Linxiang Dark Tea

Linxiang Dark Tea

Linxiang Dark Tea is a geographical indication certification trademark.

　　Linxiang Dark Tea is a specialty of Linxiang City, Yueyang, Hunan Province. Linxiang Dark Tea enjoys an outstanding reputation: since the Kangxi era, Linxiang green bricks have been exported to Russia, with peak annual sales reaching 17,000 tons, and today they have ranked first in national export volume for eight consecutive years; in frontier markets such as Qinghai and Inner Mongolia, Linxiang Dark Tea is a household name.

　　Linxiang boasts altitude, rainfall, temperature and humidity, and soil conditions that are ideal for tea cultivation. Especially in high-altitude tea regions with frequent cloud cover, rich soil humus content, and large diurnal temperature variations, the tea leaves produced are tender and rich in internal components, with high levels of amino acids, tea polyphenols, and other constituents. The finished tea is characterized by robust strips, a mellow and long-lasting taste, strong aroma, and excellent infusion endurance.

　　As the two main tea products in the city’s tea industry, Linxiang Dark Tea and green tea enjoy a high reputation due to their superior quality and large production and sales volumes. The city has three national designated enterprises for border-sale tea, and a total of 11 brick tea factories of various sizes, ranking first in China in terms of processing scale, with an annual production capacity of nearly 15,000 tons. Over the past decade, the production and sales of premium green tea and dark tea from processing enterprises in the city have consistently remained above 10,000 tons. The “Dongting” brand green brick won the gold award at the “Huaming” Cup National Compressed Tea Competition; the “Zhongcha” brand Fu brick won the gold award at the Asia-Pacific International Trade Fair. Before the year 2000, Linxiang Fu bricks and green bricks were highly sought-after in the northwestern dark tea market and in countries such as Russia and Mongolia, winning great favor among consumers. According to customs data, from 2005 to 2012, Yongju Dark Tea ranked first in national exports for eight consecutive years; it was listed as a national designated enterprise for border-sale tea production and border-sale tea raw material reserves; in 2006, it was ranked among the “Top 100 Chinese Tea Industry Enterprises.”