Yīshān shímò chá (黟山石墨茶) is a granular green tea of Yi County (黟县), Huangshan prefecture-level city, in the south of Anhui Province. In the protection documents it has a double name — 黟山石墨茶（黟县石墨茶）, the second read as Yixian Shimo Cha. The name comes from the Shimoling pass (石墨岭), and local descriptions sum up the tea’s appearance in the formula “heavy as stone, black as ink” (重如石，色如墨). It is protected twice: since 2018 as an agricultural product geographical indication of the Ministry of Agriculture, and since 2024 as a geographical indication product of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá), granular. The technological scheme of the protection requirements (section 5) has no oxidation stage.
- Category: “One of the granular famous teas of China” — in the words of the newspaper Zhongguo Zhiliang Bao (2024).
- Origin: China, Anhui Province (安徽, Ānhuī), Huangshan prefecture-level city (黄山, Huángshān), Yi County.
- Protection zone: The whole of Yi County within its present administrative boundaries (county government letter No. 11 of 2019). The Ministry of Agriculture registration also covers the whole county, with a core of 61 villages in eight towns and townships.
- Geographic coordinates: 117°38′30″–118°06′00″ E, 29°47′00″–30°11′30″ N — according to the registration description.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- The Tongzhi-era chronicle. The county chronicle Yixian San Zhi (《黟县三志》): “of the teas, the best is from the Shimoling pass of the sixth district; connoisseurs call it shímò tea.” The year of publication differs in the sources: 1868 according to Zhongguo Xinwen and 1871 according to the Ministry of Agriculture registration description.
- Decline. Hand processing was complicated, and by the beginning of the Republican period the tea had ceased to be made.
- 1985. The science and technology commissions of Huangshan and of the county, together with the county tea experimental station, revived the tea under the name “Yishan Shimo Longya” (黟山石墨龙芽茶); in June 1988 it passed a provincial expert assessment.
- 2017. The making technique was entered in the provincial list of intangible cultural heritage of Anhui.
- 2018, 3 July. The Ministry of Agriculture (announcement No. 40) registered “黟县石墨茶” as an agricultural product geographical indication, number AGI02399. A 2021 Zhongguo Xinwen publication dates this title to 2017.
- 2020. According to a representative of the producing company in Zhongguo Xinwen (2021), the tea received a gold award at an international competition in Japan; the name of the competition is not given.
- 2021–2022. The local standard DB3410/T 15-2021 “地理标志农产品 黟县石墨茶” came into force on 1 January 2022; in the state standards database it is listed as repealed from 1 August 2022.
- 2022, 18 April. By announcement No. 480, CNIPA accepted the application; the technical basis was the enterprise standard of the Yijiangyuan company (弋江源茶业).
- 2024. By announcement No. 577 (19 April) CNIPA preliminarily recognized the product after checking it against the agricultural indication record, and by announcement No. 588 (signed 2 July, published 17 July) — finally, with protection from 20 June. According to Zhongguo Zhiliang Bao, it is the first product of the county with such protection.
- 2024, 31 December. By announcement No. 614 (published 9 January 2025), six enterprises of the county received the right to the special mark.
- Name: 石墨 (shímò) means “graphite”. According to the registration, the tea was named after the Shimoling pass, where the bushes gave leaf “the color of ink”. The newspaper formula is “round, tight, ink-colored with emerald; tender aroma, sweet taste” (圆紧墨翠，嫩香甘醇).
- Cultural significance: The spring route to shímò tea, according to the county, was included among the country’s model tea tourism routes (2024). According to a Xinhua news agency report (2023), in Meixi township one family of tea makers has been making shímò tea for five generations, more than a hundred years.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Variety / Cultivar: According to the protection requirements — the local population of the county and varieties suited to local conditions; the registration specifies: the Huangshan population (黄山群体种) or clones selected from it. The names of the clones are not given in the sources.
- Harvest time: The protection requirements — early April; the registration — around Guyu (谷雨).
- Harvest standard: According to the protection requirements — from a single bud to a bud with two leaves, the leaf soft, even and fresh. The registration divides the raw material into four grades, from a bud with two leaves at the start of opening to a bud with two or three opened leaves.
- Restrictions: Leaf picked in the rain or with dew on it, bruised or caked, is not taken.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: A mountain county crossed by spurs of Huangshan; mountains make up 82.5% of the area, rivers drain into the Xin’anjiang and the Qingyijiang.
