Xiangwo Tea

Xiangwo Tea

Xiangwo Tea is a protected geographical indication product.

　　“Xiangwo Tea” is a very famous specialty product of Xinxing County in Guangdong Province, named after the Xiangwo Tea Plantation in the county. It is a China National Geographical Indication product. With a long cultural history, the tea is of superior quality, with low tea polyphenol content and high amino acid content. It features a beautiful shape, clear color, rich aroma, and mellow taste, and is highly appreciated by connoisseurs for its fresh and fragrant aroma, delicious and refreshing flavor, and bright yellowish-green liquor.

　　Planting History

　　The area around Dongshui in Gongcheng, Xinxing County, Guangdong Province, is located in the Tianlu Mountain Range, mostly at an altitude of over 500 meters, classifying it as a high-mountain region. However, due to its proximity to the sea, the area is often shrouded in fog with high humidity and temperature, making it an ideal geographical environment for cultivating high-mountain tea. As a result, tea production has been ongoing here for a long time. In ancient times, local indigenous people transplanted wild tea trees from the mountains, cultivated them, and processed them into small-leaf green tea for drinking, known as “Shuiyuan Tea,” though the overall yield was not large. After the liberation during the collective economy period, the Gongcheng Commune established the Xiangwo Tea Plantation and introduced Yunnan tea varieties, beginning large-scale cultivation. Since then, “Xiangwo Tea” gradually gained some fame. Due to limitations in management and production techniques, the “Xiangwo Tea” brand had difficulty expanding beyond Xinxing in the past. Later, the Xiangshun Group in Xinxing formed the Xiangwo Eco-tea Plantation, integrating the original geographical resources of the Xiangwo Tea Plantation, transforming the old smallholder processing methods, and utilizing advanced technology and equipment to innovate every aspect from tea variety introduction, cultivation, management, to production processes. After several years of variety improvement and processing technique optimization, Xiangwo Tea has become a tea product with a full range of varieties and excellent quality. Many tea connoisseurs, after tasting Xiangwo Tea, can discern a unique fragrant taste that can only be cultivated in the Gongcheng mountainous area of Xinxing and is hard to replicate elsewhere. The Xinxing County Xiangwo Tea Plantation is located in the southeast of Taiping Town, at an altitude of over 600 meters, about 28 kilometers from the county seat, covering a total area of 2,400 mu. It is situated in the Shuiwang Mountain area under the Shuiliang Village Committee of Taiping Town, with a tea garden area of over 500 mu in 2008.

　　Quality Management

　　The producers and processors of Xiangwo Tea aim to deliver safe, healthy (organic) tea. They have specially hired experts for technical guidance and production management, using organic materials such as straw, soybean meal, chicken manure, and cow dung as base fertilizers to reduce chemical fertilizer use. At the same time, they employ biological pest control, light trapping, and manual capture to eliminate tea tree pests without using chemical pesticides, ensuring the quality of the tea. Xiangwo Tea comes in three major categories—black tea, green tea, and oolong tea—all with a rich taste, stimulating saliva production upon drinking, and offering a particularly strong aftertaste.

　　Place of Origin

　　The protected geographical indication area for Xiangwo Tea includes the Tianlu Mountain Range within the administrative regions of Taiping Town and Rencun Town in Xinxing County, Guangdong Province.