Yúnxiàn Dàcháoshān chá

Yúnxiàn Dàcháoshān chá (云县大朝山茶) is a geographical indication certification mark for tea from the Dachaoshan massif in the south-east of Yun County (云县), Lincang prefecture-level city, Yunnan Province. The gardens lie around Dachaoshanxi Town (大朝山西镇): to the east it reaches the Lancang, and to the south-west it borders Bangdong Township, home of the famous Xigui. The mark was registered in January 2022, and its goods are named as green tea (绿茶). Tea publications, however, write of the local tea as pu-erh from old trees.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá) — this is how the mark’s goods are named in the 2023 provincial list of the Yunnan Administration for Market Regulation; I have not seen the full list of goods in the registration. Standard GB/T 14456.2-2018 distinguishes large-leaf green tea that is steamed, pan-fired, hot-air dried and sun-dried (晒青, shàiqīng); the last is pu-erh-type raw material. Which of them is made under the mark cannot be established from the sources consulted.
Category: Tea of the old gardens of Lincang; geographical indication certification mark (2022).
Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Lincang prefecture-level city (临沧, Líncāng), Yun County (云县, Yúnxiàn), Dachaoshanxi Town (大朝山西镇, Dàcháoshānxī zhèn).
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:
- The tea trail. According to a tea portal citing historical records, one of the county’s two important roads of the Tea Horse Road (茶马古道, chámǎ gǔdào) led from the county seat to Dashi — as the present town was called before it was renamed, the former Dashi Commune (大石公社). Within the county the road ran for 95 km, and further south — through Changputang to the Bangdong (邦东) market in the neighboring county, from where goods were carried to Pu’er and on to Kunming. Until 1976, the same portal writes, the town remained the most remote corner of the county in terms of transport.
- 2012–2013. According to the same portal, in 2012 the town harvested 635 t of tea worth 10.16 million yuan. In 2013, on the wave of fame of neighboring Xigui, fresh leaf rose in price to 6.5 yuan per kilogram, and output grew to 650 t worth 16.75 million yuan.
- 2022. The mark “云县大朝山茶” was registered: certificate No. 48178167, class 30, goods — green tea, date of publication of the registration — 14 January 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 registration; 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. In all, the administration counted 13 geographical indication certification marks in the prefecture.
Name: “Yunxian” (云县) is the name of the county. Dachaoshan (大朝山) is a mountain massif; “Dachaoshanxi” means “western Dachaoshan”. An interpretation of the name of the massif itself is not found in the sources consulted.
Cultural significance: According to a tea portal, tea is the mainstay of the town’s income: 4256 households, 48.3% of all households, are engaged in tea, with an average of 1.27 mu of garden per person.

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: The descriptions diverge. One piece on a tea portal cites the Yun County Gazetteer (《云县志》) and assigns the old trees near Nuowu village to the species 拟细萼茶 (nǐ xì’è chá). Another piece on the same portal writes that the Zhishanqing village committee grows mainly Mengku large-leaf tea (勐库大叶茶, Měngkù dàyè chá). I have not seen botanical work on the local trees.
Where the old trees are: About 500 mu of old trees grow in the village committees of Changputang (菖蒲塘), Xiyuan (昔元), Bangxu (邦旭) and Beiyinzhai (背阴寨); the second piece adds Zhishanqing (纸山箐) and names Changputang and Zhishanqing as the main ones. One piece calls these trees cultivated (栽培型), the other — wild communities (野生古茶树群落).
Nuowu: The most representative group grows near Nuowu village (糯伍) of the Changputang committee; the second piece specifies — near Shangnuowu (上糯伍), at an altitude of 1653 m. According to one description, these are more than a thousand trees over a hundred years old, 12 of them taller than 10 m. According to another, the group occupies about 5 mu and the trees in it are taller than 10 m; 12 of them have a girth at the base of 1.7–2.05 m and a crown of 6–7 by 8 m, one tree is 11.7 m tall with a girth of 2.05 m, and only three, according to this description, are older than 200 years.
Zhishanqing: An old garden near the villages of Caijia (蔡家), Xujia (徐家) and Yingwoshan (英窝山), at about 2100 m: more than 420 mu and more than 9000 trees, average age over a hundred years, the oldest, according to the description, over 500 years.
Raw material, harvest and harvest standard: The leaf of the town’s old trees and gardens; requirements of the mark, harvest dates and a harvest standard are not found in the sources consulted.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

