---
title: "Zhōuníng gāoshān yúnwù chá"
url: https://thetea.app/article/zhouning-gaoshan-yunwu-cha
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-01
source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app)
---
# Zhōuníng gāoshān yúnwù chá (周宁高山云雾茶)

*Zhōuníng gāoshān yúnwù chá* (周宁高山云雾茶), “the high-mountain cloud tea of Zhouning”, is the county name for the tea of Zhouning County (周宁县) of Ningde prefecture-level city in the northeast of Fujian Province. It is not a single class: under this name researchers have studied the county's green, red and white teas, although the product standard is written for green tea. Since 2017, according to *Fujian Ribao*, the name has been protected as a national geographical indication certification mark.

**1. Classification and Origin:**

* **Type and category:** A county brand without a single class. A 2021 study covered 73 samples under this name: 26 green, 28 red and 19 white. A publication of the Fujian Yanhuang Culture Research Society (2021) writes that the product standard is written for green tea, but red and white teas are also made from the same raw material.
* **Origin:** China, Fujian Province (福建, *Fújiàn*), Ningde prefecture-level city (宁德, *Níngdé*), Zhouning County (周宁, *Zhōuníng*).
* **Protection:** Geographical indication certification mark (2017). The number, the holder and the boundaries of the zone could not be verified: the provincial registry page does not respond.
* **Geographic coordinates:** Zhouning County — about 27.1° N and 119.3° E.

**2. History and Cultural Significance:**

* **History:**
    * **Tang — Qing.** According to local publications, tea has been grown here since the Tang and Song, and its heyday came in the Ming and Qing; “China Net” (2022) writes that in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi years it was exported to Western Europe and Southeast Asia.
    * **Late 19th century.** According to the Yanhuang society publication, there were gardens and tea firms throughout the county, and more than ten thousand chests of finished tea were made a year. At the end of the Qing, according to specialists quoted in the same publication, a saying went around about the tea villages of the Longtingxi River (龙亭溪): “金渡头、银进登、铜桃岭、铁那坑” — “golden Dutou, silver Jindeng, copper Taoling, iron Nakeng”.
    * **Guansi.** The best-known local line is the tea of Guansi Village, where, according to the same publication, tea has been planted since the Wanli (万历) years of the Ming era. It has its own mark (section 13).
    * **2017.** According to *Fujian Ribao* (2025), the name became a national geographical indication certification mark. The county, according to the Yanhuang society publication, adopted for it a product standard for green tea and rules for the use of the mark; the dates of their adoption are not in the sources.
    * **2018.** The red tea of the local brand “海雾” won gold at the Second China International Tea Expo.
* **Name:** 高山 (*gāoshān*) — “high mountains”, 云雾 (*yúnwù*) — “clouds and mist”. The county's nickname is “the city above the clouds”.
* **Cultural significance:** According to the Yanhuang society publication, a guest is first of all served “tea with rock sugar” (冰糖茶), and at ancestor commemorations, weddings and funerals two cups of tea are set out. “China Net” writes that the late tea patriarch Zhang Tianfu (张天福) left this tea the inscription “清韵天然” — “pure natural charm”.

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

* **Varieties:** According to publications of 2021 and 2025, the county has more than twenty tea bush varieties; there is no single variety for the name.
* **Protected local populations:** “官司菜茶” (*guānsī [càichá](https://thetea.app/article/caicha)*), “汤家山菜茶” (*tāngjiāshān càichá*) and “祖垅[野生茶](https://thetea.app/article/ye-sheng-cha)” (*zǔlǒng yěshēng chá*) are included in the provincial list of valuable tea bush germplasm. The last of them, according to the Yanhuang society publication, grows near Zulong Village of Chunchi Town over an area of about 200 mu; the first record of it is in the Ming book by Feng Menglong (冯梦龙) “寿宁待志”.
* **Other varieties:** A report on a trip around the county names 福云6号, [福安](https://thetea.app/article/fuan)大白茶, 梅占, [金牡丹](https://thetea.app/article/jin-mudan) and 紫玫瑰.
* **Raw material:** According to the Yanhuang society publication — early spring shoots, as a rule a bud with one leaf.

**4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:**

* **Region:** The uplands of northeastern Fujian. The average altitude of the county is about 800 m, the county seat lies at 886 m; there are, according to the trip report, 288 peaks above 1000 m.
* **Climate:** According to a 2025 provincial publication — abundant dew and thick fog all year round, and a large difference between day and night temperatures. According to the Yanhuang society publication (2021), at the height of summer the average daytime temperature is about 24 °C, and forest cover is 72 %.
* **Soils:** According to the Yanhuang society publication — mainly fertile, deep red-yellow soils.
* **Altitude and quality:** The study of 73 samples counts gardens above 300 m as high-mountain gardens: green tea from them contained more amino acids and less caffeine.
* **Scale:** The county has 107,700 mu of gardens (publications of 2021 and 2025); output was 10,500 t in 2019 and 12,600 t in 2024.

