Pu'er Tea Mountains普洱茶山

Pu'er's tea mountains (普洱茶山)

Pu'er comes only from Yunnan. Since 2008 its protected name has covered tea from 639 townships in 11 of the province's prefectures and cities, made from sun-dried leaf of Yunnan's big-leaf tea and sold raw or pile-fermented as ripe. Tea people go further and buy by mountain, even by village. Zoom in to see where the famous names lie, what their tea is known for, and which of our teas come from them.

Tea regions of Yunnan

• Xishuangbanna 西双版纳 (Xīshuāngbǎnnà). Yunnan's far south, on the borders of Laos and Myanmar, where the Lancang (upper Mekong) runs through the middle. East of the river lie the six ancient tea mountains of the Qing tea trade; west of it, in Menghai, lie Bulang, Nannuo, Hekai, Mengsong and Bada. Menghai calls itself China's number one pu'er county. Known for: Old-tree raw pu'er from named mountains and villages: soft, sweet Yiwu in the east, strong, bitter-sweet Bulang and Lao Banzhang in the west.
• Lincang 临沧 (Líncāng). A prefecture-level city in south-west Yunnan on the middle and lower reaches of the Lancang (Mekong) and the Nu (Salween). It is one of pu'er's great source areas: the home of Mengku big-leaf tea and Bingdao, of Xigui on the banks of the Lancang, and of Fengqing, where Dian Hong black tea was first made in 1938. Known for: Big-leaf tea from famous villages such as Bingdao and Xigui, old and wild tea trees, and Dian Hong.
• Pu'er 普洱 (Pǔ'ěr). A large prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan whose name the tea carries: in Ming and Qing times its old town, today's Ning'er, was the trading centre for tea from across south-west Yunnan. Its tea places include Jingmai Mountain, the world's first tea-themed World Heritage Site, the Kunlu tribute garden, the wild trees of Qianjiazhai and the white tea of Jinggu. Known for: Jingmai's World Heritage tea forests and the history behind the word pu'er.
• Kunming 昆明 (Kūnmíng). For pu'er, Yunnan's capital matters most for its factory. Kunming Tea Factory, founded in 1938 as the Fuxing Tea Factory, is where most accounts place the first batch of modern wet-piled ripe pu'er, in 1973; it stopped production in 1992 and closed in 1994. Kunming hosted the 2020 spring-tea price index release, and the GI lists 13 of its districts and counties. Known for: Kunming Tea Factory and the start of modern ripe pu'er (1973, per most accounts); the 7581 ripe brick; the Kunming spring-tea price index.
• Dali 大理 (Dàlǐ). Dali is tuocha country. The bowl-shaped tuocha is said to have been first made at Xiaguan in 1902 by the Yongchangxiang merchant house; the Kangzang Tea Factory, set up there in 1941, became Xiaguan Tea Factory, and its tuocha craft has been a national heritage item since 2011. Five Dali counties are in the GI, among them Nanjian on the Wuliang range, which promotes its own mountain teas. Known for: Xiaguan tuocha and compressed tea for Tibet; the 'Xiao Fa Tuo' tuocha sold in France from 1976; Dali lies on the Tea Horse Road between the tea mountains and Lijiang.
• Baoshan 保山 (Bǎoshān). Baoshan, west of the Lancang, has all five of its districts and counties in the GI. Changning is its best-documented tea county: the old gardens of Huangjiazhai in Mangshui town are tagged and protected under county rules, and Kunming's 2020 spring index priced Mangshui old-tree leaf at about three to four times terrace-garden leaf. Tengchong, below the Gaoligong range, promotes its own Gaoligong old-tree teas. Known for: Changning old-tree tea (Mangshui / Huangjiazhai); Gaoligong teas from Tengchong.
• Dehong 德宏 (Déhóng). Dehong, in western Yunnan, has all five of its cities and counties in the GI. Its best-documented tea heritage, though, is not pu'er but De'ang sour tea: fresh large-leaf tea fermented without air for months, a national heritage craft of Mangshi since 2021. The De'ang, known as an ancient tea-growing people, live mostly in Mangshi's Santaishan township. Known for: De'ang sour tea (德昂酸茶) from Santaishan, Mangshi.
• Chuxiong 楚雄 (Chǔxióng). Chuxiong, in central Yunnan, sits on the edge of the pu'er area. The GI lists eight of its counties, some with only a few townships — Yao'an with a single town. None of the sources checked names a famous pu'er mountain here. Known for: Little, for pu'er: a fringe GI area.
• Honghe 红河 (Hónghé). Honghe, in south-east Yunnan, joins the GI through seven counties, from Mengzi and Jianshui to Lüchun, Yuanyang and Jinping. None of the sources checked names a famous pu'er mountain here, so treat it as a minor pu'er area. Known for: Little, for pu'er: a minor GI area.
• Yuxi 玉溪 (Yùxī). Yuxi joins the GI through four counties — Yimen, Eshan, Xinping and Yuanjiang — with only a few townships in each (two apiece in Yimen, Eshan and Xinping). A minor pu'er area; none of the sources checked names a famous mountain here. Known for: Little, for pu'er: a minor GI area.
• Wenshan 文山 (Wénshān). Wenshan, in Yunnan's far south-east, is the GI's thinnest corner: seven counties are listed, but Wenshan County and Qiubei with just one township each. A minor pu'er area; none of the sources checked names a famous pu'er mountain here. Known for: Little, for pu'er: a minor GI area.

Famous tea groups

• Six Ancient Tea Mountains 古六大茶山. In the Qing dynasty, the six tea districts east of the Lancang River, under the Cheli (Xishuangbanna) chief, were known as the six tea mountains; they fed the tribute tea sent to the court. The old books list them from west to east as Youle, Mangzhi, Gedeng, Yibang, Manzhuan and Mansa. Later Yiwu took Mansa's place in most lists: the two are one continuous range, and a gazetteer from after 1895 records that Mansa Mountain was renamed Yiwu Mountain. Today Youle (Jinuo Mountain) is in Jinghong; the other five are in Mengla County.