Region: The south-east of Yun County. To the east is the Lancang, and across the river Jingdong County (景东) of Pu’er prefecture; to the south-west, Bangdong Township of Linxiang District.
Altitude: The town lies at altitudes from 784 to 3249 m. The portal considers the 1600–1800 m belt the most suitable for tea; the old gardens are near Nuowu at 1653 m and in Zhishanqing at about 2100 m.
Climate: Precipitation is about 1100 mm a year, the average temperature about 17°C, with pronounced vertical climatic zonation. The portal adds that the town is wrapped in clouds and mist all year round (常年云雾缭绕).
Garden area: The data diverge: one piece on the portal gives 32,000 mu, another 11,750 mu, of which more than 8000 are bearing; both pieces were published in 2018.
Soils: Data 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 the leaf of large-leaf tea that has undergone the following operations:

Spreading the fresh leaf (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 — depending on the type of tea; for steamed tea, steam is used for fixation, not for drying.
Shaping (整形, zhěngxíng).

This is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of Yúnxiàn Dàcháoshān 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 old trees of Dachaoshan on a tea portal; no one has officially linked it to the mark’s product.

Dry leaf appearance: Strands sturdy and long, dark green, covered in down (条索壮实而长，呈墨绿色，身被绒毫).
Dry leaf aroma: Descriptions are not found in the sources consulted.
Liquor aroma: Rich, lingering long on the walls of the cup (香气浓郁，挂杯持久).
Taste: The liquor is soft and enveloping, dense, multi-layered (汤质糯滑、厚实、层次饱满); the bitterness disperses quickly, the astringency is barely perceptible; the sweet aftertaste comes quickly, salivation is good.
Liquor color: In young tea — greenish yellow, transparent, with an oily sheen (青黄色，通透而油亮).
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Fleshy and large; a bud with its leaves, once unfurled, can be almost half a palm long; the leaf is whole and soft.

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

Prices for the finished tea are not found in the sources consulted. According to a tea portal, in 2015 the best fresh leaf of Changputang sold for 200 yuan per kilogram, ordinary leaf for 36 yuan.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the mark “云县大朝山茶” (certificate No. 48178167) and check that the producer is from Yun County.
- Remember that in the list found, the mark’s goods are green tea.
- Do not take on faith a “tea from a thousand-year-old tree”: estimates of the age of the Nuowu trees diverge even on a single page (section 12).

11. Interesting Facts

The mark for Dachaoshan and the mark for Mount Baiying in the same county are held by one institution, both are registered for green tea, and the publication of the Dachaoshan registration came out 52 days earlier: 14 January versus 7 March 2022.
According to the portal, near Nuowu village grows the “Nuowu king of tea trees” (糯伍茶树王) — a tree with purple leaves, about a thousand years old, 11 m tall and with a crown of 13 m. The same page, a paragraph earlier, writes that there are only three trees older than 200 years in the group.
According to the portal, the town is also rich in wild relatives of tea: the plants of the tea family named include 红山茶, 白山茶, 毛茶树, 大茶树 and 紫叶茶.

12. Comparison with Neighboring Teas

Yunxian Baiyingshan Cha (云县白莺山茶): A mark for tea from Mount Baiying in Manwan Town of the same county, with the same holder and the same goods — green tea.
Xigui (昔归): The tea of a village of Bangdong Township, which neighbors Dachaoshan; an article in our encyclopedia.
Lincang (临沧): The encyclopedia’s overview article on the tea-growing prefecture.

In Conclusion:

Yúnxiàn Dàcháoshān chá is the mark of a mountain town above the Lancang, where old trees grow at 1650–2100 m and an old tea trail led to the Bangdong market. The document is brief: a mark from 2022, the holder — the county tea station, the goods — green tea. The variety of the trees, their age, the garden area and the taste are known only from a tea portal, and its descriptions diverge in places.

Sources

Standards

GB/T 14456.2-2018

Full list — on the Sources page