Yāshān ruìcǎokuí (鸦山瑞草魁) is a historical green tea of Langxi County (郎溪县) of Xuancheng prefecture-level city in the southeast of Anhui Province. The name is laudatory, from the bookish register: 瑞草 means “auspicious herb”, an old name for tea, and 魁 means “first”; 鸦山 is Crow Mountain in Yaocun Town. The second name is “横纹”, “transverse veins”, after the venation of the leaf of the local variety. The tea was revived in 1985–1986, and since 2025 it has been a geographical indication product.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The class is determined from the protection document of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA): spreading, fixation, straightening with shaping, and drying (摊青、杀青、理条做形、烘焙), without sweltering or oxidation. The document itself calls it “绿茶珍品” — a pearl of green tea.
- Category: A historical tea revived in the 1980s; geographical indication product (CNIPA, 2025). The name has no agricultural product geographical indication in the register.
- Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Xuancheng prefecture-level city (宣城, Xuānchéng), Langxi County (郎溪, Lángxī). The historical core is Mount Yashan in Yaocun Town (姚村); in old times these places belonged to Jianping County (建平县) — the former name of Langxi.
- Protection zone: Seven townships and towns of the county — Yaocun, Feili, Lingda, Shizi, Biqiao, Nanfeng and Taocheng.
- Geographic coordinates: 119°3′50″–119°20′49″ E, 30°4′47″–31°15′41″ N — according to the CNIPA announcement. A latitude span of more than a degree is unusually large for seven townships; a typo is possible, but there is no way to check it.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Du Mu’s line. Local publications begin the history with a line by the Tang poet Du Mu (杜牧), “山实东吴秀，茶称瑞草魁” — “the mountains here are the beauty of Eastern Wu, and the tea is called the first among auspicious herbs”. A collection of classical poetry gives the poem the title “题茶山（在宜兴）” — “Inscription on Tea Mountain (in Yixing)”: the poem is about the tea mountain of Yixing, and “瑞草魁” in it is a laudatory name for tea. Later books tie the name to Yashan.
- Ming. According to the newspaper Xuancheng Ribao (2024), the Ming compendium Qunfang Pu (《群芳谱》) by Wang Xiangjin (王象晋) writes of the mountain 丫山 with the best tea on its sunny slope, Yangpo (阳坡): connoisseurs in the capital called this tea “鸦山阳城横纹”, and another name for it is “瑞草魁”. The newspaper identifies 丫山 with Yashan of Yaocun Town.
- Tribute. According to the same newspaper, the Ming county gazetteer of Jianping from the Jiajing (嘉靖) era writes that the local tribute included 25 jin of bud tea.
- Qing. The publication “Xinhua Silk Road” cites the Qing gazetteer of Xuancheng County: at the foot of Mount Yangpo good tea had grown since old times, called “瑞草魁”, or otherwise “横纹”.
- Revival. According to a report by China National Radio (央广网, 2025), in 1979 the local tea factory did not make this tea — it was known only from old people’s stories. In 1985 South Anhui Agricultural College (皖南农学院) and county agencies set up a group to revive it, and in July 1986 the revived tea passed an expert evaluation.
- 2000 and 2010. According to the “Xinhua Silk Road” publication — recognition by the China National Tea Museum (2000) and gold at the Shanghai “中国名茶” competition (2010). Its claim of a “geographical indication product” in 2011 is confirmed neither by the 2025 announcement nor by the register.
- 2017. The processing technique was included in the fifth list of intangible cultural heritage of Anhui Province as “绿茶制作技艺（瑞草魁）”.
- 2025. By announcement No. 632, CNIPA recognized Yāshān ruìcǎokuí as a geographical indication product; the county had been preparing the application since 2024 (Xinhua, June 18, 2025).
- Name: 鸦山 means “Crow Mountain”; 瑞草 means “auspicious herb”, a bookish name for tea; 魁 means “first”. Other names are 鸦山横纹茶, 鸦山茶 and 鸦山岩茶.
- Cultural significance: In 2017 Miaoquan Village (妙泉村) was included, with this tea, in the national list of model villages under “one village, one product”.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: According to the protection document — the local variety “鸦山横纹茶种” (Yāshān héngwén cházhǒng), other local varieties and clones selected from them. According to the radio report, the angle between the main and lateral veins of the leaf is larger than usual, and the pattern looks transverse — hence “横纹”.
- Propagation: By cuttings with an axillary bud, cut within the production zone.