• New Six Tea Mountains (Six Mountains Beyond the River) 新六大茶山. A later grouping for the tea mountains west of the Lancang, also called the six mountains 'beyond the river' (江外). The usual list is Nannuo, Nanqiao, Mengsong, Jingmai, Bulang and Bada. It reflects the Republican era (1912–1949), when Menghai took over from Pu'er as the tea hub of southern Yunnan and a new route carried tea through Burma and India to Tibet. It is a trade and writers' grouping, not an official list, and lists vary.
• Mengku West Half Mountain 勐库西半山. The tea villages on the west side of the Mengku valley, on the slopes of the Bangma Daxueshan range. The trade lists ten tea areas here: Bingdao and its hamlets, Baka, Dongguo, Dahusai (with Doufuzhai and Sanjiacun), Gonglong, Banggai, Bingshan, Hudong, the Daxueshan wild tea community and Xiaohusai.
• Mengku East Half Mountain 勐库东半山. The tea villages on the east side of the Mengku valley, across from Bingdao. The trade lists eight tea areas here: Mangbang, Banuo, Najiao, Bangdu, Nasai (with Zhengqitang and Xiaocun), Donglai, Mangna and Chengzi.
• The five Bingdao hamlets 冰岛五寨. Bingdao village in Mengku Town is made up of five natural villages: Bingdao Laozhai (the old village), Dijie, Nanpo, Bawai and Nuowu. Tea from all five is often sold as 'Bingdao', but the protected 'Bingdao Laozhai tea' name covers only the old village.

Tea mountains

• Bangdong 邦东 (Bāngdōng), Bangdong Township, Linxiang District, Lincang, Yunnan. A tea township on the slopes of the Bangdong Daxueshan, also called the Lincang Daxueshan, running down to the Lancang River. Its tea stayed little known for so long that the trade simply calls it 'Bangdong tea mountain'. Xigui is its star village. Known for: Tight, glossy leaf and a smooth, sweet cup with little bitterness and a wild mountain character. Flavour: Tea people describe Bangdong tea as smooth and sweet with little bitterness, a touch of wild-mountain character and a good returning sweetness. Teas from Bangdong's big snow mountain are said to be thicker, with more bitterness than astringency, which clears quickly into strong sweetness and a watering mouth. In 2017 Yunnan's agriculture department named the Manglu Mountain old garden at Xigui a 'charming ancient tea garden', and it is on Lincang's first city-level list of protected old tea gardens.
• Fengqing 凤庆 (Fèngqìng), Fengqing County, Lincang, Yunnan. The home of Dian Hong, Yunnan's black tea, in north-western Lincang. The county has about 300,000 mu of tea and some very old cultivated trees, the most famous being the giant tree at Xiangzhuqing. Known for: Dian Hong: bright red tea with a golden ring at the rim, a fresh, lively aroma and a strong taste. Flavour: Little is written about old-tree pu'er from Fengqing, which is better known for Dian Hong black tea. One seller describes an aged cake from Xiangzhuqing as clean, smooth and mellow, with floral and fruity notes (honeydew among them) and a sweet finish. In 1938 the tea expert Feng Shaoqiu came to survey Yunnan tea, saw Fengqing's thick tea forests with plump, downy buds, and made black tea from one bud and two leaves; it was later named Dian Hong. Dian Hong making, centred on Fengqing, joined China's national heritage list in 2014.
• Mengku 勐库 (Měngkù), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. A valley town in Shuangjiang County and one of Lincang's great tea areas. Tea people talk of the 'eighteen villages of Mengku' and split them into the West Half Mountain and the East Half Mountain on either side of the valley. Bingdao, the most famous of them, is here. Known for: The Mengku big-leaf variety, sold under famous village names such as Bingdao and Xiaohusai. Flavour: Tea people describe a good Mengku old-tree tea as sweet from the first sip. Its bitterness and astringency can be marked in the early brews but clear quickly. Then comes a fast, strong returning sweetness that keeps building over many infusions, and the cup grows sweeter and smoother as it goes. The West Half is usually called the gentler, sweeter and deeper side and the East Half the more fragrant and forthright one, though writers don't all agree. Mengku is the home of the Mengku big-leaf variety (勐库大叶种), named a national fine tea variety twice, in the 1960s and the 1980s. Its tea was little known outside Yunnan until the pu'er market heated up around 2003. At Tea Chapter: Meng Ku Zhi Xing Compressed Tea (Raw Pu’er) – 2017.
• Baiyingshan 白莺山 (Báiyīng Shān), Manwan Town, Yun County, Lincang, Yunnan. An old tea garden of about 12,400 mu around Baiyingshan village in Manwan, on the west bank of the Lancang. It is famous for growing a dozen local tea types side by side, wild, transitional and cultivated, such as Benshan, Heitiaozi, Ergazi and Baiyazi, and it opened in 2021 as China's first 'tea tree evolution natural museum'. Known for: Many old tea varieties in one place. Flavour: Baiyingshan tea is described as clear and gentle, with faint bitterness and no astringency. The liquor is smooth and mellow, and a rich floral-fruity fragrance comes through, which some liken to rose. The returning sweetness and the watering of the mouth come quickly. Lincang listed the garden for protection in 2016, with an 810-mu core zone. The museum was unveiled on 13 May 2021.
• Mengku Daxueshan (Big Snow Mountain) 勐库大雪山 (Měngkù Dàxuě Shān), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. High on the Big Snow Mountain above Mengku grows a large community of wild tea trees, about 12,700 mu (some 850 ha). Chinese sources call it the highest, largest and densest wild tea tree community yet found. It is protected, and trade sources say the wild trees are not picked. Known for: The wild trees themselves; tea sold as 'Daxueshan' comes from cultivated gardens lower down. Villagers came across the trees in 1997, the year of a drought in Yunnan. In December 2014 the State Forestry Administration approved the Shuangjiang Ancient Tea Mountain National Forest Park (5,412 ha), which includes an 'ancient tea mountain' zone.
