三伏天筑制发花
Jul 1 – Aug 25
Traditional mid-summer "Sanfu" brick pressing and golden-flower curing season (now carried out year-round in climate-controlled curing rooms).
泾阳涇陽
Jingyang
County in Xianyang, Shaanxi, north of Xi'an; historic processing and golden-flower curing centre where transported raw dark tea was pressed into Jingyang Fuzhuan bricks.
- Level
- County
- Within
- Shaanxi
At a glance#
Location
- Garden elevation
- Alluvial plain of the lower Jing River in the central Guanzhong Basin (~360–500 m); processes raw dark tea transported from Hunan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan.
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
22 places shown Across the view · 384 km
22 places shown Across the view · 84 km
Altitude#
Garden elevations here and in neighbouring places, as sourced.
Picking calendar#
Terroir#
- Rock
- Quaternary loess and Jinghe river alluvial gravel terraces on the northern edge of the Weihe Graben.
- Soil
- Calcareous loessial soil (塿土 / 黄绵土); Jingyang is a historic non-tea-growing processing and microbial-curing hub relying on alkaline well and Jinghe water.
- Slope and light
- Hot, dry continental "Dog Days" summers (三伏天) paired with controlled drying-room ventilation create the historic temperature-and-moisture gradient for Eurotium cristatum ("golden flower") sporulation.
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- 安化云台大叶种 (raw material)紫阳群体种 (Shaanxi raw material)
- Landraces
- Historically used raw dark maocha (黑毛茶) transported from Anhua (Hunan) and southern Shaanxi/Sichuan rather than locally grown leaf.
- Practice
- 29 traditional steps centering on blending, steaming, wooden-frame pounding (筑茶), and 15–25 days of golden-flower fungal curing (发花).
Local words#
| Local words | Dialect | |
|---|---|---|
| 金花 Pinyin: jīnhuā | Zhongyuan Mandarin (Jingyang) | Guanzhong brick-tea workshop term meaning golden flowers, denoting the prized yellow cleistothecia of Eurotium cristatum that permeate cured Jingyang Fuzhuan bricks. |
People#
- Guanzhong Fuzhuan brick-pressing artisans and golden-flower curing masters 泾阳茯砖茶筑茶匠人与发花技师
- Shaanxi guild craftsmen in Jingyang specialized in steaming, tamping, and climate-controlled fungal curing of raw southern dark tea for Silk Road pastoralist markets.
Market#
- Primary trade channel
- Jingyang brick-tea workshops source raw dark leaf from Hunan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, cure the pressed bricks in temperature-controlled drying rooms along the Jing River, and distribute to northwestern provinces and collectors.
- Trading towns
- Jingyang · Yongle · Xianyang
- Output
- Rather than growing tea locally, Jingyang operates as a specialized inland processing and curing hub where raw dark maocha transported from southern provinces is pressed and cured into Fuzhuan bricks.
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- Brick pricing depends on raw leaf grade, hand-tamped vs. mechanical pressing, abundance of golden-flower (Eurotium cristatum) colonies after curing, and vintage aging.
History#
- 1368Official Ming Tea and Horse inspection and brick-tea workshops established at Jingyang north of Xi'an.
- 2021Xianyang/Jingyang Fuzhuan tea craft inscribed on China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Notes#
Identity and history#
Situated on the Guanzhong Plain along the lower Jing River north of Xi'an in Shaanxi, Jingyang produces no fresh tea leaves of its own yet functioned for centuries as the irreplaceable curing and compression heartland of Jingyang Fuzhuan brick tea. Raw sun-dried dark tea transported from southern provinces underwent sifting, steaming, and wooden-frame pressing here, relying on Jingyang's dry continental heat and mineral-rich local water inside specialized drying chambers to cultivate dense colonies of golden-flower fungus. Protected intangible heritage standards preserve its hand-tamped brick density and controlled Eurotium cristatum sporulation.
Teas associated with this place#
茯砖茶
Fu brick tea Fúzhuān chá
Compressed dark tea defined by brick making and a managed flowering stage, with documented traditions in Hunan and Shaanxi.
reviewed
泾阳茯砖茶
Jingyang Fu brick tea Jīngyáng Fúzhuān chá
The Jingyang tradition of Fu brick tea in Shaanxi, distinguished by its place of processing rather than a claim that the leaves grow there.
reviewed
Sources#
- 陈宗懋、杨亚军主编. 中国茶经 (2011修订版) (The Classic of Chinese Tea, 2011 rev. ed.). 上海文化出版社, 2011. ISBN 978-7-80740-664-8.