Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá

Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá (周巷凤凰茶) is a flat green tea from Zhouxiang Town (周巷镇) of Xiaochang County (孝昌县) of Xiaogan prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hubei Province, on the southern spurs of the Dabie Mountains. “Fènghuáng” here is the name of the local Mount Fenghuangshan (凤凰山), not a reference to the dancong teas of Guangdong. Since 2014 the tea has been protected as a geographical indication product, and since February 2024 a provincial standard has been in force that explicitly calls it a green tea and sets everything — from cultivars and garden altitude to processing temperatures.

1. Classification and Origin

Type: Green tea (绿茶, lǜchá). The Hubei standard DB42/T 2174—2023 defines the protected product as green tea grown and made within the protection zone.
Category: Geographical indication product (2014); provincial standard (2023, in force since 2024).
Origin: China, Hubei Province (湖北, Húběi), Xiaogan prefecture-level city (孝感, Xiàogǎn), Xiaochang County (孝昌, Xiàochāng), Zhouxiang Town (周巷, Zhōuxiàng).
Protection zone: The current administrative territory of Zhouxiang Town — this is how the standard defines it, with reference to the protection announcement; a map of the zone is given in an annex to the standard.
Geographic location: According to a 2019 publication, Xiaochang County lies on the southern slope of the Dabie Mountains and the northern edge of the Jianghan Plain; to the east it borders Huangpi District of the city of Wuhan. Exact coordinates of the zone are not found in the sources consulted.

2. History and Cultural Significance

History:
- The legend of how the gardens began. A publication in the travel section of the Renmin Wang website (2019) retells the inscription on a stele in front of a temple on Mount Dawushan (大悟山): under the Ming, a former official, Li Daoyuan (李道元), who took monastic vows under the name Sangwu (丧吾), brought tea seeds and laid out gardens in the area of Mount Dawushan and Mount Fenghuangshan. The same publication says that the Ming dignitary Mao Kun (茅坤) himself cultivated the local tea gardens. I have not seen the text of the stele.
- Qing. According to the same publication, the mountains and tea gardens of these places are depicted in the scroll Jiangshan Woyou Tu (江山卧游图) by the Qing painter Cheng Zhengkui (程正揆), which is kept in the Gugong Museum. The county gazetteer Xiaogan Xianzhi, in the edition of the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), gives the poem “Tasting tea at the Gucheng monastery” (古城庵试茶); the publication regards it as evidence that there were already tea gardens at the Gucheng monastery on Fenghuangshan.
- 1990s. In the early 1990s a tea company with the brand “尖峰” (Jiānfēng, “sharp peak”) appeared in the town; the publication lists its provincial awards of 2009.
- 2014. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), by announcement No. 55 of 2014, took Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá under protection as a geographical indication product.
- 2015. The neighboring name “孝昌凤凰山茶” was registered as a certification mark; in the same year the county received one more geographical indication product — “观音湖绿茶” (announcement No. 162 of 2015).
- 2017. Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá was included in the national list “一村一品” — “one village, one product”.
- 2022. In the list of Hubei geographical indication products published in January 2022 (data as of the end of 2020), Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá has zero companies authorized to use the special mark, and no provincial standard.
- 2023–2024. On 23 December 2023 the Hubei Administration for Market Regulation approved the standard DB42/T 2174—2023 “Geographical indication product. Zhouxiang Fenghuang Cha”; it has been in force since 23 February 2024.
Name: 周巷 — the town, 凤凰 — Mount Fenghuangshan in Shuangfeng Village (双峰村).
Three names of one county: Xiaochang has three tea names — the geographical indication product 周巷凤凰茶 (2014), the certification mark 孝昌凤凰山茶 (2015) and the geographical indication product 观音湖绿茶 (2015).

3. Botanical Description and Raw Material

Varieties / Cultivars: The standard names three cultivars: “鄂茶一号” (Èchá yīhào, the Hubei variety “Echa No. 1”), 福鼎大白 (Fúdǐng dàbái) and 中茶108 (Zhōngchá 108).
Raw material: Young shoots; picking begins when shoots at the stage of “one bud with one just-opened leaf” (一芽一叶初展) reach 8–12 per square meter.
Picking method: By hand only.
Harvest time: From late March to early May and from late August to late September.

4. Terroir and Cultivation Features

The parameters below are from the standard DB42/T 2174—2023.

