Junshan Island
A small island in Dongting Lake, Hunan, and the sole origin of genuine Junshan Yinzhen yellow tea. The growing area is measured in hectares rather than square kilometres, which is why almost everything sold under the name is not from here.
Elevation
Recorded at 50–100 metres.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
When it is picked
A single, very small early-spring bud pick on an island, followed by the yellowing step that makes it a yellow tea. The quantity involved is tiny and the name vastly outsells the island, which is the standing condition of Chinese yellow tea.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
How the name is written
Also transliterated as jun shan. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.
Teas this region is known for
- Junshan Yinzhen — Mellow and corn-sweet, with the grassy note of a young green tea replaced by something closer to warm grain. The difference from an unyellowed bud tea is subtle but consistent, and is easiest to notice in the finish.
Other growing regions in China
The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.
- Ailao Mountains
- Anhua
- Anji
- Anxi
- Bada Mountain
- Bailin
- Beiyuan
- Bingdao
- Bulang
- Changxing (Guzhu)
- Dongting Mountain
- Duyun
- Emei Mountain
- Enshi
- Fengqing
- Fu’an
- Fuding
- Fuzhou
- Gande
- Hekai
- Hengxian
- Huangshan
- Huoshan
- Jinggu
- Jingmai
- Jingyang
- Lao Ban Zhang
- Laoshan
- Lincang
- Lingtou
- Lu’an
- Lushan
- Manzhuan
- Meijiawu
- Meitan
- Mengding Mountain
- Menghai
- Mengku
- Mengsong
- Nanjing (Yuhua)
- Nannuo Mountain
- Phoenix Mountain
- Pingshui
- Pu’er (Simao)
- Qimen
- Rizhao
- Shengzhou
- Shifeng (Lion Peak)
- Songyang
- Taiping
- Tanyang
- Tianmu Mountain
- Tongmu Guan
- Tunxi
- Weishan
- Wenzhou
- Wudong Mountain
- Wuyi Mountains
- Wuyuan
- Wuzhou
- Xianghua
- Xigui
- Xihu (West Lake)
- Xinyang
- Xiping
- Xishuangbanna
- Xiushui
- Ya’an
- Yangloudong
- Yibang
- Yibin
- Yichang
- Yingde
- Yiwu
- Yixing
- Yongchun
- Youle
- Yuan’an
- Yueyang (Beigang)
- Yunnan
- Zhangping
- Zheng Yan (Wuyi core)
- Zhenghe
- Zhenjiang
- Ziyang
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No external document stands behind the elevation band, the climate note or the character described above, which is why each carries its confidence in the open.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this region against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- Huoshan vs Junshan Island — The two places yellow tea is still associated with, and the pair that shows how narrow the category has become. One is a working county where the smothering step survives as a living commercial practice; the other is an island of a few hectares whose name is on far more tea than it could ever produce.
- Junshan vs Mengding — The two origins that matter for yellow tea, the rarest of the six categories. Junshan is an island measured in hectares; Mengding is a Sichuan mountain with one of the longest continuous cultivation records in China and makes both a yellow tea and a green one.