TeaHQ

Xinyang

A Henan prefecture at the northern limit of viable tea cultivation in China, producing Xinyang Mao Jian. The cold winters and short season give a thin, intensely fresh leaf with a sharper character than teas from further south.

信陽China300–900 metres

Elevation

Recorded at 300–900 metres.

How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

Climate

Among the coldest tea-growing areas in China; winter dormancy is long and the spring harvest correspondingly late and brief.

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

The northernmost of the famous green-tea districts, and correspondingly late: a hard winter, a slow spring, and a first pick after the Jiangnan districts have finished theirs. Growers argue that the long dormancy is precisely why the leaf is thick and the flavour concentrated, which is the same argument Shandong makes further north.

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 xin yang. 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

  • Xinyang Mao Jian — Sharper and more mineral than the classic Zhejiang greens, with a chestnut sweetness underneath a briskness that survives slightly careless brewing. The fine downy leaf clouds the liquor, which is normal here rather than a fault.

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.

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.

How TeaHQ handles sources

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this region against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.

  • Xinyang vs Duyun — Both produce a tea called Mao Jian, and the name describes a leaf style rather than a place — downy tips, tightly worked. The two are grown at opposite ends of China’s tea belt and taste it.