---
title: "Yíshuǐ lǜchá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/yishui-lucha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Yíshuǐ lǜchá (沂水绿茶)

*Yíshuǐ lǜchá* (沂水绿茶) is a green tea of Yishui County (沂水县), Linyi prefecture-level city, in the south of Shandong Province, at the northern edge of Chinese tea growing. Tea was brought here from the south in the 1950s–1960s under the campaign “南茶北引” — “southern tea to the north”; the main area is the town of Yuandongtou (院东头镇). The name is protected twice: as an agricultural product geographical indication (AGI00273, 2010) and as a geographical indication product under announcement No. 646 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) (2025). The protection requirements describe two forms — curled and flat.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Green tea (绿茶, *lǜchá*) — by its name and by the technology of the protection requirements, without oxidation and without sweltering.
* **Category:** A northern green tea; two protection regimes.
* **Forms:** Curled and flat (扁形). In the CNIPA text the curled tea is called “老曲形茶”, and the flat one is described as “光扇平直”; judging by the sense of the description (条索卷曲 — “strips curled”), these are apparently typos for 卷曲形 and 光扁平直.
* **Origin:** China, Shandong Province (山东, *Shāndōng*), Linyi prefecture-level city (临沂, *Línyí*), Yishui County (沂水, *Yíshuǐ*). According to the Shandong Geographical Indications Association (2020), to the north of the county lies Mount Yishan (沂山), to the west Mengshan (蒙山), to the east Rizhao.
* **Applicant:** The High-Mountain Tea Cooperative of Yishui County (沂水县[高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/gao-shan-cha)业专业合作社).
* **CNIPA protection zone:** 18 towns, townships and subdistricts of the county: Yuandongtou, Gaozhuang, Xiawei, Quanzhuang, Cuijiayu, Huangshanpu, Xujiahu, Sishilipu, Longjiaquan, Zhuge, Yicheng, Daotuo, Gaoqiao, Shagou, Quanli, Mazhan, Yangzhuang and Fuguanzhuang.
* **AGI00273 indication zone:** According to Ministry of Agriculture announcement No. 1366 (2010) — 19 townships and towns of the county under the administrative division of the time, with the same coordinates; according to the association, their total area is about 2,434.8 km². This list includes the town of Yaodianzi (姚店子镇), which is not in the CNIPA list.
* **Geographic coordinates:** 118°13′–119°03′ E, 35°36′–36°03′ N.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Tea in the north.** Shandong is the northernmost commercial tea-producing province of China; tea came here late.
    * **1950s–1960s.** According to publications about the tea (2024), the southern bushes that grew up in the local mountains acquired a “semi-wild” character (半野生性) over the decades. According to the association, Yuandongtou, the largest tea area of the county, has more than 2,000 *mu* of gardens from that time; descriptions of 2020 call this town the first area in the county planted under the “南茶北引” campaign.
    * **2009–2010.** According to the association, in 2009 *Yíshuǐ lǜchá* passed the examination of the Center for Agricultural Product Quality and Safety of the Ministry of Agriculture; the registration was confirmed by announcement No. 1366 of the ministry (signed 2 April 2010), number AGI2010-03-00273, the applicant being the same high-mountain cooperative.
    * **2025.** CNIPA announcement No. 646 with the protection requirements, line 159 of the list. A 2026 register marks the indication as recently confirmed.
* **Titles:** The title “山东名牌” and the provincial famous brand belong, according to the 2020 description, to the trademark “蒙山龙雾” of the company that stands behind the applicant cooperative, not to the indication itself. The 2020 description calls *Yíshuǐ lǜchá* itself a well-known agricultural product brand of Shandong.
* **Name:** *Yíshuǐ* (沂水) is the name of the county, 绿茶 means “green tea”: place and class, without variety or form.
* **Cultural significance:** Descriptions present it as a “high-mountain green tea of inland Shandong” (山东内陆高山绿茶), made by hand.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The requirements name downy varieties with heavy buds (多毫芽重型品种), the Huangshan population variety (黄山[群体种](https://thetea.app/article/qunti-zhong)) and varieties of the Fuding series (福鼎系列). The same list includes “高山茶” and “久抗”; what varieties these are cannot be understood from the text.
* **Site:** Intermountain flats with a slope of less than 15° and gentle slopes with a soil layer of more than 1 m.
* **Cultivation practices:** Deep ploughing in summer, ample base fertilizer, irrigation and drainage; planting in low furrows from Qiufen (秋分) to Lidong (立冬) or from Yushui (雨水) to Chunfen (春分); pruning shapes a three-dimensional picking surface (低定短放，夏剪秋养).
* **Harvest:** From early April to around Guyu (谷雨) — tender leaf, with plump, sturdy buds ([芽苞](https://thetea.app/article/ya-bao)肥壮). How many leaves to take with the bud is not stated.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The south of Shandong, the mountains between Yishan and Mengshan. Tea grows here at the limit of the crop’s winter hardiness.
* **Climate:** According to the association, an inland mountain area at about 36° N, where the daily temperature range and the illumination are greater than in the other tea areas of the province. Yuandongtou is surrounded by mountains and forest, late spring frosts hit it less hard, the gardens lie on sunny terraces; according to the same association, the spring picking here begins about half a month earlier than in the other areas of Shandong.
* **Growing altitude:** No exact figures; the descriptions speak only of “high-mountain” gardens.
* **Soils:** According to the protection requirements — deep golden-yellow soils (金黄壤), pH 4.5–6.5.
* **Scale:** According to the association (2020), 1000 ha of gardens and 400 t of tea a year; the year of the data is not given.