• Yongde Daxueshan 永德大雪山 (Yǒngdé Dàxuě Shān), Daxueshan Yi, Lahu and Dai Township, Yongde County, Lincang, Yunnan. A high range in Yongde County whose main peak stands near the Tropic of Cancer. It became a national nature reserve in 2006, and its name is one of several 'Daxueshan' labels in Lincang tea. Known for: Another 'Big Snow Mountain' name on Lincang tea cakes.
• Jingmai Mountain 景迈山 (Jǐngmài Shān), Huimin Town, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A tea mountain in Lancang County where tea trees grow in the shade of a living forest, around old Blang and Dai villages. In 2023 it became the first tea site on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Five old tea forests, three belts of separating forest and nine traditional villages make up the site. Known for: A clear orchid fragrance in the dry leaf, the cup and the empty cup, turning honey-like as the tea ages. Flavour: Jingmai is all about fragrance: tea people find a clear orchid scent in the dry leaf, the cup, the liquor and even the empty cup. The sweetness arrives at once and the bitterness is mild. The body is usually on the light, silky side, though old trees from Dapingzhang give a fuller cup. Blang ancestors are said to have arrived in the 10th century and learned to tend the wild tea; Dai settlers followed in the late Yuan or early Ming. Together they developed 'under-forest' tea growing, keeping tall trees over the tea for shade and natural pest control. The site was inscribed at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh in September 2023.
• Kunlu Mountain 困鹿山 (Kùnlù Shān), Fengyang Township, Ning'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A forested mountain about 31 km north of Ning'er town, in Kuanhong village, Fengyang Township. Its old garden is said to have been one of the tribute-tea bases of Qing-dynasty Pu'er prefecture, and it is tied to Ning'er's tribute-tea making tradition. Known for: Dark, tight leaf and a cup with little bitterness, where what bitterness there is carries sweetness, plus a wild mountain character. Flavour: Tea people describe Kunlu as a full, smooth cup with a little bitterness that carries sweetness inside it, and an astringency that leaves quickly. A wild, mountain fragrance lingers in the empty cup, and the returning sweetness is good. Its larger-leaf trees are said to give a wilder, slightly more bitter tea that lasts longer over many brews. Pu'er tribute-tea making (普洱茶制作技艺·贡茶制作技艺) joined China's national intangible heritage list in 2008. In 2011 the Kunlu Mountain tribute-tea factory was named a national demonstration base for protecting that craft; its master, Li Xingchang (born 1954, Yi), has worked to survey and restore the old 'royal' garden.
• Qianjiazhai 千家寨 (Qiānjiā Zhài), Jiujia Town, Zhenyuan Yi, Hani and Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A stretch of old forest in the Ailao Mountains Nature Reserve, Zhenyuan County, where wild tea trees grow among native woodland. Scientists class them as Camellia taliensis (大理茶), a wild relative of the tea plant, and the biggest tree is famous across China. Known for: Wild-tree tea whose moderate bitterness fades quickly into a good returning sweetness. Flavour: Tea from the wild Camellia taliensis trees of Qianjiazhai is described as richly fragrant and easy to swallow, with a noticeable bitterness and a slight astringency. Both clear quickly into a good returning sweetness, and the whole is said to be very well balanced. The name Qianjiazhai ('thousand-family stockade') is linked to a Qing-era uprising in the Ailao Mountains. In 2001 the largest tree was given the title 'World Tea King' (世界茶王).
• Bangwei 邦崴 (Bāngwēi), Fudong Township, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A village in Fudong Township, northern Lancang County, known for one big old tea tree, the 'Bangwei transitional ancient tea tree'. 'Transitional' means its features sit between wild and cultivated tea. Known for: Its 'transitional' old tree rather than a well-defined cup style. Flavour: The one tasting note found for Bangwei describes a high, bright aroma and a floral sweetness set against a hop-like bitterness. The cup is thick and viscous yet crisp, with a long-lasting sweetness. The tree stands in a field at the foot of Bangwei New Village and has long been picked by local farmers. It is said to be more than 1,000 years old.
• Jinggu 景谷 (Jǐnggǔ), Weiyuan Town (county seat), Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A county in Pu'er City best known for white tea made from its own big-white tea, Jinggu Dabai. Yunnan Daily calls it the only big-leaf member of China's white tea family, and the county has about 280,000 mu of white tea. Known for: White tea with silvery, downy buds and a clear, mellow cup with returning sweetness. Jinggu's big-white tea won a place among 'Yunnan's eight famous teas' in 1981. Minle Town is described as its birthplace.
• Bulang Mountain 布朗山 (Bùlǎng Shān), Bulangshan Bulang Ethnic Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The big mountain township in Menghai's far south, on the Myanmar border, and home of the Bulang people. Its old gardens, at Lao Banzhang, Xin Banzhang and Lao Man'e, are known in the trade for some of the strongest raw pu'er there is. Known for: Power: strong bitterness and astringency that turn quickly into a deep, lasting sweetness. Flavour: Bulang is the strong side of pu'er. Tea people describe a bold, thick cup with real bitterness and a drying grip that turns quickly into a sweet, mouth-watering finish. Behind the strength there can be plum, nectar and orchid notes, and some cups leave a malt-sugar sweetness in the empty cup. Menghai has more Bulang people than any other county in China, and about 64% of this township is Bulang. The township has about 245,600 mu of tea, of which roughly 20,000 mu is old-tree tea (CCTV, 2019).
