Origin dossier
Xiangxi Golden Tea 湘西黄金茶
Xiangxi Golden Tea (湘西黄金茶) is a geographical-indication tea produced in Jishou, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, China. The name is protected as a Chinese geographical-indication certification mark, registration No. 15887938, covering the eight county-level divisions of Xiangxi prefecture, with Jishou as the core production area.
Definition
Xiangxi Golden Tea is the geographical-indication name for tea grown and processed within a defined area of Jishou, in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Hunan Province, China. The designation covers both green tea and black tea made from the local cultivar selections, which are distinguished by an unusually high amino acid concentration.
A geographical indication is not a brand. It does not say who made the tea; it says where the tea is from, and it is enforceable. Tea grown outside the defined area cannot legally be sold under this name in the European Union or in China.
Origin and terroir
Jishou sits in the Wuling mountains of western Hunan. The gardens run between roughly 500 and 800 metres, on slopes that hold morning fog well into the growing season. Slow leaf development under persistent cloud cover is the general precondition for high amino acid accumulation in tea, and it is the physical explanation behind the composition figures below.
In 2022 the production base covered 150,000 mu — approximately 10,000 hectares — producing 1,358.5 tonnes of finished tea, with a dry-tea output value of RMB 1.44 billion and a combined industry value of RMB 2.136 billion.
Cultivars
Three cultivar selections carry the name commercially, referred to by number. All three grow inside the geographical-indication area.
| Selection | Leaf appearance | Aroma | Taste | Principal use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No.1 (黄金1号) | Twisted, bright green, visible down | Fresh chestnut, young greens | Sweet and brothy, minimal astringency | Pre-Qingming green; post-Qingming black |
| No.2 (黄金2号) | Tender, vivid green | High floral, persistent | Clean and sweet, delicate body | Pre-Qingming green |
| No.8 (黄金8号) | Tightly rolled, even, lustrous with visible tips | Floral opening, sweet fruit, honeyed base | Layered and sweet, long return | Micro-lot green |
Composition
The cultivar’s analytical signature is described locally as the “four highs” (四高): amino acids, tea polyphenols, water extract and chlorophyll all measure high relative to comparable cultivars harvested in the same period.
| Component | Xiangxi Golden Tea | Typical cultivar | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amino acids | 7.8% | ≈ 3.7% | ≈ 2.0× |
| Tea polyphenols | ≈ 20% | — | — |
| Water extract | ≈ 50% | — | — |
| Chlorophyll | +50% vs control | — | — |
The amino acid figure is the commercially significant one. Amino acids — principally theanine — are what the palate reads as sweetness and body; polyphenols are what it reads as astringency. A cultivar carrying roughly twice the amino acid content at a normal polyphenol level has an unusually favourable ratio between the two.
History
The saying attached to this tea locally is 一两黄金一两茶 — “an ounce of gold for an ounce of tea.” Its recorded origin is an episode in the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty (明世宗实录) for the fourth month of the eighteenth year of the Jiajing reign, corresponding to 1539, when the censor Lu Jie passed through the Baojing pacification commission while inspecting border defences.
Tea cultivation in the area considerably predates that episode. Local histories trace official tea production in the Qianling area to the Qin period, which is the source of the brand name Daqin — “Great Qin.”
The modern legal status is recent. China’s Ministry of Agriculture registered Xiangxi Golden Tea for agricultural geographical indication protection on 25 March 2010 under registration 15887938. On 27 July 2020 it entered the second batch of the Chinese geographical-indication certification mark register, giving the name protection in the European Union.
Processing
Black tea from this origin is made by the orthodox gongfu method in six steps. Green tea from the same gardens is pan-fired rather than oxidised, and the two products are separated by picking date rather than by plot.
Withering 萎凋
Fresh leaf is spread on trays for 12–16 hours to reduce moisture and make the leaf pliable enough to roll without tearing. Humidity and airflow are controlled; over-withering costs aroma, under-withering costs the roll.
Rolling 揉捻
The withered leaf is rolled in three stages of increasing pressure. Rolling ruptures the cell walls, releasing the enzymes and substrates that drive oxidation, and gives the finished leaf its twist.
Oxidation 发酵
The rolled leaf rests in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room. This is the step that makes black tea black: polyphenols convert to theaflavins and thearubigins, and the leaf turns from green to copper. Timing is judged by aroma and colour, not by clock alone.
Drying 干燥
Hot-air drying halts oxidation at the chosen point and brings moisture down to a storable level. Done too fast the leaf case-hardens; done too slow the profile drifts.
