Yúnxiàn Báiyīngshān chá

Yúnxiàn Báiyīngshān chá (云县白莺山茶) is a geographical indication certification mark for tea from Mount Baiying (白莺山) in Yun County (云县), Lincang prefecture-level city, Yunnan Province. The mountain lies on the west bank of the Lancang, opposite the Wuliangshan range; its old gardens are known for more than a dozen local tea forms with their own names. The mark was registered in 2022, and in the provincial list its goods are named as green tea (绿茶), although the mountain’s leaf is also made into pu-erh and red tea.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) — this is how the mark’s goods are named in the Yunnan Administration for Market Regulation’s list for the 2023 subsidy; I have not seen the full list of goods in the registration. Standard GB/T 14456.2-2018 also counts sun-dried green tea (晒青绿茶, shàiqīng lǜchá) — pu-erh-type raw material — as large-leaf green tea; which particular green tea is made under the mark cannot be established from the sources consulted.
Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Lincang prefecture-level city (临沧, Líncāng), Yun County (云县, Yúnxiàn), Manwan Town (漫湾镇, Mànwān zhèn), Baiyingshan Village (白莺山村).
Protection zone: The mark holder is an institution of Yun County; this is the holder’s administrative affiliation, and I have not seen a legal boundary of the zone.
Geographic coordinates: Exact coordinates are not found in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- Monasteries. According to a 2019 article on the “Yunnan Wang” portal, large monasteries, such as Dahe Temple (大河寺), already stood here in the era of the Nanzhao kingdom; the mountain is called a “holy land of Buddhist tea” (佛茶圣地).
- Age of the trees. The same 2019 article writes that there are more than ten thousand trees over a hundred years old here, that the oldest is over 2400 years old, and that it is the second-oldest surviving cultivated tea tree in China. Other sources give different figures: an article in Kunming Ribao, citing the town leadership — more than 1.8 million wild, semi-wild and cultivated old trees; tea portals — 2700 years for the oldest tree. I have not seen the research on which these estimates rest; the figures diverge.
- Science. According to Kunming Ribao, since 2005 the mountain has been surveyed by Chinese and foreign specialists; the county bio-industry office calls it a place where one can see how the tea tree passed from wild to cultivated, and a natural laboratory for studying the origin of tea.
- 2022. The mark “云县白莺山茶” was registered: certificate No. 48194545, class 30, goods — green tea, date of publication of the registration — 7 March 2022. The holder is the Yun County Tea Technology Extension Station (云县茶叶技术推广站).
- 2023. The mark was included in the provincial list of subsidies for registering geographical marks; according to a report by the Lincang Administration for Market Regulation, the holders of four of the prefecture’s marks, including this one, received a total of 40,000 yuan from the province.
Name: “Yunxian” (云县) is the name of the county. According to the explanation by “Yunnan Wang”, the mountain was named for the white clouds that envelop it all year round and for the flocks of white birds (白莺). A tea portal also cites a tradition: according to legend, the mountain was first called 白鹰山 — “white hawk mountain” — but the hawks carried off the villagers’ poultry, and the character “鹰” was replaced with the homophonous “莺”.
Cultural significance: According to a description on a tea portal, the mountain is inhabited mainly by the Blang, Lahu, Han and Yi (彝族) peoples. According to Kunming Ribao, the gardens belong to peasant households, and a little over 30 primary processing workshops operated on the mountain.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: The mountain’s main feature is its many local forms. The 2019 article names more than a dozen: Benshan (本山茶, běnshān chá), Ergazi (二嘎子茶, èrgāzi chá), Heitiaozi (黑条子茶, hēitiáozi chá), Baiyazi (白芽子茶, báiyázi chá), Hezhuang (贺庄茶, hèzhuāng chá), Tengzi (藤子茶, téngzi chá), Liuye (柳叶茶, liǔyè chá) and Doumie (豆蔑茶, dòumiè chá), and besides them the introduced large-leaf variety Mengku (勐库大叶种, Měngkù dàyèzhǒng). Spellings of the names vary between descriptions.
Two forms in more detail. According to the tea portal, Ergazi has dark, lusterless strands with many stems and few buds, and a light bitterness; Heitiaozi has dark, thin strands and less bitterness. The portal allows that both forms may be natural hybrids of a wild or domesticated type with a cultivated one; I have not seen botanical work on this.
Raw material, harvest and harvest standard: Requirements of the mark regarding raw material, harvest dates and harvest standard are not found in the sources consulted. According to the tea portal, the mountain’s old trees are marked with protection plaques, and only the spring leaf is picked from them, once a year.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: Manwan Town, the middle part of the Dabingshan massif (大丙山); across the Lancang lies the Wuliangshan range.
Growing altitude: 1800–2300 m — according to the Kunming Ribao article and descriptions on tea portals. The 2019 article gives the mountain’s height as 2880 m; a tea portal writes of the main peak of the Dabingshan massif (大丙山) at 2834 m. These are summit heights, not garden heights.
Area: The old garden, according to the 2019 article, covers about 20 km²; the trees grow sparsely and are scattered over a large area.
Climate and soils: The descriptions mention abundant rain, plenty of sun, fine-earth soils. Figures for temperature, precipitation and soil type are not found in the sources consulted.