• Hekai Mountain 贺开 (Hèkāi), Menghun Town (Hekai village committee), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. An old tea mountain of villages and forest in Menghun town, next to Bulang, described as one of Xishuangbanna's largest continuous ancient tea mountains, about 16,000 mu. More than ten 'tea king' trees grow at about 1,600 m where Mannong Xinzhai and Mannong Laozhai meet. Known for: Smooth yet strong: a bitterness that turns sweet quickly, with a mouth-watering finish. Flavour: Hekai is described as strong but smooth: a full, thick cup whose bitterness turns sweet quickly and leaves the mouth watering. The first infusions can have a strong, almost briny edge that mellows nicely later on. The aroma is clean and sweet, with light fruit. Hekai sits on Menghai's tea-tourism loop with Nannuo and Lao Banzhang.
• Mengsong Mountain 勐宋 (Měngsòng), Mengsong Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A high township north-east of Menghai town, under Huazhu Liangzi, the highest peak in Xishuangbanna. Its old gardens, more than 3,000 mu, were planted mostly by the Lahu and are spread over villages such as Baotang, Da'an and Naka. Known for: A clear bitterness with lasting sweetness behind it, and a smooth texture. Flavour: Mengsong tea is described as clean and direct: a clear bitterness up front with some grip, on a smooth texture, followed by a fresh sweetness that lingers. The high villages such as Naka are said to be the most fragrant and lively. Old Baotang (Baotang Jiuzhai) is said to be the Lahu's earliest settlement here (Shi Kunmu).
• Nannuo Mountain 南糯山 (Nánnuò Shān), Gelanghe Hani Ethnic Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A Hani tea mountain in Menghai's Gelanghe township, with about 12,000 mu of old gardens, most trees over a century old. It is famous for its 'tea king', a cultivated tree said to be about 800 years old, and for Yunnan's first modern tea factory. Known for: A sweet, mellow cup with only light bitterness and plenty of mouth-watering freshness. Flavour: Tea people describe Nannuo as one of the sweeter, softer teas of Menghai: a smooth, slippery cup with gentle bitterness, a clear sweetness and notes of honey and orchid. It is not without grip, though; there is a noticeable drying edge, and it sets the mouth watering. Bai Mengyu's Nannuo Mountain tea factory, described as Yunnan's first modern tea factory, was in full production by 1941, making black and green tea. War cut its routes in 1942; it was restored in 1953, passed to Menghai Tea Factory in 1954 and closed in 2000. At Tea Chapter: Ancient Tree Ripe Pu'er - 2020.
• Yibang Mountain 倚邦 (Yǐbāng), Xiangming Yi Ethnic Township, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. An old tea town in the north of the six mountains, once the seat of the Yibang chief and a meeting point of Tea-Horse roads to Yiwu, Pu'er and Tibet. Unusually for pu'er country, it is known for small-leaf tea, the famous Mansong tribute tea. Known for: Small-leaf tea with a delicate, floral, sweet and mild cup. Flavour: Yibang is famous for its small-leaf tea, and tea people describe it as fragrant and sweet rather than forceful. A good cup is smooth, even a little milky, with honey sweetness over a light bitterness and a floral finish that lingers. Some writers find more weight in it than its delicate reputation suggests. In 1729 the Sichuan-born Cao Dangzhai was made hereditary chief here, with five of the tea mountains under him, and he handled the tribute tea. Stone steles of 1738, 1848 and 1888 set rules on official tea buying, tea tax and workers' pay. The tea-horse post road from Simao towards Yiwu, begun in 1845, reached Yibang in 1851.
• Yiwu Mountain 易武 (Yìwǔ), Yiwu Town, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The best known of the six ancient tea mountains, and for a long time their main tea market. The town calls itself 'China's first tribute-tea town'. 'Yiwu Zhengshan' (true Yiwu mountain) on a wrapper means tea from here. Known for: A soft, smooth and sweet cup with gentle bitterness and a sweet aftertaste. Flavour: Yiwu is the soft, fragrant side of pu'er. Tea people describe a silky, gentle cup with a high honey-and-flower fragrance, only a light bitterness and a clean sweetness, and a returning sweetness that lasts long after the sip. An 1836 bridge stele says that in southern Yunnan 'the first profit is tea, and Yiwu grows the most'. As Mangzhi and other hills declined in the Daoguang years (1821–1850), Yiwu became the six mountains' main collecting centre, and the old Mansa mountain name gave way to Yiwu. Old tea houses on Cross Street, such as Tongqinghao, are listed heritage sites, and the Tea-Horse Road through Yiwu is a national key heritage site. At Tea Chapter: Tea Chapter 28th Anniversary Compressed Tea (Raw Pu’er) – 2017.
• Youle Mountain (Jinuo Mountain) 攸乐 (基诺山) (Yōulè (Jīnuò Shān)), Jinuoshan Jinuo Ethnic Township, Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The westernmost of the six ancient tea mountains and the only one outside Mengla, now called Jinuo Mountain after its people. The Jinuo, China's last officially recognised ethnic group (1979), still tend old tea gardens in the rainforest here. Known for: A floral, softer and balanced cup. Flavour: Youle, on Jinuo Mountain, gives a soft-watered tea with a floral, fruity fragrance, but tea people disagree on its strength: some find a noticeable bitterness on the tongue, others a balanced, mellow cup. Either way the sweetness comes back quickly and the mouth waters. 'Youle' was a former name of the Jinuo people. Xinhua describes Jinuo Mountain as one of pu'er's ancient tea mountains, where the old gardens are now protected and visitors come for rainforest walks.
• Bada Mountain 巴达 (Bādá), Xiding Hani and Bulang Ethnic Township area, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A tea mountain in far western Menghai, and one of Xishuangbanna's twelve ancient tea mountains. Pickers here still climb into tall old trees to pick (The Paper, 2025). Known for: A strong cup: firm bitterness and astringency, a lasting sweet aftertaste, with plum and honey in the aroma. Flavour: Bada tea is described as firm and fruity: a clear bitterness and grip that recall Bulang, softened by plum, honey and pine-needle notes, and a sweet finish that lasts.
