Yǒngshùn méichá

Yǒngshùn méichá (永顺莓茶) is an infusion of Yongshun County (永顺县) in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Hunan. Its raw material is not tea leaf but the young shoots and leaves of the vine 显齿蛇葡萄 (Ampelopsis grossedentata); in everyday speech it is called “vine tea” (藤茶, téngchá). The hallmark of the product is a silvery-white bloom on the dry leaf, the “frost” (白霜, báishuāng): this is dihydromyricetin that comes to the surface during processing. The name has been protected as an agricultural product geographical indication since 2020 and as a geographical indication product since 2025.

1. Classification and Origin

• Type: Not tea in the botanical sense and none of the six classes of Chinese tea; the word 茶 in the name is a folk usage.
• Category: An infusion not from the tea plant; agricultural indication (2020) and geographical indication product (2025).
• Food status: By announcement No. 16 of 24 December 2013, the state health commission approved the leaf of 显齿蛇葡萄 as a new food raw material, to be consumed by infusion. A press report that in 2019 the plant was entered into the list of “medicine and food of the same origin” (药食同源) is not confirmed by a document.
• Origin: China, Hunan Province (湖南, Húnán), Xiangxi prefecture (湘西, Xiāngxī), Yongshun County.
• Protection zone: According to the 2025 announcement — 122 villages in eleven townships and towns: Maoba (毛坝乡), Runya (润雅乡), Wanping (万坪镇), Shouche (首车镇), Shaba (砂坝镇), Cheping (车坪乡), Wanmin (万民乡), Tawo (塔卧镇), Yanjing (盐井乡), Liangcha (两岔乡), Shidi (石堤镇).
• Geographic coordinates: 109°38′59″–110°13′34″ E, 28°55′40″–29°27′13″ N.

2. History and Cultural Significance

• History:
  • Legend. The Hunan press writes that in the Shijing the plant is called the “ancient tea hook-vine” (古茶钩藤), that under the Tang it was drunk as a medicine, and that under the Ming the hereditary tusi rulers (土司) sent it to the court as tribute. The primary sources of these claims are not cited in the materials found.
  • The 1990s. According to the Baidu reference, farmers switched from fixation in boiling water (水煮杀青) to fixation in a pan (锅炒杀青), and méichá came onto the market; according to Hunan Ribao, in 1991 the county produced less than 5 t.
  • 2005. According to Hunan Ribao, since 25 August the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has protected as a geographical indication product the name “溪州莓茶” — a brand the county created in 2004. How this regime relates to the current ones is not explained in the sources consulted; in the 2025 list, the row for Yongshun méichá contains no reference to it.
  • 2015. The production technique of Tujia méichá was entered into the seventh list of intangible heritage — according to one 2023 publication a prefecture-level list, according to another of the same year a provincial one.
  • 2020. On 30 April the name was registered as an agricultural indication. In the same year three local standards appeared — for the product, for cultivation and for processing; the production rules were publicly presented by a professor of the tea department of Hunan Agricultural University. On 18 November the China Tea Marketing Association awarded the county the title of “hometown of ancient méichá” (中国古莓茶之乡).
  • 2021. The Hunan Tea Society issued the group standard T/HNTI 041-2021.
  • 2025. By announcement No. 640 of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (signed on 16 July), the name was recognized as a geographical indication product, entry 969 of 1409. The applicant is the county technology extension station for economic crops.
• Cultural significance: According to Red Net, the county builds the promotion of méichá, including the “Sicheng Gongcha” brand (司城贡茶), on the culture of Laosicheng (老司城), a World Heritage site; in all, according to provincial data (2022), the county has twenty méichá brands.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

• Plant: 显齿蛇葡萄 (xiǎnchǐ shépútáo, Ampelopsis grossedentata), genus Ampelopsis of the grape family (葡萄科) — according to the 2013 announcement. A vine, not a bush.
• Variety: Registered varieties are not found in the sources consulted. In the ancient garden of Maoba, according to a provincial report (2022), grow the forms “big mei” (大莓), “small mei” (小莓) and the rare “purple mei” (紫莓), as well as two plants older than 200 years.
• Wild stock: 3000 mu of wild méichá in Maoba — a local “gene bank” (Red Net, 2023); across the county — more than 5000 mu (province, 2022).
• Harvest: According to the requirements — from mid to late April, current-year shoots no longer than 10 cm; 2–3 leaves are left on the plant, and the leaf is carried in ventilated bamboo baskets.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

• Region: The central part of the Wuling Mountains (武陵山, Wǔlíng shān), the basins of the Yuanshui and Lishui rivers.
• Growing altitude: 300–1000 m — according to the product requirements; one promotional material gave 500–1200 m.
• Soils: Fertile yellow-red sandy loams: organic matter above 2.5 %, pH 4.5–7.5, a layer no thinner than 70 cm.
• Agronomy under the requirements: Cuttings from semi-lignified shoots in beds under film, no more than 3500 per mu; urea is not applied; in winter the plant is cut back to 40 cm, and after 8–10 years of picking the garden is planted anew.