Growing altitude: 400–800 m.
Climate: Mean annual temperature 15.5–16.4 °C, precipitation 1010–1190 mm a year, 2135–2310 hours of sunshine, a frost-free period of 228–259 days.
Soils: Yellow-brown (黄棕壤), a fertile layer at least 0.5 m deep, pH 4.5–6.5, organic matter at least 1 %, good drainage.
Garden care: The standard sets out planting times (from early February to late March or from late October to mid-November), three formative prunings of the young bush, and fertilizing: the base fertilizer is applied once a year, in late October — early November, and it provides 60 % of the annual rate.
Site: According to the 2019 publication, Mount Fenghuangshan stands at the foot of Mount Shuangfengshan, on the shore of the Xichong Reservoir (西冲水库), next to Guanyinhu Lake (观音湖).

5. Production Technology

The standard sets the following sequence:

Spreading of the fresh leaf (摊青, tānqīng): 4–6 hours, in a layer of 1–3 cm.
Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): The standard gives no parameters.
Cooling (摊凉, tānliáng): 20–30 minutes.
Shaping (做形, zuòxíng): First straightening the leaf into strips (理条, lǐtiáo) at 150–180 °C for 10–15 minutes, then pressing it into a flat leaf (压扁, yābiǎn) at 100–120 °C for 8–10 minutes.
Final drying (辉干, huīgān): 90–120 °C, 25–35 minutes.

It is the pressing of the leaf that gives the flat, straight shape the standard requires of both grades.

6. Organoleptic Characteristics

The standard divides the tea into two grades — top (特级) and first (一级); for each of them a new reference sample is prepared every year. Below are the requirements for the top grade and how the first grade differs.

Dry leaf appearance: Flat, smooth and straight, emerald, with visible down, even (扁平光直，翠绿显毫，匀齐). In the first grade — flat, smooth and straight, green with a sheen (绿润).
Dry leaf aroma: The standard does not describe it separately.
Liquor aroma: Clean and lasting (清香持久); in the first grade — clean.
Taste: Fresh and mellow (鲜醇) — in both grades.
Liquor color: Tender green, bright (嫩绿明亮) — in both grades.
Spent leaves (wet leaves): Soft, tender and even (柔嫩匀齐); in the first grade — tender, even and bright (嫩匀明亮).

The standard requires the tea to be free of spoilage and foreign odors, non-tea impurities and any additives.

7. Chemical Composition

The physicochemical requirements of the standard are the same for both grades:

Indicator	Requirement
Moisture	not more than 6.5 %
Broken leaf and dust	not more than 3.0 %
Total ash	not more than 7.0 %
Extractives	not less than 38.0 %
Crude fiber	not more than 10.0 %

The standard gives no data on polyphenols, amino acids and caffeine.

8. 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:
1. Warm the teaware.
2. Put in the tea and pour the water down the side.
3. The first infusion — after 40–60 seconds.
4. Drink, leaving part of the liquor.
5. Top up with water.
6. Two or three repeat infusions.

9. Storage

Class practice. The standard refers to the general national standard for tea storage, GB/T 30375. 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

Price data are not found in the sources consulted.

How to avoid counterfeits:
- Look for the special mark of a geographical indication product; according to the list with data as of the end of 2020, no companies were authorized to use it, so it is worth asking the seller for documents on authorization.
- Check that the tea was made in Zhouxiang Town of Xiaochang County.
- The leaf is flat, smooth and straight, emerald; the liquor is tender green and bright.
- Do not confuse it with Fenghuang Dancong from Guangdong (section 13).

11. Interesting Facts

The standard even sets the density of shoots at which picking begins — 8–12 per square meter.
The protection zone is a single town, not a county.
The standard appeared nine years after protection was granted.

12. Comparison with Other Teas

Xihu Longjing (西湖龙井): The famous flat green tea of Hangzhou; Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá also gets its flat shape by pressing the leaf.
Fenghuang Dancong (凤凰单丛): An oolong from Mount Fenghuangshan in Chaozhou, Guangdong; only the name of the mountain is shared.
Xiaochang Fenghuangshan Cha (孝昌凤凰山茶): Tea of the same town under the 2015 certification mark; how the two names relate legally is not stated in the sources consulted.
Enshi Yulu (恩施玉露): The famous green tea of Hubei — needle-shaped, with steam fixation.

In Conclusion:

Zhōuxiàng fènghuáng chá is a flat green tea from a single town on the southern spurs of the Dabie Mountains. For a long time what spoke for it was mainly the awards of a local company and retold legends, but since 2024 it has had a detailed standard: three cultivars, gardens at 400–800 m, hand picking, pressing of the leaf and two quality grades. In the cup it is an emerald flat leaf with down, a clean, lasting aroma and a tender green, bright liquor.