• Gedeng Mountain 革登 (Gédēng), Xiangming Yi Ethnic Township (Anle village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. One of the six ancient tea mountains, between Yibang and Mangzhi. Its villages, Gedeng Dazhai, Gedeng Laozhai and Zhibang, now belong to Anle village committee together with Mangzhi. Known for: A rich, full-bodied cup whose first bitterness turns sweet. The Mengla County gazetteer records a 'tea king' tree near Gedeng's Bajiaoshu village in the Jiaqing years (1796–1820). Local tradition says Zhuge Liang left the tea seeds, and villagers honour him as the tea ancestor at each spring picking.
• Mangzhi Mountain 莽枝 (Mǎngzhī), Xiangming Yi Ethnic Township (Anle village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. One of the six ancient tea mountains, west of Yibang. Mangzhi and Gedeng now share one village committee, Anle, which grew out of the old Niugun Tang market, the main pu'er trading place from the Qianlong to the Xianfeng reigns (about 1736–1861). As the saying goes: 'first came Niugun Tang, then the Pu'er prefecture'. Known for: An aromatic, smooth cup with bitterness and sweetness in balance. The township says large tea gardens were already here in the Yuan dynasty. In the Daoguang years (1821–1850) Mangzhi declined and Yiwu took over as the main tea mountain.
• Manzhuan Mountain 蛮砖 (Mánzhuān), Xiangming Yi Ethnic Township (Manzhuan village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. One of the six ancient tea mountains, south of Yibang, around today's Xiangming township seat. Its village committee is a big one, with 19 villages and about 5,300 people over 225 km², including Mansong and Jiabu. Known for: A balanced, smooth cup with a slight bitterness that turns sweet. Flavour: Manzhuan is described as Yiwu-like: light in bitterness, sweet in the cup, full and slippery, with a floral, fruity fragrance and a wild mountain character. The sweetness comes back quickly, and the empty cup keeps its scent. Jiabu, one of its villages, shares its name with an old tea hill that writers listed in the Qing and that faded in the Daoguang years.
• Mansa Mountain 曼撒 (Mànsǎ), Yiwu Town (Manla village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The sixth of the classic six ancient tea mountains, and the old name for the Yiwu tea area. Mansa and Yiwu are one continuous range, long run as one district. Today Mansa (written 曼洒) is a village group inside Yiwu town. Known for: Its place in history: Mansa is the old name behind 'Yiwu' on the list of six. The old lists end with Mansa and have no Yiwu. When the Yiwu chief moved his seat to Yiwu, the centre of the trade moved with him, and a Pu'er gazetteer from after 1895 records that 'Mansa Mountain was renamed Yiwu Mountain'.
• Pasha Mountain 帕沙 (Pàshā), Gelanghe Hani Ethnic Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A tea village of Gelanghe township, between Nannuo and Bulang. Vendors say many of its trees are over 300 years old. Known for: A rich texture and strong aroma, with bitterness turning quickly to sweetness. Flavour: Pasha is described as a sweet, rich tea with a strong floral-and-honey fragrance. The cup is thick and slippery, with only a light bitterness that turns quickly to sweetness and a long, sweet finish.

Tea villages

• Banuo 坝糯 (Bànuò), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. An administrative village of Mengku Town on the East Half Mountain, across the valley from Bingdao. Tea Chapter's Ba Nuo ripe pu'er says it comes from ancient trees in Ba Nuo village, and this is the village that name points to. Known for: One of the main tea villages of Mengku's East Half Mountain. Flavour: Tea people describe Banuo as fragrant and sweet, with honey on the nose and floral notes that hang in the cup. The body is oily, full and generous, and it ends in a lingering, clean returning sweetness. Most accounts call the bitterness and astringency faint, though one guide stresses a bold, vigorous character. Banuo is one of the eight East Half Mountain tea areas in the trade's 'eighteen villages of Mengku'. At Tea Chapter: Ba Nuo (Ripe Pu’er).
• Bingdao (Bingdao Laozhai) 冰岛 (Bīngdǎo), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. Bingdao is the most famous tea village in Lincang. Bingdao village is five hamlets in Mengku Town, but only tea from Bingdao Laozhai, the old village, may carry the protected 'Bingdao Laozhai tea' name. Known for: A mellow, sweet cup that makes the mouth water, with a high aroma clinging to the lid and the empty cup, and rock-sugar sweetness as the cup cools. Flavour: Tea people describe a good Bingdao Laozhai as sweet from the very first sip, with almost no bitterness to get past. The cup is smooth and fairly rich and the mouth waters. A high, fresh fragrance clings to the lid and the empty cup, turning into a rock-sugar sweetness as the cup cools. The village's written history starts in 1485, when a local Dai chief is said to have had tea planted here as his own garden. The name comes from a Dai word (丙岛, also heard as 扁岛) for an edible river moss once sent to the chief as tribute; it has nothing to do with Iceland, which is written the same way in Chinese.
• Xiaohusai 小户赛 (Xiǎo Hùsài), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. A Lahu village of 184 households halfway up the Bangma Daxueshan, part of Gonglong village in Mengku. It holds Shuangjiang's largest and best-kept cultivated old tea garden, and its tea is one of the most sought-after on Mengku's West Half Mountain. Known for: Big, sturdy leaves and a smooth, fine cup with strong returning sweetness and a mouth-watering finish. Flavour: Tea people describe Xiaohusai as a full, fragrant cup with a high honey aroma that stays in the empty cup. Some find it smooth and delicate with only slight astringency, while others note a firmer bitter-astringent edge. Either way it ends in a strong, long returning sweetness. Of the village's 1,150 mu of tea, 530 mu are trees over 100 years old. The Lahu here keep customs of growing, drinking and offering tea.
