Jianghua Bitter Tea

Jianghua Bitter Tea

Jianghua Bitter Tea is a geographical indication certification trademark.

Jianghua Bitter Tea is a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　Jianghua Bitter Tea has a long and storied history. It combines the essence of both kuding tea and green tea. Compared to kuding tea, it has a more lingering aroma and lacks the intense bitterness; compared to green tea, it leaves a sweet aftertaste with a rich flavor. Its key chemical components—tea polyphenols, amino acids, and water extract content—are all at relatively high levels. It offers benefits such as preventing and treating colds and dysentery, improving hearing and vision, and soothing the spleen and stomach—qualities that surpass other tea varieties. Jianghua Bitter Tea is famous for its bitterness and is a green, health-promoting beverage among the world’s three major non-alcoholic drinks. It is a specialty of the Jianghua Yao Autonomous County, grown primarily in the Nanling Mountain Range, an area inhabited mainly by the Yao people. As recorded in Er Ya · Shimu (Explanation of Trees) over 2,100 years ago, it was used as a ceremonial tribute in the imperial court. According to Ben Cao Mu Bu (Herbal Medicine Section), “Bitter tea tastes sweet and bitter. It helps regulate qi, aid digestion, treat hemorrhoids, promote urination, and eliminate phlegm.” Research by the Hunan Provincial Museum confirms that Jianghua Bitter Tea is the ancient “kutu,” produced as early as the Western Han Dynasty—over 2,500 years ago. A box of bitter tea was excavated from the Han Dynasty tombs at Mawangdui in Changsha, indicating its use as a ceremonial gift for at least 2,100 years. Jianghua Bitter Tea is an ancient and precious tea variety from Hunan Province, growing in the misty, continuous peaks of the Dayao Mountains. As early as the late 1970s, the Hunan Tea Research Institute established a dedicated Jianghua Bitter Tea research team, conducting 30 years of research and developing new, high-quality bitter tea varieties. Jianghua Bitter Tea is unique in quality—rich in flavor, with a lingering aroma, excellent endurance for brewing, and a sweet aftertaste—making it an excellent gift for family and friends.

　　The bitter tea produced abundantly in the Jianghua area is famed for its fragrant taste. It serves not only as a beverage but also as a remedy for conditions such as excessive internal heat, diarrhea, and spleen-heart discomfort. Folk remedies use it to treat colds. The tea leaves are large and soft, with plump buds, and contain higher levels of effective components such as tannins and caffeine than ordinary teas. It is a premium raw material for making black brick tea, and research on isolating the traits of the original bitter tea variety and breeding superior strains has already begun.

　　Jianghua Bitter Tea is famous for its bitterness. Also known as tall-stem tea, one of its varieties has the highest tea polyphenol content in the province, making it quite renowned. It is a green, health-promoting beverage among the world’s three major non-alcoholic drinks. It is abundantly produced in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County, Hunan Province, with an annual output of around 7,500 dan. It has the effects of quenching thirst, relieving summer heat, refreshing the mind, and lowering blood pressure. Its flavor is first bitter then sweet, richly aromatic, and leaves a lasting aftertaste. It is famed for its fragrance, serving both as a beverage and a remedy for excessive internal heat, diarrhea, and spleen-heart discomfort. Folk remedies use it to treat colds. The tea leaves are large and soft, with plump buds, and contain higher levels of effective components such as tannins and caffeine than ordinary teas, making it a premium raw material for making black brick tea.

　　Jianghua Bitter Tea is an ancient and precious tea variety from Hunan Province, growing in the misty, continuous peaks of the Dayao Mountains. Tests by the provincial tea research institute show that its main chemical components—tea polyphenols, amino acids, and water extract content—are respectively 7.97%, 43.2 mg/100g, and 1.03% higher than similar varieties. As early as the late 1970s, the Hunan Tea Research Institute established a dedicated Jianghua Bitter Tea research team, conducting 30 years of research and developing new, high-quality bitter tea varieties. The Niuguling Bitter Tea Base of Jianghua Jiulongjing Tea Company has been designated as a pollution-free bitter tea production base in Hunan Province.

　　In 2013, the “Jianghua Bitter Tea” application submitted by the Yuehua Tea Industry Development Cooperative of Jianghua Yao Autonomous County passed the review of the Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and expert evaluation, and was granted national agricultural product geographical indication registration protection.

　　Geographic Scope

　　The protected geographic indication area for Jianghua Bitter Tea agricultural products includes the towns, townships, and farms of Hekou, Taowei, Baimangying, Dashiqiao, Qiaoshi, Weizhukou, Beijiang, Daxi, Wujian, Xiangjiang, Huajiang, Daxu, Xiaoxu, Mashi, Shuikou, Tuojiang, Dongtian, and the Jianghua State-owned Forest Farm in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. To the east, it borders Lian County in Guangdong; to the south, it neighbors Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; to the west, it borders Guanyang County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; to the northwest, it neighbors Jiangyong County; and to the north, it adjoins Dao County. The geographic coordinates lie between 24°38′35″ and 25°19′43″ north latitude, and 111°25′25″ and 112°12′35″ east longitude. The protected area covers 1,500 hectares, with an annual total production of 1,500 tons.