Shi Li Xiang十里香

Classification and Origin

Category: "famous and select" green teas (名优绿茶, míngyōu lǜchá); the finest batches are at the míngqián (明前)·名优 level

a regional Yunnan rarity, not a mass-market commodity tea

unlike the famous Yunnan tea regions in the west and south of the province — Lincang, Baoshan, Pu'er — where the large-leaf tea bush variety dominates, Kunming is situated high on a plateau with a cool and steady "eternal spring" climate. This high-altitude moderation has shaped a different tea type here: small-leaf, aromatic, closer in character to teas of eastern China than to the rich Yunnanese "Diān Lǜ"

historically, Shi Li Xiang was precisely Kunming's "city" tea — the one drunk in tea houses and served to guests, intimately tied to the fabric of old Kunming. As the city expanded, tea gardens came under pressure from construction, and today, Shi Li Xiang is a great rarity

Origin: Kunming (昆明), its environs and the surrounding hills, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Yunnan Province

Type: green tea (绿茶)

History and Culture

"fragrance for ten lǐ" (十里香) is a hyperbole of tea aromatics: a scent so strong and pure it wafts for many lǐ. Such "aromatic" names in the Chinese tea tradition always signal that the tea was valued first and foremost for its bouquet.

tied to the outskirts of a growing city, Shi Li Xiang found itself squeezed by urbanization: tea gardens gave way to development, and the tea itself, once an everyday Kunming drink, transformed into a rarity known to few today. It is all the more valuable as a living monument to the fact that Yunnan is not only about large-leaf pu'er, but also about the delicate small-leaf green teas of the high plateau.

Botany and Raw Material

Kunming small-leaf population (昆明小叶群体种, kūnmíng xiǎoyè qúntǐzhǒng) — a local seed-propagated (population) variety with a small leaf

Yunnan in the mass consciousness is the land of large-leaf tea (云南大叶种), from which pu'er and dense pan-fired/baked greens are made. Shi Li Xiang, however, belongs to the small-leaf type, rare for the province. The same contrast is seen in another Yunnan rarity, Bao Hong Cha (宝洪茶) from Yiliang (宜良), also small-leaf and highly aromatic.

a small leaf on a cool plateau yields a finer, "higher" aromatic profile and a less rough, more refined cup than massive large-leaf varieties

this refers not to a single clone, but to a genetically diverse local population selected over generations. Such old populations are valued for aromatic complexity and attachment to a specific place — precisely these often stand behind the "ancient famous teas" (古名茶), to which Shi Li Xiang belongs.

Terroir

Kunming on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, a high plateau with a cool and steady "eternal spring" climate

high-altitude moderation forms a small-leaf, aromatic tea type, closer in character to teas of eastern China than to the rich Yunnanese "Diān Lǜ"

in contrast to the western/southern tea districts of Yunnan

Organoleptic Profile

derived from three components — small leaf, cool high-mountain terroir, and wok-firing. This is a tea with a pronounced, "high" aroma (hence the name), with a fresh, clean taste and a more elegant body than large-leaf Yunnan greens.

compared to the rich, astringent, and "strong" Diān Lǜ (滇绿), Shi Li Xiang is softer, more aromatic, and finer

strip-shaped (条形) twisted leaf — not flat like Longjing, and not needle-like

pronounced, "long-reaching," toasty-aromatic — in contrast to the dense and astringent Diān Lǜ

Brewing

not boiling water, but around 80–85 °C; scalding water will "burn" the tender buds and coarsen the taste.

a small amount of leaf, short infusions; green teas from buds and tender leaves dislike long steeping and over-extraction.

soft, pure — it does not "muddy" the fine aromatics.

Teaware: a glass cup or gaiwan, to see the leaf unfurl and capture the aroma.

Price and Authenticity

Shi Li Xiang belongs to green teas (绿茶) of the "famous and select" (名优绿茶) category, with the best batches at the míngqián·名优 level. In reference systems, it is listed as a regional Yunnan rarity, not as a mass-market commodity tea. Specific industry standard numbers (GB/T) are not cited here for this narrowly local tea — so as not to ascribe figures unconfirmed by a source.

炒青, pan-fired green — with the high, toasty-aromatic note characteristic of wok-firing.

specifically Kunming (昆明), not the western/southern tea districts of Yunnan. This is an urban, plateau tea.

Kunming small-leaf population (昆明小叶群体种) — and not the large-leaf 云南大叶种. This immediately removes Shi Li Xiang from the "pu'er" paradigm.

strip-shaped (条形) twisted leaf, not flat like Longjing, and not needle-like.

a pronounced, "long-reaching" aroma and a fresh, clean, relatively elegant taste — in contrast to the dense and astringent Diān Lǜ.

mentally place Yiliang's Bao Hong Cha (宝洪茶) from Yiliang beside it — another rare small-leaf, highly aromatic Yunnan green; both show a "different face" of the province.