Luohuo Snowland Ersai Tea

Luohuo Snowland Ersai Tea

Luohuo Snowland Ersai Tea is a protected geographical indication product.

　　“Snowland Ersai Tea” is produced in the Huo’erguanggu area of Luohuo County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, located on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Ersai tree is a wild species that grows in completely unpolluted environments and is a unique and rare tree variety native to the snowy highlands. In the Huo’erguanggu area, many of these trees have reached ages of one hundred or even several hundred years. For a long time, the “Horgu Tibetan Tea” made from Ersai leaves was used exclusively in Tibetan regions as a luxurious beverage for receiving distinguished guests, during festivals, and as a special offering for chieftains, officials, and nobility. Its remarkable medicinal properties were documented in the most authoritative Tibetan medical text, the “Four Medical Tantras.” In early 2005, the Luohuo County Forestry Bureau and Forestry Development Corporation hired researchers to develop Snowland Ersai Tea using the first-year first-spring buds of the Ersai plant, which grows at altitudes of 3,000 to 3,500 meters. Based on the medicinal functions and pharmacology of Ersai leaves, the team conducted initial and scaled trials, successfully developing a series of all-natural Snowland Ersai teas by October 2005. Tests conducted by the Food Quality Supervision and Testing Center (Chengdu) of the Ministry of Agriculture showed that the Malus toringoides (the raw material for Horgu Tibetan Tea) is rich in various nutrients essential to the human body. Research teams from the Snowland Ersai Tea project at the Institute of Ethnic Medicine, Southwest Minzu University, commissioned the Natural Products Research Institute and Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory at China Three Gorges University in 2006, and the Analytical and Testing Center of West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, in 2008, to carry out efficacy studies on the lipid-lowering, blood sugar-regulating, and health-promoting effects of Ersai tea and its extracts. The experimental results indicated that Snowland Ersai Tea helps lower blood lipids, blood sugar, and blood pressure. In October 2010, after review by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, it was decided to grant national geographical indication product protection to “Snowland Ersai Tea.”

　　Production Area Scope

　　The protected geographical indication production area for Luohuo Snowland Ersai Tea covers seven administrative regions in Sichuan Province: Renda Township, Simu Township, Yimu Township, Niba Township, Dandu Township, Yade Township, and Xindu Town of Luohuo County.

　　The protected geographical indication production area for Luohuo Snowland Ersai Tea encompasses the current administrative regions of seven townships in Luohuo County, Sichuan Province: Renda Township, Simu Township, Yimu Township, Niba Township, Dandu Township, Yade Township, and Xindu Town.