Zhèn’ān Xiàngyuán chá (镇安象园茶) is “the Xiangyuan tea of Zhen’an”, a green tea of Zhen’an County (镇安县) of Shangluo prefecture-level city on the southern slope of the Qinling range, Shaanxi Province. The name comes from the Xiangyuan gully (象园沟) by present-day Xiangyuan village of Daren town, where, according to the county chronicle, the first tea seeds were sown in 1644. The main feature in descriptions is a chestnut aroma; the best-known brand is Xiangyuan Wuya (象园雾芽). Since 13 March 2024 the name has been protected by a geographical indication certification mark — the first tea mark of this kind in Shangluo prefecture-level city.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). According to a retelling of the rules for use of the mark, the products must meet the group standard “镇安象园绿茶” — “Zhen’an Xiangyuan green tea”; the number and text of the standard could not be found. The county also makes white and red tea, but they are not mentioned in the documents found on the mark.
- Category: County brand; geographical indication certification mark (2024). A 2026 publication also reports a national agricultural product geographical indication certificate, without a number or date. By announcement No. 646 (2025) the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recognized 870 geographical indication products, among them former agricultural indications; whether Zhen’an Xiangyuan Cha is on this list could not be verified from the sources consulted.
- Origin: China, Shaanxi Province (陕西, Shǎnxī), Shangluo prefecture-level city (商洛, Shāngluò), Zhen’an County (镇安, Zhèn’ān).
- Mark zone: According to a retelling of the rules for use of the mark (April 2024) — nine units of the county: the towns of Daren, Chaiping, Yuehe, Muwang, Miaogou, Yungaisi, Huilong and Qingtongguan, and also Yongle subdistrict. The list has not been checked against the text of the rules.
- Geographic coordinates: The county seat — about 33.4° N and 109.2° E.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Antiquity. A local publication writes that wild tea trees older than 500 years were found in the Miaogou area; it does not name a primary source.
- 1644. The Zhen’an County Chronicle (《镇安县志》), as quoted by a local publication: Liu Zhengmin (刘正民) of Pengcheng town of Hezhou in Anhui moved to the Xiangyuan gully in the first year of Shunzhi and brought tea seeds. He sowed them the same year, the next year four bushes came up, and within a few years the garden grew to 15 mu.
- 1927. According to the same chronicle, the tea merchant Peng Chuanqing (彭传清) from Ziyang, passing through Xiangyuan, saw the luxuriant bushes, showed how to make tea, and himself settled in Shizikou (now Xinfeng village). “It was from this time that Xiangyuan tea rose.”
- 2008–2012. Xiangyuan Wuya of the “栗乡缘” brand of the Shenghua (盛华) company received silver and gold at tea fairs in Xi’an, Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo; in 2012 it was recognized as a provincial brand product of Shaanxi.
- 2024. On 13 March the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) registered the certification mark “镇安象园茶”; the applicant and owner is the county tea industry association (镇安县茶叶产业协会). The registration announcement was read out on 28 March at the season-opening festival in Xiangyuan village.
- 2026. Before the spring harvest, representatives of the 12 companies that had received the right to the mark made a collective pledge to safeguard quality — according to an April 2026 report.
- Age of the tradition: In the sources — from “more than 300” to “more than 400 years”; counting from 1644 it is about 380 years.
- Name: 镇安 — the name of the county; 象园 (Xiàngyuán) — the name of the gully and the village. The brand name “象园雾芽” — “misty buds of Xiangyuan” — according to a local story, was coined by a roasting master invited from Jiangsu: he was struck by the clouds and mist here. The place he came from is written in the source as “潥阳”.
- Cultural significance: A 2026 publication mentions an inheritor of the intangible heritage of Xiangyuan tea; in which list and when the technique was entered is not stated in the sources consulted.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Varieties / Cultivars: No variety names in the sources consulted. The chronicle speaks only of seeds brought from Anhui in 1644.
- Raw material: According to a report from the 2024 season-opening festival, where the announcement of the mark was read out — most often one bud with one leaf or with two barely opened leaves, picked around the Qingming festival.
- Harvest time: According to the chairman of the county tea association (2024), picking begins about ten days later than in the tea districts of Hanzhong and Ankang.
4. Terroir and Cultivation Features
- Region: The southern slope of the Qinling, deep in the range; the county lies at the northern edge of Chinese tea growing, and tourist descriptions call the local tea “the northernmost high-mountain tea” — this is an advertising phrase.
- Growing altitude: 800–1500 m — according to the chairman of the county tea association (2024); the producing company wrote in 2015 of gardens “above 800 m”.
- Climate: A large daily temperature range and long daylight — by the same account.
- Soils: The chairman of the association mentions saline soils and links the tea’s richness in selenium to them; there are no analyses in the sources consulted.
