Basic Introduction to Dragon God Tea
Dracon God Tea is produced in a typical northwest high-altitude, pollution-free, premium tea region, known as the “Jiangnan of Long,” where there are tea trees over a hundred years old. It has a long history of tea production, and unique geological, topographical, soil, precipitation, photothermal conditions, and favorable vegetation provide advantageous resources. The special geographical environment creates unique conditions suitable for tea growth, nurturing the distinctive Dragon God premium tea.
As early as more than 200 years ago, tea trees were already growing along the streams in Magodi Valley, Yangba Village, Taiping Township, Kang County. In 1958, Kang County introduced 25 kilograms of tea seeds from Hunan Province and successfully tested their cultivation at the Shangba Nursery in Yangba. In 1964, the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry imported tea seeds from Anhui, Hunan, and Jiangxi Provinces, which were distributed to Kang County and planted successfully in Shangba and Longshengou in Yangba, as well as in Taiping and Sanhe, covering 300 acres. To date, tea cultivation in Kang County has a history of over 40 years.
To develop and strengthen the tea industry, Kang County persists with market orientation, benefit-centeredness, science and technology as support, and green and organic tea development as goals. It uses clonal propagation of tea plants as a breakthrough and restructures the assets of existing tea factories. It consolidates brands, completes the industrial chain, and advances industrialization. In August 2002, it established Gansu Shenlong Tea Co., Ltd., forming an industrialized business model of “company + base + farmer.” Currently, it has 25,000 mu of ecological tea gardens, producing 300,000 kilograms of premium Dragon God series tea annually, with a value reaching more than 11 million RMB.
Gansu Longshen Tea Co., Ltd. produces “Kangyang” and “Cang” brand Dragon God Tea, comprising seven series and 14 varieties. Its excellent color, aroma, flavor, and shape, as well as its natural and pollution-free characteristics, make it a superior tea. “Longshen Cuifeng” and “Longshen Cuizhu” won gold and Silver awards at the Fourth International Famous Tea Awards, respectively. This tea has a flat and straight or slender shape, a bright green color, a pure and refreshing taste, a fresh mouthfeel, and a chestnut fragrance. It contains higher levels of polyphenols, amino acids, and caffeine. Long-term consumption can help clear the liver and eyesight, strengthen the body, reduce weight, lower blood pressure, and extend life, making it highly favored by tea drinkers.
Geographic Scope
The protected geographic indication product area for Dragon God Tea is based on the proposal by the People's Government of Kang County, Gansu Province (Kangzheng Report No. 35) and covers the administrative regions of Yezi Dam Village, Tea Garden Village, Wuke Stone Village, and Laozhuang Village in Gansu Province, Kang County.
Product Features
The Dragon God Tea products are produced using a unique process that combines mechanized and traditional handcrafted techniques, drawing on the characteristics of various renowned flat-shaped and curved teas in China. They produce a series of pollution-free and organic teas with excellent color, aroma, flavor, and shape. Among them, Longshen Cuizhu tea has a straight, slightly flattened shape and a bright green color; its infusion is a light green with a chestnut fragrance, and the leaves after brewing are yellow-green and show the buds, indicating high sensory quality.
Historical Folklore
Dracon God Tea is produced in the tea-producing areas around Longshen Valley, Yangba Town, Kang County, Gansu Province. As early as more than 200 years ago, tea trees were already growing along the streams in Magodi Valley, Yangba Village, Taiping Township, Kang County.
In 1958, Kang County introduced 25 kilograms of tea seeds from Hunan Province and successfully tested their cultivation at the Shangba Nursery in Yangba.
In 1964, the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry imported tea seeds from Anhui, Hunan, and Jiangxi Provinces, which were distributed to Kang County and planted successfully in Shangba and Longshenou in Yangba, as well as in Taiping and Sanhe, covering 300 acres.
Before 2000, the tea industry in Kang County was still in a backward agricultural planting model characterized by “having tea gardens but no yield, few commodities, and low efficiency.”
Since 2001, Kang County has proposed a strategy of “county-wide walnuts, southern tea, and northern silkworms” for the development of agricultural specialty industries, focusing efforts on the three major industries of tea, walnuts, and mulberry silkworms. For the development of the tea industry, it has persisted with the tea production policy of “expanding tea bases, building tea brands, opening up tea markets, promoting tea science and technology, strengthening the tea industry, and promoting Tea culture.” It seized the opportunity of returning farmland to forests and provided key support in terms of policies, funds, and technology.
In August 2002, Kang County merged the former state-owned Yukan Tea Factory and Longshen Tea Factory into Gansu Longshen Tea Co., Ltd. The Dragon God series of Green Tea includes six varieties and eleven different grades of products, including “Longshen Cuizhu,” “Longshen Cuifeng,” “Longshen Yinmao,” “Longshen Yangba Maojian,” “Longshen Green Tea,” and “Longshen Chaoqing.” Among these, “Longshen Cuizhu” has won honors such as the Silver Award at the Third International Famous Tea Awards, the Gold Award at the Fourth International Famous Tea Awards, and “China's Well-Known Brand,” making it the only branded tea in the tea industry of Gansu Province.
To enable tea farmers to develop the tea industry through the introduction of new varieties and technologies, Kang County organized major tea-growing households in key villages and communities to learn in Sichuan, Yunnan, and other places. It also organized leaders and technicians in tea-producing towns to investigate tea-producing areas in southern provinces and cities. At the same time, it hired tea processing technicians from Zhejiang and tea experts from the College of Forestry of Southwest Agricultural University to conduct training in tea planting and processing techniques in the county's tea-producing areas, training 18,000 farmers. Five village-level tea cooperatives have been established in Songgou and Dagou. The development and sales models of “enterprise + base + farmer” and “enterprise + cooperative + farmer” have been preliminarily formed.
Awards and Honors
In 2002, “Longshen Cuifeng” and “Longshen Cuizhu” won gold and silver awards at the Fourth International Famous Tea Awards, respectively.
In September 2003, Dragon God Tea received organic tea certification from the Organic Tea Development and Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Tea Research Institute. A 500-acre tea garden in Dagou Village, Yangba Town, Kang County, was certified as an organic tea raw material production base.
In 2004, Dragon God Tea obtained the “C” certification for measurement assurance capability from the national quality department and ISO international quality management system 9001-2000 standard certification from Beijing Engwei Certification Center.
Between 2002 and 2004, Kang County was successively listed as “Gansu Province's First Pollution-Free Tea Production Demonstration Base County” and received the title of “Gansu Province Pollution-Free Tea Origin.”
In December 2015, Dragon God Tea was awarded the title of “Gansu Famous Brand Product.”