---
title: "Yídū yíhóng chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/yidu-yihong-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Yídū yíhóng chá (宜都宜红茶)

*Yídū yíhóng chá* (宜都宜红茶) is a red tea of Yidu county-level city (宜都市), Yichang prefecture-level city, Hubei Province. It is the county part of Yihong — the old export red tea of Yichang. The name has been protected since 2014 as an agricultural product geographical indication, is among the first hundred Chinese names of the China–EU agreement, and in 2025 the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized it as a geographical indication product and published detailed requirements for it.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*), fully oxidized. The class is set both by the name and by the technology in the 2025 requirements.
* **Category:** Gongfu red tea of the Yihong area; geographical indication product.
* **Origin:** China, Hubei Province (湖北, *Húběi*), Yichang prefecture-level city (宜昌, *Yíchāng*), Yidu county-level city (宜都, *Yídū*).
* **Protection zone:** The whole of Yidu county-level city: the towns of Honghuatao, Gaobazhou, Yaojiadian, Wuyanquan, Niejiahe, Songmuping and Zhicheng, Panjiawan Tujia Township (潘家湾土家族乡), Wangjiafan Township and Lucheng Subdistrict. The specification for the European register names Panjiawan, Wangjiafan and Songmuping as the main areas and gives the area of the zone — 1357 km².
* **Geographic coordinates:** According to the 2025 CNIPA requirements — 111°05′47″–111°36′02″ E, 30°05′55″–30°36′00″ N. In the specification for the EU the southern boundary is different — 30°20′55″ N; I have not resolved the discrepancy.
* **Neighboring names:** Yidu is part of the zone of the prefectural name “宜昌宜红” and lies entirely within it (111°05′–111°36′ E versus 110°15′–112°04′), so the same raw material can legally be released under both names. The same prefecture also has a third Yihong — 五峰宜红茶 of Wufeng County.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **The prefecture's fame.** The specification for the EU recalls that Lu Yu (陆羽) in *The Classic of Tea* (《茶经》) ranked the tea of Xiazhou (峡州) — present-day Yichang — first in Shannan. This is the fame of a tea prefecture, not of red tea: it was not yet made at that time.
    * **Mid-19th century.** According to the same specification, citing the Yidu archive and the industry gazetteer of the Hubei supply and marketing system, red tea began to be made in Yidu in the mid-19th century and exported to Europe.
    * **Late Qing and after 1949.** The Mission of China to the EU writes that in the late Qing Yihong was one of the country's best-known export red teas, and after the founding of the PRC it for decades held a place among the top three Chinese export gongfu red teas by volume and quality.
    * **2014.** On May 22 the Ministry of Agriculture placed “宜都宜红茶” under protection as an agricultural product geographical indication (number AGI01410); the holder is the Yidu Yihong Tea Association (宜都市宜红茶协会).
    * **Agreement with the EU.** “宜都宜红茶” is No. 87 in Annex III of the China–EU agreement on the protection of geographical indications — among the names protected from the day of its entry into force. The reference translation is “Yidu Black Tea”; in the European register it is a protected geographical indication with dossier PGI-CN-2748.
    * **2025.** By CNIPA announcement No. 640 of July 16, the name was recognized as a geographical indication product (line 765 of a batch of 1409 products). The applicant is the same county association.
* **Name:** “Yidu” (宜都) is the name of the county-level city; “Yihong” (宜红) is the name of the red tea of the old tea area: the 2025 requirements speak of the “Yihong tea area” (宜红茶区). The Mission to the EU explains the second name, “[宜红工夫](https://thetea.app/article/yihong-gong-fu)茶”, by the fact that its making involves more than sixty operations.
* **Cultural significance:** According to the specification, Yidu has developed a complete Yihong chain — from seedlings to marketing and research.

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

* **Varieties:** The 2025 requirements name as the main cultivars 宜红早 (*Yíhóng zǎo*), 鄂茶7号 (*Èchá qī hào*), [乌牛早](https://thetea.app/article/wuniu-zao) (*Wūniú zǎo*) and 福鼎大白 (*Fúdǐng dàbái*); they are supplemented by mature gardens of the local population of the Yihong area (本地[群体种](https://thetea.app/article/qunti-zhong)).
* **Fresh leaf:** According to the specification for the EU — yellowish green, thin, moderately downy, keeping its tenderness for a long time.
* **Harvest standard:** For premium grades (名优茶, *míngyōuchá*) — a single bud, a bud with an unfolding first leaf, or a bud with one leaf. For bulk tea (大宗茶, *dàzōngchá*) — mainly a bud with two leaves, along with a bud with three leaves and “paired” leaves of equal tenderness (对夹叶).
* **Harvest rules:** Pick in several rounds, leaving some leaves; take strong, upper and central shoots, and leave weak, lower and lateral ones.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The west of Hubei Province. According to the specification, Yidu borders Zhijiang on the east, Songzi on the south, Wufeng County on the west and Changyang County on the north.
* **Climate:** According to the specification — mid-subtropical humid monsoon, with four distinct seasons, frequent downpours and dense fogs in the mountain valleys; mean annual temperature 16.7 °C, precipitation about 1235.4 mm a year.
* **Soils:** According to the 2025 requirements — mainly yellow soils on granular shales and yellow calcareous soils, loose and well aerated; pH 4.0–6.5, organic matter more than 1.5%, groundwater deeper than 1 m. The specification for the EU assigns these two types 90% of the soil area and gives a pH of mostly 5.0–5.5.
* **Altitude:** No data in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The 2025 CNIPA requirements describe the technology of this particular tea.