Sorting & refiring 精制筛分
The dried tea is screened by size, winnowed to remove fibre and stem, and refired to final moisture. Grade separation happens here — Imperial, Premium, Commercial and teabag cut all come off the same sorting line.
Quality control & packing 审评与包装
Every batch is cupped against retained reference samples and sampled for residue analysis. Cleared batches are packed into foil-lined cartons with lot number and production date, then palletised.
Harvest windows
Qingming and Guyu are solar terms falling around 5 April and 20 April respectively. Which window a tea comes from is the largest single driver of its price.
| Window | Chinese term | Approximate dates | Yields |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Qingming | 明前 | Late March – approx. 5 April | Highest-grade green tea; peak amino acid concentration |
| Pre-Guyu | 雨前 | Approx. 5 – 20 April | Green tea, slightly fuller body |
| Post-Qingming | 明后 | Mid-April – late May | Black tea, premium and imperial grades |
| Summer / early autumn | 夏秋茶 | June – September | Commercial-grade black tea, teabag cut |
How it compares
For buyers already working with Chinese black tea, the useful question is where this origin sits relative to the established names.
| Tea | Province | Cultivar basis | Characteristic aroma | Typical position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiangxi Golden Black Tea | Hunan (Baojing) | Huangjincha cultivar | Honey, stone fruit, faint orchid | Single-origin specialty; registered GI |
| Keemun (祁门红茶) | Anhui | Zhuyeqi | Rose, pine smoke, cocoa | Classic export benchmark |
| Dianhong (滇红) | Yunnan | Large-leaf assamica | Malt, sweet potato, cocoa | Full-bodied, tippy grades |
| Lapsang Souchong (正山小种) | Fujian | Wuyi small-leaf | Pine smoke (traditional) or longan (unsmoked) | Origin of all black tea |
| Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉) | Fujian | Wuyi small-leaf buds | Honey, floral | Pure-bud luxury grade |
1200×675
Questions
- What is Xiangxi Golden Tea?
- Xiangxi Golden Tea (湘西黄金茶) is a geographical-indication tea from Jishou in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, China. It is protected as a Chinese geographical-indication certification mark, registration No. 15887938 and holds China's national agricultural GI registration 15887938.
- Where does the name "an ounce of gold for an ounce of tea" come from?
- It comes from an episode recorded in the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty for the eighteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1539), when the censor Lu Jie passed through Jishou while inspecting border defences. The phrase 一两黄金一两茶 has been attached to the tea locally ever since.
- Is "Golden Tea" a colour description?
- No — it refers to the value implied by that saying, not to the colour of the leaf or the liquor. The green tea from this cultivar is bright green and the black tea is dark with golden tips.
- How do I verify the geographical indication?
- Check the Chinese trademark register for geographical-indication certification mark No. 15887938, registered for “Xiangxi Golden Tea”. It is a public register, which is the point of a GI — you do not have to take our word for it. Note that this is a Chinese registration, not an EU one; we do not claim EU protection for this name.
- Do you grow the tea yourselves?
- We contract the full annual output of the gardens we buy from rather than owning them outright. In practice this gives us the same control over picking standard and timing as ownership, plus the ability to commit volume before a season starts.
- How large is the production area?
- The Xiangxi Golden Tea production base covered 150,000 mu (approximately 10,000 hectares) in 2022, producing 1,358.5 tonnes of finished tea. Our own contracted area is a portion of that; contact us for the current figure.
Sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to one of the following.
- [1]Chinese geographical-indication certification mark register, second batch
“Xiangxi Golden Tea” is registered as a geographical-indication certification mark, No. 15887938, applied for by the Jishou Jingguo Extension Station under authorisation from the Xiangxi prefecture government. The registered production area spans the eight county-level divisions of the prefecture.
- [2]GI certification mark No. 15887938
Registered for protection by the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China on 25 March 2010, under agricultural product geographical indication registration number 15887938.
- [3]Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty (明世宗实录), 1539
The Veritable Records of the Jiajing reign record that in the fourth month of the eighteenth year of Jiajing (1539), the censor Lu Jie passed through the Baojing pacification commission, in this same prefecture, during an inspection of border defences. The episode is the recorded origin of the local saying 一两黄金一两茶 — "an ounce of gold for an ounce of tea."
- [4]Jishou production figures, 2022
In 2022 the Xiangxi Golden Tea production base covered 150,000 mu (approximately 10,000 hectares), producing 1,358.5 tonnes of finished tea with a dry-tea output value of RMB 1.44 billion and a combined industry value of RMB 2.136 billion.