• Xigui 昔归 (Xīguī), Bangdong Township, Linxiang District, Lincang, Yunnan. A small village low on the Lancang River in Bangdong Township. Its old garden on Manglu Mountain, named for its mango trees, makes one of Lincang's two most talked-about teas, often compared with Bingdao. Known for: A bolder, firmer cup than Bingdao that still feels soft and smooth. Flavour: Tea people say a fine Xigui opens with orchid and honey on the nose and fills the mouth with a thick, weighty cup that is firm but never harsh. Bitterness stays low, sweetness builds quickly, and the mouth keeps watering long after the swallow. Xigui tea comes from old gardens mixed with forest on the mid-slopes. In 2017 the Manglu Mountain garden was named a 'charming ancient tea garden' by Yunnan's agriculture department.
• Dahusai 大户赛 (Dà Hùsài), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. An administrative village on Mengku's West Half Mountain with more old tea trees than any other village in the town, by the People's Daily group's account. It is less famous than Bingdao but known for its rich flavour, and merchants sign up its tea before the spring harvest. Known for: Rich, full-flavoured West Half tea. Flavour: Dahusai is known for a rich, full-flavoured cup. Tea people describe it as bitter up front with a bite that lingers, then turning to a heavier, syrupy sweetness and a long returning sweetness, with the mouth watering quickly. The trade counts Doufuzhai and Sanjiacun as part of Dahusai. Tea cooperatives started here in 2014.
• Mangfei 忙肺 (Mángfèi), Mengban Township, Yongde County, Lincang, Yunnan. A tea village of 539 households in Mengban Township, Yongde County, with whole hillsides of old tea garden. A 1980 provincial survey named its local tea the 'Mangfei big-leaf' type. Known for: Mangfei big-leaf tea from old village gardens. Flavour: Tea writers describe young Mangfei as strong and concentrated, with a rich, high fragrance and a sweet, smooth cup with slight astringency. The mouth waters clearly and the returning sweetness comes fast. Accounts differ on bitterness: most call young Mangfei punchy, but one reviewer found none. In 1980 Yunnan's tea germplasm survey team visited, named the local tea 'Mangfei big-leaf' (忙肺大叶种) and approved it as a fine local tea population.
• Xiangzhuqing 香竹箐 (Xiāngzhúqìng), Xiaowan Town, Fengqing County, Lincang, Yunnan. A hamlet of Jinxiu village, Xiaowan Town, Fengqing, home to one of the largest cultivated tea trees known. The tree is called the Jinxiu Tea Ancestor (锦绣茶祖) or Jinxiu Tea King (锦秀茶王). Known for: The great tree itself. The tree's age has been estimated several times: an isotope study in 1982 put it at over 3,200 years, and tea scientists in 2004 estimated 3,200–3,500 years. These are estimates, not certain dates.
• Baka 坝卡 (Bàkǎ), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. An administrative village of Mengku Town (坝卡村) and one of the ten tea areas of the West Half Mountain. Known for: A West Half Mountain tea village.
• Bawai 坝歪 (Bàwāi), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. One of the five hamlets of Bingdao village. Its tea is often sold as 'Bingdao', but it falls outside the Bingdao Laozhai GI. Known for: Bingdao-area tea from outside the old village. Flavour: Bawai is described as the bolder, more bitter member of the Bingdao family, with an assertive fragrance and a firm, vigorous entry. Its clean bitterness sits on an excellent fullness that still leans sweet.
• Dijie 地界 (Dìjiè), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. One of the five hamlets of Bingdao village. Its tea is often sold as 'Bingdao', but it falls outside the Bingdao Laozhai GI, which covers only the old village. Known for: Bingdao-area tea from outside the old village. Flavour: Dijie is described as very full and mellow in the cup and long-lasting over many brews. It has Bingdao's familiar rock-sugar sweetness, if a shade less than Laozhai's.
• Dongguo 懂过 (Dǒngguò), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. An administrative village of Mengku Town (懂过村) and one of the ten tea areas of the West Half Mountain. Known for: A West Half Mountain tea village near Bingdao.
• Najiao 那焦 (Nàjiāo), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. A tea village of Mengku's East Half Mountain. The trade writes it 那焦; the administrative village is 那蕉村. Known for: An East Half Mountain tea village.
• Nanpo 南迫 (Nánpò), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. One of the five hamlets of Bingdao village. Its tea is often sold as 'Bingdao', but it falls outside the Bingdao Laozhai GI. Known for: Bingdao-area tea from outside the old village. Flavour: Nanpo is described as clean, sweet and fine-textured, with low bitterness and astringency on entry and a good returning sweetness.
• Nuowu 糯伍 (Nuòwǔ), Mengku Town, Shuangjiang Lahu, Va, Blang and Dai Autonomous County, Lincang, Yunnan. One of the five hamlets of Bingdao village. Its tea is often sold as 'Bingdao', but it falls outside the Bingdao Laozhai GI. Known for: Bingdao-area tea from outside the old village.
• Jingmai Dazhai 景迈大寨 (Jǐngmài Dàzhài), Huimin Town, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. The main Dai village of Jingmai Mountain. It belongs to Jingmai village, whose nine mostly Dai villages sit on Baixiang (White Elephant) and Nuogang mountains, and its name means 'new settlement' in Dai. Known for: Its own old tea forest of about 4,665 mu (some 310 ha), mostly big-leaf tea: one of the five forests of the World Heritage site. The Dai began moving into Lancang and onto Jingmai in the late Yuan or early Ming. Jingmai Dazhai is said to be the first village they settled there.
• Mangjing 芒景 (Mángjǐng), Huimin Town, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. The Blang side of Jingmai Mountain. Six mostly Blang villages on Mangjing Mountain, also called Aileng Mountain, belong to Mangjing village, and their old forests form two of Jingmai's five World Heritage tea forests. Known for: Old forest tea of the Blang villages, in the orchid-scented Jingmai style. Flavour: On the Blang side of Jingmai, where smaller-leaf trees are more common, tea people describe a clean, fresh sweetness with a light floral note high on the palate and good sweetness across the tongue. The liquor is smooth but slightly thin, in keeping with Jingmai's generally light body. Blang tradition honours Pa Aileng (帕哎冷), a chief who is said to have led his people into the forest to bring back wild tea seedlings and seeds and begin tending them. Blang ancestors are said to have reached Jingmai in the 10th century.