- Chestnut: The Shenghua company explains the chestnut aroma by Zhen’an being “a land of chestnuts” (中国板栗之乡); this is the producer’s explanation.
- Garden area: According to county data as retold by the press — “more than 60,000 mu” (undated), 105,000 mu (2021; the same in a statement by the prefecture-level city in March 2024), 117,500 mu and 1280 t (a report a week later, March 2024), 118,000 mu (2026).
5. Production Technology
The group standard sets the area, the raw material and the technology, but its text and number could not be found. Reports from the Shenghua factory give for Xiangyuan Wuya a chain without parameters: fixation (杀青, shāqīng) → straightening of the leaf (理条, lǐtiáo) → shaping (做形, zuòxíng) → drying (烘焙, hōngbèi) → sifting and sorting (筛分, 精选), where yellow leaves and stalks are picked out both by machine and by hand. This is the description of one producer. Shenghua has three lines (company description, 2015):
- Xiangyuan Wuya (象园雾芽, Xiàngyuán wùyá) — tender buds picked around Qingming.
- Xiangyuan Maojian (象园毛尖, Xiàngyuán máojiān) — leaf picked before Guyu; twisted, dark green, with a chestnut tone.
- Xiangyuan Chaoqing (象园炒青, Xiàngyuán chǎoqīng) — summer tea, a pan-fixed green tea.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
The general description is from the same 2024 report: “外形美观、嫩绿光润、肉厚而鲜、香气清幽，冲泡后汤色新绿、栗香味浓、回甘持久”.
- Dry leaf appearance: Handsome, tender green and lustrous, the leaf fleshy and fresh. On the shape of Xiangyuan Wuya the sources disagree: one publication calls the leaf flat and straight (扁平挺直), the producing company — tight twists “resembling an orchid”, emerald, with barely visible down.
- Dry leaf aroma: Not described separately in the sources consulted.
- Liquor aroma: Delicate and clean (香气清幽), with a pronounced chestnut note (栗香); the producer writes of a scent of chestnut blossom (栗花香).
- Taste: Mild, with a sweet return that lasts long (回甘持久); the tea withstands many infusions.
- Liquor color: According to this description — fresh green (汤色新绿); another publication writes “clear, yellowish-bright” (清澈黄亮).
- Spent leaves (wet leaves): No descriptions in the sources consulted.
7. Chemical Composition
No physicochemical data in the sources consulted. The chairman of the county tea association, who is also the head of a producing company, stated in 2024 that the water-soluble substances in Xiangyuan Wuya are “15 percentage points above the national standard”; there is no test report, these are the producer’s words.
8. Brewing
Class practice for green tea. A local publication (2021) advises for Xiangyuan tea water at 85–90 °C, not reboiling the water, brewing in glass, and the best Wuya in a translucent white porcelain cup.
- Water temperature: 85–90 °C, as the source advises; for the most tender buds class practice also allows 80–85 °C.
- Tea amount: 3 g per 150 ml.
- Teaware: A glass tumbler or a white porcelain cup.
- Process:
- Warm the vessel, put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
- The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
- Drink, leaving part of the liquor, and top up; two or three re-infusions.
9. Storage
Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors. Best drunk within a year.
10. Price and Counterfeits
No price data in the sources consulted. A 2026 publication values the brand at 533 million yuan — this is a valuation of the brand, not the price of the tea.
- How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the certification mark “镇安象园茶” and a producer from among those authorized to use it; in spring 2026 there were 12.
- Check that the tea was made in Zhen’an County.
- Reference points from the descriptions: tender green lustrous leaf, chestnut aroma, a long sweet return, resistance to repeated brewing.
11. Interesting Facts
- It all began, according to the chronicle, with four bushes from seeds that a settler from Anhui brought in 1644.
- All three heroes of this story are newcomers: a settler from Anhui sowed the tea, a merchant from Ziyang taught people to make it almost three centuries later, a master from Jiangsu gave the brand its name.
12. Comparison with Other Shaanxi Teas
- Xiangyuan Wuya (象园雾芽): The flagship brand under this same name — buds picked around Qingming; the corpus has a separate article on it.
- Shangnan Cha (商南茶): The tea of Shangnan County of the same Shangluo prefecture-level city, on the southeastern slope of the Qinling.
- Ziyang Maojian (紫阳毛尖): The green tea of Ziyang County, where the merchant who raised Xiangyuan tea came from in 1927.
- Pingli Nüwa Cha (平利女娲茶): The green tea of the neighboring Ankang prefecture-level city, also with selenium soils.
In Conclusion:
Zhèn’ān Xiàngyuán chá is a green tea from the southern slope of the Qinling: a late spring harvest at 800–1500 m, tender green leaf, a chestnut aroma and a long sweet return. Its history is unusually precise — the chronicle names the settler, the year and the number of the first bushes — while its protection is young: the mark dates from 2024.
Sources
Geographical indication
Full list — on the Sources page