- Growing altitude: 200–800 m, slopes up to 25° — according to the registration.
- Climate: The northern edge of the central subtropical zone, humid monsoon; mean annual temperature 15.8 °C, 1686 mm of precipitation, humidity about 80%, frost-free period about 220 days. Forest cover is 84.7%.
- Soils: According to the protection requirements — mountain yellow and yellow-red soils, a layer of more than 60 cm, organic matter no less than 4.0%, pH 4.0–6.5. The registration, with the same layer and organic matter, gives pH 5.0–6.5.
- Cultivation practices: No more than 60,000 plants per hectare with single-row planting and 90,000 with double-row planting — according to the protection requirements.
- Scale: According to the registration, as of 2018 — 3700 ha and 200 t a year.
5. Production Technology
The protection requirements describe the following scheme:
- Withering (摊放, tānfàng): In a layer of 10–12 cm, 4–6 hours, with 2–3 light turnings; moisture 65–70%.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): 180–220 °C, until the leaf is dark green and soft, squeezes into a ball and springs back slightly.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): Until the juice comes out and the leaf turns sticky; no less than 85% of the leaf rolled into strips.
- Second pan-firing (炒二青, chǎo èrqīng): 180–200 °C, 20–30 minutes, until the leaf stops being sticky.
- Shaping (做形, zuòxíng): In the small pan — 120–150 °C, 4–5 kg of leaf, until twisted; in the large pan — 90–100 °C, 12–13 kg, until more than 90% of the leaf has become granules; moisture 8–10%.
- Drying (干燥, gānzào): 70–80 °C, until the tea crumbles to powder between the fingers; moisture no higher than 6.5%.
The Ministry of Agriculture registration names the key to the round shape in the formula “light rolling, emphasis on the second pan-firing, small pan, large pan” (轻揉捻、重二青、炒小锅、炒大锅). In the manual scheme the “large pan” lasted about 10–12 hours; machine processing follows the provincial standard DB34/T 2571-2015.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
First the protection requirements, after the semicolon the registration.
- Dry leaf appearance: Granules round, tight and heavy, even, ink-green with down; the registration — “ink-green with an emerald glint” (墨绿透翠).
- Dry leaf aroma: Not described separately from the liquor in the documents.
- Liquor aroma: Rich chestnut (栗香馥郁); the registration — tender chestnut with a floral note.
- Taste: Mellow and brisk, with a sweet aftertaste; the registration — full and mellow.
- Liquor color: Yellow-green, bright (黄绿明亮) — in both documents.
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender, yellow-green, even and glossy; the registration — soft, green, glossy.
7. Chemical Composition
The norms of the protection requirements coincide with the registration: moisture no more than 6.5%, fines no more than 0.5%, total ash no more than 6.5%, water-soluble extractives no less than 37%. No other chemical data in the sources consulted.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea: 80–85 °C, 3 g per 150 ml, a white gaiwan or a glass tumbler. Warm the teaware, first infusion — about a minute, then two or three infusions with increasing steeping time.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year. According to the protection requirements, the tea is packed immediately after it cools.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data in the sources consulted.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special geographical indication mark; at the end of 2024, six enterprises of the county had the right to it.
- Check that the tea is from Yi County.
- The protection requirements describe a granular green tea of pan processing.
- Texts on aggregator sites about a “semi-fermented” or “graphene” shímò tea are not confirmed by the protection documents.
11. Interesting Facts
- After the 1985 revival the tea was at first called “Shimo Longya”.
- Readiness during drying is checked by touch: a granule should crumble to powder between the fingers.
- In the manual “large pan” the leaf was turned with the palms facing up, slowing the pace from about ten movements a minute to five or six.
12. Comparison with Other Granular and Anhui Teas
- Yongxi Huoqing (涌溪火青): Also a granular green tea, from Jing County in the same province.
- Pingshui Zhucha (平水珠茶): A Zhejiang green tea rolled into pellets.
- Huangshan Maofeng (黄山毛峰): A green tea of the same prefecture-level city, with downy buds, not rolled into granules.
In Conclusion:
Yīshān shímò chá is a granular green tea of Yi County: tight ink-green granules, a chestnut aroma and a yellow-green liquor. Behind it stand a line in a 19th-century county chronicle, a long break, the 1985 revival and double protection in which the small and large pans are described down to the degree.
Sources
Standards
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page