• Yangta 秧塔 (Yāngtǎ), Minle Town, Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. A Yi farming hamlet in Minle Town, Jinggu, that gave its name to Yangta Dabai, the big-white tea also called Jinggu Dabai. Its downy buds make Jinggu's white tea. Known for: Plump, white-downed buds and a clear, mellow, sweet cup with a clean fragrance. In 2022 'Jinggu Yangta Dabai' passed national variety registration, Pu'er City's first registered clonal tea cultivar. Minle held its first Yangta Dabai tea-opening festival, with Yi blessings and dances, in April 2023.
• Banpen 班盆 (Bānpén), Menghun Town (Hekai village committee), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A small tea village about 2 km from Lao Banzhang, high in the same Bulang mountain forest; administratively it belongs to Hekai village committee in Menghun town, and sources also write it 邦盆. Its old gardens run on into Lao Banzhang's. Tea Chapter's Ban Pen raw pu'er comes from here. Known for: A strong, slightly bitter cup with floral and dried-longan notes (Tea Chapter's tasting). Flavour: Banpen sits beside Lao Banzhang and shares some of its build, but tea people find it a little gentler. Expect a clear, moderate bitterness that turns sweet a few seconds after you swallow and leaves the mouth watering, with soft floral, apricot-like and dried-longan notes. It keeps going well over many infusions. About 138 households and over 3,000 mu of tea trees in 2014 (The Paper). At Tea Chapter: Ban Pen Ancient Tea Tree (Raw Pu’er) – 2019.
• Lao Banzhang 老班章 (Lǎo Bānzhāng), Bulangshan Bulang Ethnic Township (Banzhang village committee), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A Hani village high on Bulang Mountain whose old-tree tea became one of the most famous names in raw pu'er. It has about 4,000–5,000 mu of old trees, and two trees said to be over 800 years old are fenced off as 'tree kings'. Known for: Heavy, bitter and powerful, with a long, deep sweetness after. Flavour: Tea people describe a good Lao Banzhang as thick and weighty from the first sip, with a firm bitterness that clears quickly. Then comes what made it famous: a deep, long returning sweetness that spreads through the mouth and throat and keeps the mouth watering. The aroma is steady and low rather than showy, with a faint honey note. The Hani who settled here kept the old name Banzhang (Eastern Leaves). The village's fame has made 'Lao Banzhang' one of the most faked names in tea, so villagers watch the gate day and night.
• Lao Man'e 老曼峨 (Lǎo Màn'é), Bulangshan Bulang Ethnic Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. An old Bulang village on Bulang Mountain, whose stone tablet gives it more than 1,400 years of history. It is known for two kinds of tea, a bitter one and a sweet one, which villagers tell apart only by tasting. Known for: The famous 'bitter tea' of Bulang: boldly bitter, often said to be even stronger than Lao Banzhang. Flavour: Lao Man'e is the village tea people think of first when they say 'bitter tea'. A good cup hits with a strong, clean bitterness and a firm grip; then the bitterness falls away and a fast, powerful sweetness rushes back, keeping the mouth watering for a long time. The aroma is quiet next to the taste, and the village also grows milder 'sweet tea' trees, so not every Lao Man'e is this fierce. Tea planting here is said to go back more than 900 years (Eastern Leaves).
• Banpo Laozhai 半坡老寨 (Bànpō Lǎozhài), Gelanghe Hani Ethnic Township (Nannuo Mountain village), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A Hani village halfway up Nannuo Mountain, built on the slope among its tea. It has more than 3,200 mu of old-tree gardens, about 15,000 old trees growing wild-style among the forest. Visitors come to see Nannuo's famous tea king near the village; Hani families now welcome guests in hillside tea huts and homestays.
• Mannong Laozhai 曼弄老寨 (Mànnòng Lǎozhài), Menghun Town (Hekai village committee), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Hekai's best-known village. More than ten 'tea king' trees grow at about 1,600 m where it meets its neighbour, Mannong Xinzhai.
• Mansong 曼松 (Mànsōng), Xiangming Yi Ethnic Township (Manzhuan village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The village behind 'Mansong tribute tea', the small-leaf tea of Yibang that won favour at the Qing court. Today it is a village group of the Manzhuan village committee in Xiangming township. Known for: Sweeter and milder than big-leaf pu'er. Flavour: Mansong, the old tribute tea of Yibang, is described as a sweet, fragrant, gentle small-leaf tea. Tea people speak of balanced bitterness and sweetness, a slippery texture and a strong, long returning sweetness, with an elegant, layered fragrance. People's Daily says Yibang's small-leaf tea was probably brought by Sichuan settlers in the late Ming or early Qing, and that the sweeter, milder Mansong tea became a tribute tea.
• Baotang 保塘 (Bǎotáng), Mengsong Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Two Mengsong villages, old and new Baotang. Old Baotang is said to be the first place the Lahu settled in Mengsong. Known for: A heavier body with more noticeable bitterness than Naka.
• Guafengzhai 刮风寨 (Guāfēng Zhài), Yiwu Town, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Yiwu's remote border village, in high forest near Laos, under the Heishui Liangzi peak (2,023 m), the second-highest point in Xishuangbanna. Flavour: Guafengzhai is described as Yiwu with more weight: a thick, sweet, rounded cup with a bold floral-and-honey fragrance and a strong, lasting sweet finish. Tea people speak of a broad, wild character, yet Yiwu's softness stays.
• Mahei 麻黑 (Máhēi), Yiwu Town (Mahei village committee), Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. A tea village in the hills about 9 km from Yiwu town, on the old Tea-Horse Road. The Mahei ancient tea garden is a listed heritage site, and tea is the village's main income. Known for: Classic Yiwu softness and sweetness. Flavour: Tea people hold up Mahei as the textbook Yiwu: a clear, bright liquor with a pronounced floral and fruity fragrance, and a soft, mellow, rounded taste. It is gentle in the mouth yet has real presence. A stretch of the Tea-Horse Road (Mengla section) runs through Mahei and is part of a national key heritage site.
