至一芽一叶); the shoot is whole, fresh, tender and clean. The top grade (特级) is a bud or a bud with a barely opened leaf; the first grade (一级) is from a bud with a barely opened leaf to a bud with one leaf.
* **Gradations by timing:** The reference work divides the tea by harvest timing into **谷雨尖** (*gǔyǔ jiān*) — the earliest harvest, around the Guyu period in the last ten days of April (some descriptions place it before Guyu, others at the beginning of this period) — and the **细茶** (“fine tea”) and **粗茶** (“coarse tea”) that follow it. These gradations are not in the geographical indication document.
* **Raw material requirements:** The fresh leaf is transported in clean, well-ventilated containers, without crushing, and its freshness is preserved.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** Yaoli is a mountain town in the northeast of Fuliang County, near the border with Anhui Province.
* **Growing altitude:** According to the document — **no lower than 400 m**.
* **Soils:** Acidic, pH **4.5–6.5**. Sandy loam formed by the weathering of red earths, clay shales and granites. The soil layer is no less than **0.3 m**, organic matter no less than **1.0%**.
* **Topography:** The slope gradient is **less than 35%**.
* **Cultivation practice according to the document:** Planting is done from December to February, no denser than 2500 bushes per mu (667 m²) in single-row planting and 5000 in double-row planting. Mature gardens are usually pruned twice a year. Fertilizers are mainly organic, no more than 1000 kg per mu a year.
* **Climate:** Exact data for the Yaoli gardens were not found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

According to the geographical indication document, the chain is as follows: spreading of the fresh leaf → sorting → fixation → rolling → straightening → drying → packing and placing in storage.

* **Spreading (摊放 — *tānfàng*):** The leaf is spread in a layer of 1.5–3 cm.
* **Sorting (挑选 — *tiāoxuǎn*):** The leaf is picked over; the document gives no details.
* **Fixation (杀青 — *shāqīng*):** In a pan at a temperature from **180 to 150 °C** — until the whole leaf is evenly and completely fixed (杀匀杀透).
* **Rolling (揉捻 — *róuniǎn*):** By the rule “light — heavy — light” (轻—重—轻).
* **Straightening (理条 — *lǐtiáo*):** Until the silvery down shows (银毫显露) and the leaf is about **70%** dry (七成干).
* **Drying (烘干 — *hōnggān*):** The oven temperature is from **80 to 60 °C**, down to a moisture content **below 6%**.
* **Packing and storage:** The tea is packed by grade and placed in cold storage (入库冷藏保鲜).

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

* **Dry leaf appearance:** The twisted leaves are tight, straight, even and green (条索紧直匀绿); the color is tender green, the down is visible (嫩绿显毫). According to the document, in sunlight the leaf is translucent, like jade (在阳光下通透似玉).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** The document does not describe it separately; no data found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** High, long and lasting, with an orchid tone (香气高长持久，呈兰花香).
* **Taste:** Fresh, mellow, with a sweet return (鲜醇回甜).
* **Liquor color:** Clear and bright (汤色清澈透亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Tender green, even (叶底嫩绿匀齐).

For 谷雨尖 the reference work adds: the twisted leaves are tight and fine, tender green, with white down; the aroma is clean and lasting, the liquor clear, the taste fresh and mellow.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The document sets two norms: water-soluble extractives (水浸出物) — **no less than 36%**, amino acids — **no less than 3.5%**. Moisture after drying is below 6%. Data on the polyphenols and caffeine of this tea were not found in the sources consulted.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for green tea. The document gives no separate recommendations.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler — you can see the straight buds stand up in the water — or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea.
    3. Pour in a little water and let the leaf open for 20–30 seconds.
    4. Top up with water; the first infusion — 1–2 minutes.
    5. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    6. Two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice for green tea. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. The document itself also prescribes cold storage of the finished tea. This is a seasonal tea; it does not need aging.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data found in the sources consulted. For green tea an early and more tender harvest is usually more expensive; for *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* this is not confirmed by data.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging.
    * Check that the producer is located in Yaoli Town: the protection zone is that town alone.
    * The leaf is straight, tight, even, tender green, with down; against the light it is “jade-like”.
    * The liquor aroma is high and long, with an orchid tone.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The name “*nènruǐ*” stands in the list of old Fuliang teas next to “Xianzhi”, “Fuhe” and “Luhe”.
* The protection zone is a single town, not a county.
* The document gives a temperature profile for two operations at once — fixation (180 → 150 °C) and drying (80 → 60 °C).
* The word “kaolin” comes from the village of Gaoling in the same Fuliang County.

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

* **Fuliang Cha ([浮梁茶](https://thetea.app/article/fuliang-cha)):** A county-wide protected name under which both red and green tea are produced; *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* is the particular name of one town within Fuliang.
* **Fuyao Xianzhi ([浮瑶仙芝](https://thetea.app/article/fuyao-xianzhi)):** Another green tea of Fuliang County with its own name; “Xianzhi” is also a name from the list of old Fuliang teas.
* **Huangshan Maofeng ([黄山毛峰](https://thetea.app/article/huangshan-mao-feng)):** A green tea of neighboring Anhui Province. The maofeng leaf is not straightened into straight strands the way the leaf of *Yáolǐ nènruǐ* is: its shape is a slightly curved “sparrow's tongue”.

**In Conclusion:**

*Yáolǐ nènruǐ* is a green tea of a single town with an old Fuliang name and a detailed document: four varieties, an altitude from 400 m, a hand-plucked bud or bud with a leaf, fixation from 180 to 150 °C, straightening until the silvery down appears, no less than 3.5% amino acids. In the cup it is straight tender-green buds, a high orchid aroma and a fresh, sweetish taste — the tea of the porcelain backcountry of Jiangxi.