Jinggu Dabai White Tea From Pu'er City Wins a National GI Certification Trademark

Jinggu Dabai (景谷大白茶), a large-leaf white tea from Jinggu County in Pu'er City, Yunnan (云南), has been approved as a national geographical indication certification trademark (国家地理标志证明商标) in China. Local media reported the approval in late September 2026. The trademark was registered on July 28, 2026, under certificate No. 79915421, and the exclusive right runs until July 27, 2036. It is approved for white tea in trademark Class 30.

What was approved

• The name: "Jinggu Dabai" (景谷大白茶), which means "Jinggu big white tea."
• Who applied: the application was filed in May 2018 by the Jinggu County Agricultural Products Industry Association (景谷县农产品行业协会). It went through substantive examination, supplementary filings and a public notice before approval by China's national intellectual property office.
• What it covers: white tea (Class 30). Only tea from the designated area of Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County (景谷傣族彝族自治县) that meets a unified quality standard may carry the mark.
• How it will be policed: the county has issued rules on how the regional mark may be used, covering licensing, quality checks and enforcement. It also runs a traceability system that links tea gardens, public storage and "tea tickets" (茶票), so each lot can be followed from garden to market.

According to Pu'er Daily (《普洱日报》), the mark is meant to stop counterfeit and lower-grade tea from being sold under the Jinggu Dabai name.

A tea with a long history

According to the Encyclopedia of Chinese Agriculture: Tea Volume (《中国农业百科全书·茶叶卷》), as cited by local media, Jinggu Dabai comes from Yangta village (秧塔村) in Minle town (民乐镇). It is a rare triploid variety of Yunnan large-leaf tea. In the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty, its single buds and tender shoots were made into a tribute tea for the imperial court, known as "White Dragon Whisker" (白龙须贡茶).

The county describes the leaf as having long buds, large leaves and dense down, with a high aroma, a clear sweetness and good staying power over many infusions.

Jinggu Dabai by the numbers

Jinggu launched Jinggu Dabai as a regional public brand in 2023. In 2024 the county was named a "China Large-Leaf White Tea County" (中国大叶白茶县), and Jinggu Dabai was added to China's national list of distinctive, high-quality agricultural products (全国名特优新农产品名录).

What this means for tea buyers

• Origin names in Yunnan are getting legal protection. Jinggu sits in Pu'er City, one of the 11 prefecture-level areas that make up the protected geographical area for pu'er tea. Local names within that area, like Jinggu Dabai, can carry protection of their own too.
• Two systems, not one. The pu'er name is protected through China's geographical-indication product rules and the national standard GB/T 22111-2008. Jinggu Dabai's new protection is a certification trademark. Both tie a tea name to a place and a quality standard.
• The mark covers white tea only. Dabai leaf is also used for other teas. A tea guide from the Chinese site ipucha.com lists it as good raw material for white, black and green tea, and for sun-dried green tea (maocha, 晒青毛茶), the base material of pu'er. The new trademark does not apply to those teas.
• Ask where your Yunnan white tea grew. A named county or village tells you much more than "Yunnan white tea" alone.

Keep it in perspective

This is a trademark registered in China. How the name is protected in other countries depends on local law. The output, value and household figures come from Jinggu County and local media, and the brand value is an assessment, not a sales figure. A protected name is a promise about origin and quality rules. It is not a tasting note, so your own cup is still the best judge.

If you'd like to taste how origin shows up in Yunnan large-leaf tea, start with our raw pu'er collection.

Sources: Jinggu County Media Center (景谷县融媒体中心), "'景谷大白茶'获批国家地理标志证明商标," Xinhua Yunnan, September 22, 2026; Lu Chuankun (陆传坤), "景谷大白茶获批国家地理标志证明商标," Pu'er Daily (《普洱日报》), puerw.cn, September 30, 2026; "景谷大白茶：彩云之南的'白龙须'," ipucha.com; Yunnan Provincial Government, Measures for the Protection of Pu'er Tea as a Geographical Indication Product (protected area), nync.yn.gov.cn. Summary and plain-language interpretation by Chen Sheng Tea. Featured image: "Making Pu'er tea, Yunnan" by zomya.co, CC BY-SA 2.0.