Liangping Sweet Tea

Liangping Sweet Tea

Liangping sweet tea is a geographical indication certification trademark.

　　   Liangping wild sweet tea has been consumed for thousands of years and is known for its ability to clear heat and toxins, moisten the lungs, relieve phlegm and cough, and strengthen the body. It offers triple benefits as “medicine, sugar, and tea,” earning praise from Chinese tea research experts as “standing out from the rest” and “a hidden gem in the deep mountains.” Liangping sweet tea has obtained certification from the U.S. FDA, recognition from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Mie University in Japan, approval from the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, certification from the Tea Quality Inspection Center of China’s Ministry of Agriculture, and is used clinically for diabetes treatment at the Third People’s Hospital of Huaihua City, Hunan. The market potential for sweet tea in cancer prevention and treatment, anti-fatigue, anti-aging, and treatment of pollen allergies, hypertension, diabetes, and more is enormous.

　　   Liangping sweet tea comes from the plant Lithocarpus polystachyus (Wall.) Rehd., belonging to the genus Lithocarpus in the family Fagaceae. Locals brew its leaves as a tea, which has a naturally sweet taste, hence the name “sweet tea.”

　　   Lithocarpus polystachyus is an evergreen small tree, growing about 5–8 meters tall, found in warm, humid mountain forests at altitudes of 400–800 meters. It often grows mixed with bamboo and pine trees, tolerates shade, prefers acidic soil, and thrives in short daylight conditions.

　　   Liangping County’s wild sweet tea was discovered during the national agricultural regionalization survey in 1981. It is distributed across sixteen towns and townships and thirty villages throughout the county, scattered across 80,000 acres of pine and bamboo forests. It is relatively concentrated in towns along the Mingyue Mountain Range such as Zhushan, Longsheng, Yuan’yi, Xingsheng, Pingjin, and Lirang, and is also found in towns of the Dongshan Mountain Range including Panlong, Hexing, and Tiemen. Since the large-scale discovery of wild sweet tea occurred in Liangping, the county is recognized as the origin of wild sweet tea. That is, Liangping County is the most suitable growing area for wild sweet tea, and only sweet tea produced in Liangping can be considered “authentic.” Developing the wild sweet tea industry in Liangping enjoys uniquely favorable natural conditions.

　　   There are 8 families, 9 species, and 11 subspecies of plants across the country that can be called “sweet tea,” but only Liangping sweet tea and Guangxi sweet tea are suitable for industrial development. Guangxi sweet tea is a climbing plant belonging to the genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae.

　　   Research has found that the efficacy of Liangping sweet tea is far superior to that of Guangxi sweet tea.

　　   Liangping Sweet Tea

　　       Liangping County Longsheng Township Agricultural Service Center

　　       11083215

　　       Sweet Tea (Tea)