**5. Production Technology:**

The technology depends on the class; a step-by-step description and parameters are not found in the sources consulted. According to the trip report, the leaf used to go mainly into green tea, and demand for white tea has raised the price of the raw material.

For green tea, below is the general scheme for the class, not a description of the technology of this tea:

1.  **Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊放, *tānfàng*).**
2.  **Fixation (杀青, *shāqīng*):** Heat stops oxidation.
3.  **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).**
4.  **Drying (干燥, *gānzào*).**

**6. Organoleptic Characteristics:**

Below is the green tea, as described by specialists in the Yanhuang society publication (2021).

* **Dry leaf appearance:** An even, emerald leaf with barely visible bud tips (匀整翠绿，微露锋苗).
* **Dry leaf aroma:** No separate description in the sources consulted.
* **Liquor aroma:** A lasting aroma of young leaf (嫩香持久).
* **Taste:** Fresh, mellow and long (鲜醇悠长); after swallowing, the aroma stays in the mouth. The 2021 researchers describe the taste as 浓厚鲜爽 — rich, dense and fresh.
* **Liquor color:** Tender green and bright (汤色嫩绿明亮).
* **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions in the sources consulted.

The same publication and *Fujian Ribao* write that the tea withstands many infusions (经泡耐饮).

**7. Chemical Composition:**

According to the study of 73 samples (journal of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 2021), the extractives content is 43.19 % in the green tea and 45.82 % in the white tea, and the ratio of polyphenols to amino acids is 3.75–3.91.

A study of the green tea (the journal “食品工业科技”, mean values):

| Indicator | Content |
| :--- | :--- |
| Extractives | 44.78 % |
| Polyphenols | 13.66 % |
| Amino acids | 3.01 % |
| Caffeine | 4.93 % |
| Flavonoids | 8.14 mg/g |
| Ratio of polyphenols to amino acids | 4.47 |

The same study found 172 aroma compounds, most of them hydrocarbons (51) and esters (48). According to the study of 73 samples, green tea from the local *càichá* (菜茶) population is richer in flavonoids, while green tea from varieties bred for oolongs is, as a rule, richer in polyphenols, caffeine and extractives.

**8. Health Properties:**

There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea.

**9. Brewing:**

Class practice for green tea.

* **Water temperature:** 80–85 °C.
* **Tea amount:** 3 g per 150 ml.
* **Teaware:** A glass tumbler or a white gaiwan.
* **Process:** Warm the teaware, pour the water down the side, the first infusion — after 40–60 seconds; two or three repeat infusions.

Red and white tea are brewed according to the practice of their own class.

**10. Storage:**

Class practice for green tea. In airtight packaging, in a refrigerator at 0–5 °C, away from light, moisture and odors; best drunk within a year.

**11. Price and Counterfeits:**

Data on retail prices are not found in the sources consulted. According to a provincial publication (2025), in 2024 the total value of the county's tea industry was 1.87 billion yuan, and the brand value was estimated at 1.006 billion yuan.

* **How to avoid counterfeits:**
    * Look for the geographical indication mark and a reference to Zhouning County.
    * Check the class on the label: green, red and white tea are sold under one name.
    * Do not confuse it with Guansi Yunwu Cha — a separate mark of Guansi Village within the same county — or with other “cloud” teas: “*yúnwù*” is a common word.

**12. Interesting Facts:**

* The garden of Qianxi Village, according to the trip report, was abandoned in 1999, when the residents were resettled to make way for a reservoir; the bushes have grown up to 3–4 m, and the tea from them is called “扳倒茶” — “the tea you have to bend down”.
* The sources differ on 1915: “China Net” writes of a silver medal at the Panama exposition for Guansi tea, while the Yanhuang society publication writes of an award from the same exposition for Tanyang Gongfu from neighboring Fu'an County.

**13. Varieties and Neighbors:**

* **Green, red and white tea under this name:** The product standard is written for the green tea; all three classes were examined in the 2021 study.
* **Guansi Yunwu Cha ([官司云雾茶](https://thetea.app/article/guansi-yunwu-cha)):** The historic tea of Guansi Village with its own mark — a product one level below the county name.
* **Shouning Gaoshan Cha ([寿宁高山茶](https://thetea.app/article/shouning-gaoshan-cha)):** The protected mountain tea of neighboring Shouning County.
* **Tanyang Gongfu ([坦洋工夫](https://thetea.app/article/tanyang-gong-fu)) and Bailin Gongfu ([白琳工夫](https://thetea.app/article/bai-lin-gongfu)):** Red teas of Ningde prefecture, alongside which the Yanhuang society publication ranks Zhouning red tea.

**In Conclusion:**

*Zhōuníng gāoshān yúnwù chá* is the name of a mountain county, not of a single tea: a green tea with a standard, and also a red and a white. It rests on an altitude of about 800 m, dew and fog, and the local *càichá* populations; a buyer should look at the mark and at the class.