- Harvest: According to the document — from early April to mid-May, by hand, by “lifting the hand” (提手采, tíshǒucǎi). According to the radio — from Qingming to Guyu; for the first grade, a bud with one leaf, the bud longer than the leaf.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: Southeast Anhui. Yaocun, according to the “Xinhua Silk Road” publication, is the southernmost and the only mountainous township of the county.
- Growing altitude: 20–300 m — according to the protection document.
- Soils: Sandy, more than 100 cm thick, pH 5.0–6.5.
- Climate: No data in the sources consulted.
5. Production Technology
The protection document describes four stages.
- Spreading (摊青, tānqīng): In a cool, ventilated room, in a layer no thicker than 3 cm, for about 4 hours, turning lightly every half hour — until the leaf loses its waxy sheen and becomes soft.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): A pan at about 120 °C, 0.25 kg of leaf at a time; the leaf is tossed and shaken without pressing, otherwise it darkens. Readiness: the leaf is dark green without sheen, the grassy smell has gone, the young stem bends without breaking. The first grade goes straight to drying, the second and third to straightening.
- Straightening and shaping (理条做形, lǐtiáo zuòxíng): A pan at 70–80 °C; the leaf is shaken for about 2 minutes until its moisture content is about 40%, then straightening, rolling between the palms and shaking alternate, keeping the leaf straight and slightly flat. At a moisture content of about 25% the tea is taken off.
- Drying (烘焙, hōngbèi): The first — on four drying baskets with the temperature falling 90→80→70→60 °C, 3–4 minutes on each, until the tea begins to prick the hand; then defective leaf is sorted out. The second — slow, at about 60 °C, until completely dry.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
According to the protection document.
- Dry leaf appearance: Straight, with noticeable down, even, “like a green sword” (形似绿剑), tender green with a jade glint (嫩绿透翠).
- Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Clean, high and lasting (清香高持久).
- Taste: Fresh, mellow, brisk, with a sweet aftertaste (鲜醇爽回甘).
- Liquor color: Tender green, clear and bright (嫩绿清澈明亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender yellow and bright (嫩黄明亮).
The document adds that the liquor fades only at the sixth infusion (第6次始淡). According to the radio, in a glass the leaves stand vertically, “like orchids in bloom”.
The document distinguishes four grades — premium, first, second and third. From premium to second, the down goes from noticeable to hidden (for the third nothing is said of it); from premium to third, the aroma goes from high and lasting to moderate, the liquor and the spent leaves from tender green and tender yellow to yellow-green, and the taste from fresh with a sweet aftertaste to thick.
7. Chemical Composition
| Indicator | Value in the protection document |
|---|---|
| Tea polyphenols | 18.6% and above |
| Caffeine | 3.9% and above |
| Amino acids | 3.9% and above |
| Moisture | no more than 6.0% |
| Dust | no more than 0.5% |
| Total ash | no more than 6.5% |
| Water extract | no more than 35.0% |
The document also mentions vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, without figures. The document caps water extract with an upper limit; this indicator is usually set as a lower limit, but that is exactly what the text says.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea.
- Water temperature: 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: Glass tumbler or white gaiwan.
- Process:
- Warm the teaware.
- Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
- First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
- Top up with water.
- Repeat infusions — according to the document, up to five or six.
9. Storage
Class practice. Airtight packaging, a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data were found in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication product mark “鸦山瑞草魁”.
- Check that the producer is from the seven townships and towns of Langxi County.
- Leaf — straight, slightly flat, downy; liquor — tender green and clear; spent leaves — tender yellow.
11. Interesting Facts
- According to a legend from verses by Wang Zhongyi (王仲仪) cited by the newspaper, the mountain was named after the crows that carried tea seeds: “鸦衔茶子生，遂同山名鸦”.
- The document allows gardens at altitudes from 20 m.
12. Comparison with Other Green Teas
- Yangxian Xue Ya (阳羡雪芽): A tea of Yixing, to whose mountain, judging by the title, Du Mu’s poem refers.
- Jingting Lü Xue (敬亭绿雪): A historical tea of Xuancheng prefecture, also revived in the 20th century.
- Huanghua Yunjian (黄花云尖): A straight, flat green tea of Ningguo from the same announcement No. 632.
- Guangde Huangjin Ya (广德黄金芽): A green tea of Guangde in the same prefecture, from yellow-leaf cultivars.
In Conclusion:
Yāshān ruìcǎokuí is a green tea of Langxi, straight as a green sword, with a clean high aroma and a sweet aftertaste. Its past rests on book quotations, not all of which are about it; its present rests on the revival of the 1980s and the 2025 protection document.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page