---
title: "Yóuxī hóng"
url: https://thetea.app/article/youxi-hong
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Yóuxī hóng (尤溪红)

*Yóuxī hóng* (尤溪红) is a red tea of Youxi County (尤溪县), Sanming prefecture-level city, in the center of Fujian Province. Its full name under the standard is “尤溪红茶”, and “尤溪红” is its explicitly named abbreviation. The main feature recorded in the standard is light shaking of the leaf during withering: a technique of the oolong school, unusual for red tea. The name is protected by a geographical indication certification mark, the requirements for the tea are set by a 2022 group standard, and the production zone coincides with the entire present territory of the county.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type:** Red tea (红茶, *hóngchá*). The group standard T/CSTEA 00040-2022 “Geographical indication certification mark. Youxi hongcha” explicitly defines it as red tea.
* **Category:** Fujian red tea with a geographical indication mark; a separate group standard for “high-aroma” Youxi red tea was adopted in 2024.
* **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Sanming prefecture-level city (三明, *Sānmíng*), Youxi County (尤溪, *Yóuxī*).
* **Protection zone:** The standard limits production to the present administrative territory of Youxi County. The provincial list of marks gives the same county as the affiliation of the mark holder.
* **Protection regime:** A geographical indication certification mark of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), No. 15234145, goods — tea. In the provincial list as of 30 June 2026 the registration is listed as valid.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Youxi County — about 26.2° N and 118.2° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **10th century.** Reference sites, citing “some materials”, write that tea began to be grown in Youxi from the mid-10th century. I have not seen the primary source for this date.
    * **Song era.** Youxi is the birthplace of the philosopher Zhu Xi (朱熹). Popular texts about Youxi tea quote his poem “The Tea Stove” (茶灶), but it was written about a stone in the Wuyi Mountains, not about Youxi.
    * **2022.** On 28 June the group standard T/CSTEA 00040-2022 was published. It was developed by the county tea association and the Sanming tea society. There is also a production specification, T/CSTEA 00041-2022, and the county's green tea has its own standard, T/CSTEA 00043-2022.
    * **2024.** On 21 February the Fujian Association of Senior Scientists and Technicians issued the group standard T/FASST 00002-2024 “Youxi high-aroma red tea”: grades, fresh leaf, technology, quality requirements, labeling, storage.
* **Name:** “Youxi” (尤溪) is the name of the county and of the river; “*hóng*” (红) means “red”, short for “*hóngchá*” (红茶).
* **Cultural significance:** Reference sites, citing the Fujian Tea Society, count Youxi among the “multi-class” tea areas of the province: green, red and other teas are all made here. For the county, red tea is the second protected line alongside green.

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

* **Variety / Cultivar:** The standard requires varieties suitable for red tea but, according to the summary found, names no specific varieties. Reference sites write that by 2009 the county had more than twenty provincial- and national-level varieties; I could not verify this. According to the Sanming city agriculture bureau (2025), the county mainly grows Fuyun No. 6 (福云6号), Meizhan (梅占), Tieguanyin ([铁观音](https://thetea.app/article/tie-guanyin)), Jinguanyin ([金观音](https://thetea.app/article/jin-guanyin)), the local caicha (菜茶), Jinmudan ([金牡丹](https://thetea.app/article/jin-mudan)) and Qilan ([奇兰](https://thetea.app/article/qi-lan)) — these are the varieties of all the county's teas, not the list of the red tea standard.
* **Raw material:** Under the standard — young buds and shoots. The city agriculture bureau writes that the three product lines of “尤溪红” are made from single buds using the gongfu red tea technology.
* **Harvest standard and timing:** Exact data are not found in the summaries of the standard consulted.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The center of Fujian Province, between the Daiyun (戴云山) and Wuyi mountain systems.
* **Climate:** According to reference sites citing the Fujian Tea Society — subtropical monsoon, with features of both continental and maritime climate; mild all year round, rainy.
* **Soils:** Acidic red soils on bedrock, loose, with a deep profile (the same source).
* **Growing altitude:** No data found in the sources consulted.