**5. Production Technology:**

The protection requirements set the chain “fresh leaf processing → fixation → straightening → shaping → drying in the ‘bright pan’ → hand finishing”.

1.  **Fresh leaf processing (鲜叶处理, *xiānyè chǔlǐ*):** Coolness and high humidity, a thin layer and a long hold — until the leaf becomes soft and darkens.
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** High temperature and fast heating, thoroughly and evenly. Then the leaf cools in a layer of 2–4 cm for 15–20 minutes.
3.  **Straightening (理条, *lǐtiáo*):** Quickly, while the leaf is cool and soft; a constant temperature of about 40 °C and light pressing, mass loss 40–50%.
4.  **Shaping (整形, *zhěngxíng*):** About 20 minutes in a grooved pan (槽锅), until the bud tips harden and can be felt to the touch; mass loss 60%.
5.  **Drying in the “bright pan” (辉锅干燥, *huīguō gānzào*):** Final drying to full dryness and the opening of the aroma. Readiness — the leaf crumbles to powder between the fingers, moisture no more than 6.5%.
6.  **Hand finishing (手工精制, *shǒugōng jīngzhì*):** Remove flakes and broken bits with a winnower or a bamboo sieve, sift out the dust, pack.

The same chain applies to both forms; how their processing differs is not stated.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

According to the protection requirements; each form has its own series, from the highest grades to the lowest.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** Curled — strips curled, tight, even; color from emerald (翠绿) to dark green (墨绿), without yellowed or broken pieces. Flat — smooth, flat and straight; color from tender green to yellow-green, even and clean.
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** Curled — high, from tender chestnut (嫩栗香) to clean. Flat — rich chestnut (栗香浓郁), from tender to clean.
* **Taste:** Curled — rich and mellow (浓醇); flat — mellow and full-bodied (醇厚); both without off-flavors.
* **Liquor color:** For both — from bright tender green to bright yellow-green, without turbidity.
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** Curled — from bright tender green to bright yellow-green; flat — from bright tender green to bright yellow.

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical protection requirements:

| Indicator | Requirement |
| :--- | :--- |
| Amino acids | no less than 8% |
| Caffeine | no less than 3.0% |
| Tea polyphenols | no less than 25% |
| Water-soluble extractives | no less than 36% |
| Moisture of the finished tea (per the technology) | no more than 6.5% |

In the CNIPA text, polyphenols are written with a typo — “茶多酸” instead of 茶多酚. The figures are taken from the text layer of the annex, not from recognition of a scan; but the amino acid threshold is unusually high, and I could not check it against a second document.

**8. Health Properties:**

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

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** For flat tea — a glass tumbler; for curled tea — a tumbler or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
    3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
    4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
    5. Top up with water.
    6. Two or three further infusions.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

No price data in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the special geographical indication mark: CNIPA issues it after the application has been checked by the Shandong provincial administration.
    * Check the agricultural indication number AGI00273.
    * Check that the producer is from Yishui County.
    * Curled tea — tight, even strips; flat tea — smooth and straight; the liquor without turbidity.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The zone lists of the two protection regimes do not match: the 2010 announcement has 19 townships and towns, CNIPA in 2025 has 18, and the town of Yaodianzi is not in the new list.
* The last operation under the requirements is hand finishing; readiness after drying is checked with the fingers: the leaf should crumble to powder.
* The requirements allow tea to be planted twice a year: in autumn, from Qiufen to Lidong, and at the end of winter, from Yushui to Chunfen.

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

* **Junan Lücha ([莒南绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/junan-lucha)):** A green tea of another county of Linyi, also a product of the “南茶北引” campaign.
* **Yimeng Yuya ([沂蒙玉芽](https://thetea.app/article/yimeng-yu-ya)):** A flat tea of Junan County; for *Yíshuǐ lǜchá* the flat form is only one of two.
* **Rizhao Lü Cha ([日照绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/rizhao-lucha)):** A coastal green tea of neighboring Rizhao; *Yíshuǐ lǜchá* is a mountain and inland tea.

**In Conclusion:**

*Yíshuǐ lǜchá* is a green tea of the mountains of inland Shandong, grown from bushes brought from the south in the 1950s–1960s. Its protection requirements are detailed: golden-yellow soils, picking from early April, straightening at 40 °C, the “bright pan” and hand finishing, two forms with a chestnut aroma and a liquor from tender green to yellow-green.