1.  **Primary processing:** withering (萎凋, *wěidiāo*), rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*), fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*) and drying (干燥, *gānzào*).
2.  **Refining:** acceptance of the raw tea (毛茶, *máochá*), sorting by grade, blending, sifting, cutting, winnowing, hand picking, re-blending, final drying (复火, *fùhuǒ*), evening out the batch and packaging.

The document gives no parameters — temperature, time, leaf moisture.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

The 2025 requirements describe two levels of the tea — premium grades and bulk tea.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Premium grades — thin, tight, even strands, black with an oily sheen, with noticeable golden tips (条索紧细且匀齐，乌黑油润显金毫). Bulk tea — tight, even strands, black with a sheen.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Premium grades — rich and lasting (香气浓郁持久), bulk tea — clean. The Mission to the EU calls the aroma tender-sweet (香气嫩甜).
* **Taste:** Premium grades — fresh and mellow (滋味鲜醇), bulk — mellow and smooth. According to the Mission — sweet and mellow (滋味甜醇).
* **Liquor color:** Premium grades — red and bright (汤色红亮), bulk — red and clear. According to the Mission — brilliant red (汤色红艳).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Premium grades — tender, even, light red (叶底嫩匀红明); bulk — fairly even red.

As the liquor cools, according to the descriptions of the Mission and of the specification for the EU, it gives a “cold clouding” (冷后浑, *lěng hòu hún*).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

The physicochemical norms in the two documents differ:

| Indicator | CNIPA requirements, 2025 | Specification for the EU |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Tea polyphenols | not less than 11% | not less than 10% |
| Moisture | no more than 6.0% | no more than 7% |
| Extractives | not less than 30.0% | not less than 30% |
| Amino acids (total) | not less than 1.7% | no norm |

These are thresholds for the product under the mark, not an analysis of a specific batch.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for red tea.

* **Water temperature:** 90–95 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3–5 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** Gaiwan or porcelain teapot.
* **Process:** Warm the teaware; first infusion — after 30–60 seconds, the following ones gradually longer; five to six infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In tight packaging, in a dry, dark place at room temperature, away from odors.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data were found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the special geographical indication mark: the right to it is granted to a producer from the zone by CNIPA after verification by the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration.
    * Check that the producer is from Yidu county-level city.
    * Do not confuse it with the prefectural Yihong of Yichang or with 五峰宜红茶: these are separate names. The Yidu zone lies within the prefectural 宜昌宜红 zone, and it does not overlap with Wufeng County.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The norms in the 2025 requirements are stricter than in the specification for the EU, which rests on the 2014 protection: moisture — no more than 6% versus 7%, polyphenols — not less than 11% versus 10%, and a norm for amino acids has been added.
* The laboratory for testing tea under the mark is chosen by the Hubei Intellectual Property Administration.
* The zones of the county and prefectural Yihong are nested one within the other: one leaf can have two legal names.

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

* **Yihong Gongfu (宜红工夫):** The regional gongfu red tea of Yichang and Enshi; Yidu is its county part with its own protection.
* **Wufeng Hongcha ([五峰红茶](https://thetea.app/article/wufeng-hongcha)):** The red tea of neighboring Wufeng County in the same prefecture; its second protected name is 五峰宜红茶, the county Yihong.
* **Shimen Hongcha ([石门红茶](https://thetea.app/article/shimen-hongcha)):** The red tea of the Hunan part of the old Yihong area.
* **Lichuan Hong ([利川红](https://thetea.app/article/lichuan-hong)):** A gongfu red tea of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, west of Yichang.
* **Qimen Hongcha ([祁门红茶](https://thetea.app/article/qimen-hongcha)):** A gongfu red tea of Anhui — for contrast.

**In Conclusion:**

*Yídū yíhóng chá* is a county Yihong with a completeness of documents rare for geographical indications: a list of towns and coordinates, cultivars, harvest rules, primary processing and refining, the appearance of two levels and physicochemical norms. Premium grades are thin black strands with golden tips, a bright red liquor and light red spent leaves.