**5. Production Technology:**

The standard T/CSTEA 00040-2022 records the following sequence:

1.  **Withering with light shaking (萎凋, *wěidiāo*; 轻摇青, *qīng yáoqīng*).** The leaf is withered and lightly shaken — a technique that came from the oolong school.
2.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
3.  **Fermentation (发酵, *fājiào*).**
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**
5.  **Sorting and aroma finishing.**

Shaking damages the edges of the leaf and starts partial oxidation even before rolling; this is how the oolong school develops a floral aroma. This is a general explanation of the technique, not a measurement for *Yóuxī hóng* specifically. Process parameters are not found in the summaries of the standard consulted.

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

I have not seen the sensory grades of the standard. Below are two descriptions. The first was given by the Sanming city agriculture bureau (2025) — of the “尤溪红” lines made from single buds. The second is repeated by reference sites. They diverge on liquor color; neither has been checked against the mark document.

* **Dry leaf appearance:** According to the city bureau — tight and fine, oily, with conspicuous golden tips (紧细、油润、金毫显). According to reference sites — tight and fine, with well-preserved tips (紧细，苗锋良好), golden, with abundant down (色泽金黄多毫).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions found in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** According to the city bureau — fresh, lasting, with floral and fruity notes and a varietal aroma (鲜活、持久、显花果香、品种香). According to reference sites — rich, with a sugary tone (浓郁带糖香).
* **Taste:** According to the city bureau — sweet, soft and smooth (甘甜、醇滑). According to reference sites — soft, with a sweet aftertaste (醇和回甘).
* **Liquor color:** According to the city bureau — orange-red, bright (橙红明亮); according to reference sites — orange-yellow, bright (橙黄明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** According to the city bureau — all buds, even, soft and bright (全芽匀整、软亮). According to reference sites — red, even, fine and soft (红均细软).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

Physicochemical indicators of the standard are not found in the summaries consulted.

**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:** 3–4 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A white porcelain gaiwan — the liquor color shows in it.
* **Process:**
    1. Warm the teaware.
    2. First infusion — 10–20 seconds.
    3. Each subsequent one — a little longer.
    4. Four to six infusions.

A reference site recommends for Youxi red tea water at a full boil, 4 g per 100 ml, and a short first infusion of 5–7 seconds as a rinse.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice. In airtight packaging, at room temperature, in a dry, dark place, away from foreign odors. Red tea tolerates storage better than green, but the floral aroma weakens over time.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark on the packaging.
    * Check that the tea was made in Youxi County.
    * Do not confuse it with Youxi green tea: that one has its own mark and its own standard.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The red tea standard records an oolong technique — light shaking of the leaf.
* “*Yóuxī hóng*” is the official abbreviation, explicitly named in the standard.
* A reference site cites a phrase attributed to “Elder Zhu” (朱老): the immortals long to taste Wuyi rock tea, but Youxi red tea is not to be found anywhere in the world. The site does not specify whom it means. If Zhu Xi, the attribution is clearly late: red tea appeared long after the Song era.
* The county has two protected teas, red and green, and each has its own 2022 standard.

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

* **Youxi Lü Cha ([尤溪绿茶](https://thetea.app/article/youxi-lucha)):** A green tea of the same county, with its own collective mark and the standard T/CSTEA 00043-2022.
* **Tanyang Gongfu ([坦洋工夫](https://thetea.app/article/tanyang-gong-fu)):** An old gongfu red tea of eastern Fujian; in *Yóuxī hóng*, unlike the classic gongfu scheme, shaking of the leaf is recorded.
* **Jinguanyin Hongcha ([金观音红茶](https://thetea.app/article/jin-guan-yin-hong-cha)):** A red tea from an oolong variety; an example of the same Fujian move — combining red tea technology with oolong aroma.

**In Conclusion:**

*Yóuxī hóng* is a red tea of central Fujian with a line in its standard that is rare for the class: light shaking of the leaf during withering, borrowed from the oolong school. The documents about it are precise on the essentials — class, a zone covering the whole territory of the county, technology and the mark — while descriptions of taste come from the city agriculture bureau and reference sites: a tight, fine leaf with golden tips, a sweet, soft taste; on liquor color, orange-red or orange-yellow, they diverge.