Basic Introduction to Jintan Queshetea
Jintan Queshetea is produced at Fanglu Tea Garden in Jintan City, Jiangsu Province. It is renowned for its flat and upright shape resembling a sparrow's tongue, uniform tea strips with a green and lustrous color, high and fresh aroma, bright infusion, fresh and sweet taste, and tender and even leaves at the bottom of the cup. It has been listed as one of the six major special agricultural products in Jintan. Jintan Queshetea was first created in 1983, and its tea gardens are located on the slopes of Maoshan Mountain. The tea has been well-received due to its delicate shape resembling a sparrow's tongue, its emerald green color, and its fresh and sweet aroma. To adapt to market demands and development, Jintan City introduced machinery for high-quality teas and conducted mechanized trials for making Jintan Queshetea, overcoming the shortcomings of hand processing such as high labor costs, high production costs, and unstable quality. Through these trials, the suitable varieties for mechanical production of Jintan Queshetea were identified, as well as the appropriate temperatures for each stage of processing. During the fresh leaf picking stage, the picking of Jintan Queshetea usually starts around Qingming Festival. The picking standard mainly involves bud sets and buds with one young leaf unfolded. For the highest-grade tea, the focus is on bud sets, requiring that the buds be no more than 3 centimeters long, approximately 2.5 centimeters. Producing 500 grams of premium Jintan Queshetea requires 40,000-45,000 buds. Strict requirements are placed on the picking of fresh leaves, emphasizing tenderness, freshness, uniformity, and cleanliness. The buds and leaves must reach a uniform degree of tenderness and have a consistent color. No purple buds or leaves affected by diseases or pests are allowed. After the fresh leaves are collected, they are evenly spread out on bamboo trays and carefully sorted to remove fish leaves, single leaves, and non-tea foreign matter. They are then placed in a cool, ventilated area and thinly spread out for 4-5 hours to slightly evaporate moisture and promote mild internal transformations to improve quality.
In terms of processing techniques, Jintan Queshetea undergoes the processes of fixation, cooling, shaping, and drying. Each process has strict standards and requirements. For example, during the drying process, the temperature of the wok should be controlled around 70°C, starting low and increasing gradually. Using gestures like grabbing, rubbing, polishing, and pushing, the tea strips are made flat and smooth to meet the quality requirements of Jintan Queshetea. It is essential to ensure continuous contact between the hands and the tea and between the tea and the pan, applying moderate force to guarantee adequate dryness. When pressing and squeezing, appropriate force should be used, not too heavy or too light; too heavy force can result in overly flat and wide strips, while too light force results in a low rate of cell breakage in the buds and leaves, making it difficult for the tea essence to be released when brewed, causing a lower content of water-soluble substances. The tea is removed from the pan when it starts to make a “rustling” sound, the tea strips can easily snap, and the leaves can be ground into powder by hand, indicating a moisture content of 5.5-6%. The tea is then spread out to cool down.
Jintan City is located in the northern subtropical monsoon climate zone. Its terrain is divided into three types: gentle hills, low marshlands, and elevated plains. All tea gardens are situated within the hilly areas with gentle slopes around Maoshan Mountain and Fangshan Mountain as the main peaks to the north and south, respectively. In this region, the forest coverage rate exceeds 55%, and the soil type is the Xiaoshu series of yellow-brown loam, with a thick layer and a pH value of 4.5-5.5, showing weak acidity. Additionally, there are no sources of industrial pollution, providing ideal conditions for tea tree growth.
Product Characteristics
The appearance of Jintan Queshetea is flat and upright, resembling a sparrow's tongue, with uniform tea strips and a green and lustrous color. Its inner quality features a clear and high aroma, a distinct chestnut fragrance that lasts, a bright infusion, a fresh and sweet taste, and tender and even leaves at the bottom of the cup.
Historical Folklore
Jintan Queshetea has a long history. Shen Kuo's “Dream Brook Essays” from the Northern Song Dynasty records: “Who named this tender and fragrant tea ‘sparrow's tongue'? Surely northerners have never tasted it. Unaware that this miraculous plant grows naturally, it extends an inch overnight with just a breeze.”
In 1982, Jintan Queshetea was officially named based on the county name and the shape of the tea.
In 2010, Jintan established a national-level standardized demonstration zone for tea production.
In 2014, under the guidance and support of the Jiangsu Provincial Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau and agricultural experts, Jintan formulated and promulgated the provincial local standard for “Geographical Indication Product: Jintan Queshetea,” implementing standardized production.
In 2016, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Jintan District and the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau conducted a comprehensive census of information on all Queshetea gardens in the district, organizing information related to the geographical location, yield, and rights holders of the tea gardens.
In 2025, Jintan District initiated the development and debugging of a management platform, managing the household registration of growers and enterprises with geographical indication labels. Tea farmers sold fresh leaves with cards, and enterprises with geographical indication labels applied for stickers based on the quantity of fresh leaves they purchased. This preliminary achieved information management of tea garden area and yield, sales and purchases of fresh leaves, and applications and distribution of stickers.
Manufacturing Method
The process for mechanically producing Jintan Queshetea includes: spreading fresh leaves → fixation → shaping and straightening → cooling → final drying. The key points for mechanized production of Jintan Queshetea are: harvesting and processing technology.
1. Fresh leaf picking:
(1) Picking time: late March to mid-April
(2) Picking standard: pick single buds to buds with one young leaf unfolded according to standards. Do not pick purple buds or leaves affected by diseases or pests.
2. Process flow: spreading fresh leaves → fixation → cooling → straightening and shaping → drying
3. Technical requirements for the process:
(1) Spreading fresh leaves: after the fresh leaves enter the factory, they are graded and spread separately according to grade, variety, and plot.
During the spreading process, the fresh leaves should not come into direct contact with the ground. The spreading area should be cool, clean, dry, and ventilated. The thickness of the spread should be 3-5 cm. The spreading time should be 4-7 hours. The leaves should become soft, their color should turn dark green, the grassy smell should disappear, a fresh scent should emerge, and there should be a slight floral fragrance, with a weight loss of 15-20%.
(2) Fixation: the fixation temperature should be 120-160°C, lasting 2-3 minutes. The leaves should be fixed thoroughly and uniformly. The leaves should be soft, able to form a ball when squeezed by hand but slowly loosen, without red stems or red leaves, and without burnt edges or spots. The grassy smell should disappear, and a fresh scent should be emitted, indicating proper fixation.
(3) Cooling: the fixed leaves should be promptly spread out to cool down, dissipate heat and moisture, and allow the water inside the leaves to redistribute evenly. The cooling time should be 15-25 minutes.
(4) Straightening and shaping: the pot temperature for straightening should be 90-100°C. The degree of straightening should be such that the tea strips are upright and do not stick when pinched, and then cooled down. The pot temperature for shaping should be 70-80°C. The degree of shaping should be such that the tea strips are flat and straight, basically taking shape, and about 70-80% dry, then cooled down.
(5) Drying (final drying): the pot