5. Production Technology

The chain according to the requirements for the protected product:

1. Spreading the fresh leaf (鲜叶摊放, xiānyè tānfàng): In a layer of about 10 cm with airflow, until the grassy smell is gone.
2. Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Until an abundant white bloom appears, the leaf turns yellowish and its moisture is about 50 %.
3. Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn): The hot leaf is closed in a cloth bag and rolled on a machine at medium pressure until the juice comes out.
4. Smothering (闷青, mènqīng): The lumps are broken up and kept in the bag again for 4–6 hours, until the bloom shows through.
5. Partial drying and “bringing out the frost” (摊晾起霜, tānliàng qǐshuāng): In the shade to 60–70 % dryness, then under diffused sunlight to 80–90 %.
6. Aroma raising (提香, tíxiāng): 25 minutes at 80 °C, to a moisture content of no more than 8 %.

The 2021 group standard names the stages differently — with drum pan-firing (滚炒) and “smothering to yellowness” (闷黄) — and explains the bloom by the release of dihydromyricetin onto the leaf surface.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The description follows the 2025 requirements for the protected product.

• Dry leaf appearance: Thin, tight, curled, even strands, entirely covered with white bloom (条索紧细、卷曲、匀齐，白霜满披); according to the group standard, silvery-white.
• Dry leaf aroma: No separate description in the sources consulted.
• Liquor aroma: Clean, high and lasting (香气清悦高长).
• Taste: Full, mellow, with a sweet return (滋味醇厚回甘).
• Liquor color: Yellow, bright and clear (汤色黄亮清澈).
• Spent leaves (wet leaves): Tender yellow and bright (叶底嫩黄明亮).

7. Chemical Composition

Product requirements: flavonoids (黄酮) at least 3.5 %, dihydromyricetin (二氢杨梅素) at least 25 %. Dihydromyricetin is itself a flavonoid, so a norm for it that is higher than the total looks strange; the document does not explain this. Data on caffeine are not found in the sources consulted.

8. Health Properties

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular product. The healing promises of promotional materials are not repeated here.

9. Brewing

Class practice. Brewing modes for this infusion are not found in the sources consulted; below are the usual parameters for herbal infusions from rolled leaf.

• Water temperature: 90–100 °C.
• Amount: 2–3 g per 150–200 ml.
• Teaware: A glass tumbler, a gaiwan or a porcelain teapot.
• Process: First infusion — 2–3 minutes, then several infusions with increasing time.

10. Storage

Class practice. The requirements prescribe airtight, clean packaging free of foreign odors, protection from light and moisture, and room temperature. The white bloom is a property of the raw material, not mold.

11. Price and Counterfeits

Retail prices are not found in the sources consulted. According to official reports, the scale grew quickly: 61,000 mu and 915 t in 2022 (province), more than 110,000 mu, 2100 t and almost 700 million yuan in 2023 (Hunan press).

• How to avoid counterfeits:
  • Look for the geographical indication product mark and the agricultural indication labeling; by 2023 the production zones had been marked with uniform signs.
  • Check that the producer is from the eleven townships and towns of the zone: a drink from the same vine is also made in Zhangjiajie prefecture and in Laifeng County, Hubei.

12. Interesting Facts

• One and the same announcement No. 640 recognized two méichá of Hunan: Zhangjiajie’s 茅岩莓茶 (entry 916) and Yongshun’s (entry 969).
• In the requirements, the bloom is a measure of the process: its appearance means that fixation and smothering have been carried out correctly.

13. Comparison with Other Infusions Not from the Tea Bush

• Laifeng Tengcha (来凤藤茶): An infusion from the same vine in Enshi prefecture, Hubei Province; after rolling, the leaf is kept in a heap under film.
• Maoyan Meicha (茅岩莓茶): Méichá from the same vine in Yongding District of the neighboring Zhangjiajie prefecture.
• Zhangjiajie Cha (张家界茶): A true tea of the neighboring prefecture; paired with it, the mark “张家界莓茶” is registered for a drink from the same vine.
• Xupu Yaocha (溆浦瑶茶): A Hunan “sweet tea” from the leaves of a tree of the beech family, also a geographical indication product.

In Conclusion:

Yǒngshùn méichá is a vine infusion from the Tujia Wuling Mountains that contains not a single tea leaf, but has a detailed protection document: a zone of eleven townships, propagation by cuttings, picking of ten-centimeter shoots, smothering in a bag and a norm for dihydromyricetin. The silvery “frost” on the rolled strands and the yellow, clear liquor with a sweet return are its hallmarks. It is “tea” in the folk sense of the word, and it should not be judged by the yardsticks of tea.

Sources

Standards

• T/HNTI 041-2021

Full list — on the Sources page