What changed
Pingle Shiya Tea, a thousand-year-old tea from Guangxi’s cliffs, is moving from wild harvests and local fields into branded modern tea drinks. Qinglong Township now has more than 6,000 mu under cultivation, annual dry-tea output above 320 tonnes and output value exceeding 40 million yuan.
The tea has entered Qiancha products and is being connected to supply chains including Bawang Chaji. Its 2025 geographical-indication certification mark gives the mountain crop a formal commercial identity.
Why it matters
The appeal is unusually practical: Shiya Tea has a seaweed-like aroma, a bitter finish followed by sweetness and, according to the report, no caffeine. That makes it a natural base for drinks marketed around evening consumption, while giving producers something more distinctive than another generic tea flavour.
Pingle is also turning a difficult wild resource into an organised local industry. Yangfa Tea Industry and other leading firms buy, process and sell the tea under a “cooperative plus enterprise plus farmers” model. During the peak season, daily fresh-tea trading exceeds 10,000 jin.
The premium end of the market is already visible. At an April tea event, spring tea from 229 protected ancient trees sold for 1,500 yuan per jin. Those trees are under unified management, with harvesting records, central collection, hand processing and shared sales intended to protect quality.
That creates the central tension in Pingle’s next phase. More branded drinks and tourism could bring greater income to the county, but larger-scale adoption will need to coexist with protection of the ancient trees that give the tea its scarcity and story. The 2026 tea festival drew thousands of visitors and generated several million yuan in agricultural-product transactions, while the village is developing tea food, teabags and wellness products alongside seasonal tourism.
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