5. Production Technology

The technology of the tea under the mark is not found in the sources consulted. Standard GB/T 14456.2-2018 describes large-leaf green tea as a product made from buds and leaves of large-leaf tea that have undergone withering, fixation, rolling, drying and shaping:

Withering (摊青, tānqīng).
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): Heat stops oxidation.
Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn).
Drying (干燥, gānzào): In a pan, with hot air or in the sun.
Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng).

This is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of Yúnxiàn Báiyīngshān chá.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

I did not find descriptions of the green tea under the mark. Below is a description of pu-erh from the mountain on a tea portal; no one has officially linked it to the mark’s product.

Dry leaf appearance: Strands tight and whole, dark green, with an oily sheen, with visible down.
Dry leaf aroma: Fresh, pleasant.
Liquor aroma: Floral and honeyed; according to another record — a rich floral and fruity aroma.
Taste: Layered, mellow and fresh, almost without astringency and with very slight bitterness; salivation and the sweet aftertaste come quickly.
Liquor color: Clear, orange-yellow.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): With a clear vein pattern; after brewing, according to the description, the leaf is soft as silk and springy when stretched.

7. Chemical Composition

Physicochemical data are not found in the sources consulted.

8. Brewing

General practice for green tea as a class.

Water temperature: 80–85°C; for large-leaf sun-dried tea — hotter, 90–95°C.
Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
Teaware: A gaiwan or a glass tumbler.
Process:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Add the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. First infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
4. Pour out, or drink leaving part of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Two or three further infusions, each longer than the last.

9. Storage

General practice for the class. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5°C, away from light, moisture and odors; drink within a year. Sun-dried raw material for pu-erh is stored differently — in a dry, ventilated place, and it is often aged.

10. Price and Counterfeits

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the mark “云县白莺山茶” (certificate No. 48194545) and check that the producer is from Yun County.
- Remember that in the list found, only green tea is named as the mark’s goods; red tea and pu-erh are not in this line of the list.
- Do not take on faith a “tea from a 2400-year-old tree” or “2700 years”: the age estimates diverge and are not confirmed.

11. Interesting Facts

The mark for Mount Baiying and the mark for the Dachaoshan massif in the same county are held by one institution, and both were registered for green tea in early 2022.
According to legend, the mountain’s name changed from a “hawk” name to a “bird” one: the character “鹰” was replaced with the homophonous “莺”.
According to a tea portal report, in 2020 the right to the spring harvest from the most famous tree of the Ergazi form — the “king of tea” (茶王) — was bought by a Korean tea trader for 500,000 yuan.
More than a dozen tea forms with their own names grow on one mountain — from “willow leaf” to “black strip”.

12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas

Baiyingshan Hongcha (白莺山红茶): A red tea from the same mountain, an article in our encyclopedia; in the line of the list about the mark, only green tea is named as the goods.
Yunxian Dachaoshan Cha (云县大朝山茶): A mark for tea from the Dachaoshan massif in the south-east of the same county, with the same holder and the same goods — green tea.
Zhenkang Ma’anshan Cha (镇康马鞍山茶): A mark for tea from the cultivated old gardens of Zhenkang County in the same Lincang prefecture.
Lincang (临沧): The encyclopedia’s overview article on the tea-growing prefecture.

In Conclusion:

Yúnxiàn Báiyīngshān chá is the mark of a mountain famed for a dozen local tea forms, old trees at 1800–2300 m and a monastic past. The documents say little, but say it concretely: a mark from 2022, the holder — the county tea station, the goods — green tea. The age of the trees, the taste and the legends of the name rest on the word of the descriptions and in places diverge.

Sources

Standards

GB/T 14456.2-2018

Full list — on the Sources page