• Naka 那卡 (Nàkǎ), Mengsong Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. One of Mengsong's old-garden villages, known for its high aroma and a strong, forward taste. Known for: High aroma and a strong, forward taste (Shi Kunmu).
• Xin Banzhang 新班章 (Xīn Bānzhāng), Bulangshan Bulang Ethnic Township (Banzhang village committee), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. 'New Banzhang', a village that split off from Lao Banzhang some decades ago, one hill away. Its old gardens join the old village's, but many of its trees were planted in recent decades. Known for: Banzhang-style strength from a mix of old and younger trees. Flavour: Xin Banzhang ('new Banzhang') is described as a close cousin of Lao Banzhang: a similarly weighty, strong cup with a similar aroma, but a bitterness that lingers a little longer. Formed decades ago by families from the old Banzhang village (CCTV, 2019).

Tea towns

• Mangshui 漭水镇 (Mǎngshuǐ), Changning County, Baoshan, Yunnan. A tea town in Changning County, Baoshan, known for the old tea gardens of Huangjiazhai. The county registers and tags its old trees under its own protection rules, and Kunming's 2020 spring price index priced Mangshui's old-tree leaf at several times its terrace-garden leaf. Known for: Old-tree tea from the protected Huangjiazhai gardens. In 2017 a provincial CPPCC team visited the Huangjiazhai garden. Changning had brought old tea trees under its protection rules for old and notable trees, issued interim measures to protect old-tree tea, set up a protection association and tagged trees with their owners' details (CPPCC Network).
• Ning'er 宁洱 (Níng'ěr), Ning'er Town, Ning'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan. The old Pu'er. Until 2007 this county was called Pu'er, and pu'er tea takes its name from the place, the trading centre for tea from south-west Yunnan in Ming and Qing times. It became Ning'er when the city of Simao took the name Pu'er. Known for: The town that gave pu'er its name. Ning'er keeps the Pu'er tribute-tea making tradition, on China's national heritage list since 2008, with its working base at Kunlu Mountain.
• Simao 思茅 (Sīmáo), Simao District, Pu'er, Yunnan. The central district and seat of Pu'er City. Until 2007 the whole city was called Simao; it then took the name Pu'er, and the old Pu'er County became Ning'er. Known for: The modern centre of Pu'er City, and the origin our Yue Guang Bai gives on its label. At Tea Chapter: Yue Guang Bai (Moonlight Beauty).

Tea factories

• Xiaguan Tea Factory 下关茶厂 (Xiàguān Cháchǎng), Dali City, Dali, Yunnan. Dali's tuocha factory at Xiaguan. It grew out of the Kangzang Tea Factory of 1941, which pressed tea for Tibet and tuocha for Sichuan, and has carried the Xiaguan name since 1950. Its tuocha-making craft has been a national heritage item since 2011. Known for: Tuocha (沱茶) and compressed tea for Tibet; the 'Xiao Fa Tuo' tuocha exported to France. Tuocha is said to have been first made in Xiaguan in 1902 by Yongchangxiang, a Xizhou merchant house; the date comes from the company's own history. In 1941 the Kangzang Tea Factory was set up in Xiaguan with Yunnan China Tea Trading Co., making compressed tea for Tibet and tuocha for Sichuan; it stopped work in 1949. It reopened in 1950 as the Xiaguan Tea Factory of China Tea Co.'s Yunnan branch, became Yunnan Xiaguan Tea Factory in 1959, a joint-stock company in 1994 and private in 2004. A tuocha developed in 1975 was taken up from 1976 by a French merchant, Fred Kempler, and became known in the trade as 'Xiao Fa Tuo' (销法沱, 'the tuocha sold to France'). In 2024 the old factory joined China's national industrial heritage list (6th batch).
• Kunming Tea Factory 昆明茶厂 (Kūnmíng Cháchǎng), Kunming City, Kunming, Yunnan. Kunming's state tea factory, founded in 1938 as the Fuxing Tea Factory and closed in 1994. Most accounts place the first batch of modern wet-piled ripe pu'er here, in 1973, after Yunnan technicians studied the wet piling used in Guangdong. Its best-known product was the 7581 ripe brick. Known for: The first modern ripe pu'er (1973, per most accounts); the 7581 ripe brick. Chinese Wikipedia gives 1938 for the Fuxing Tea Factory (director Tong Yiyun) and 1960 for the name Yunnan Kunming Tea Factory, under China Tea Co.'s Yunnan branch. Pu'er Magazine's history of ripe tea says that in 1973 technicians from Menghai, Kunming and Xiaguan went to Guangdong to learn the wet-piled tea that Hong Kong buyers wanted; Kunming's first tries, copying Guangzhou's hot-water method, failed, and a cold-water version by technician Chen Peiren worked and was exported to Hong Kong that year. English Wikipedia also credits Kunming in 1973. The 7581 ripe brick followed in 1976. Production stopped in 1992 and the factory closed in 1994.
• Fengqing Tea Factory 凤庆茶厂 (Fèngqìng Cháchǎng), Fengqing County, Lincang, Yunnan. The birthplace of Dian Hong, Yunnan's black tea. In 1938 the tea expert Feng Shaoqiu, sent by the China Tea Corporation to survey Yunnan, made trial black tea at Shunning (today's Fengqing); the Shunning Experimental Tea Factory followed in 1939, and the tea was named 'Dian Hong' in April 1940. Known for: Dian Hong black tea; Fengqing large-leaf tea. A China Tea Science Society article in The Paper (2021) gives the sequence: Feng's survey and trial black tea in 1938 (November); the Shunning Experimental Tea Factory in 1939, forerunner of the Fengqing Tea Factory; and the name changed from 'Yun Hong' to 'Dian Hong' on 9 April 1940. Its black-tea craft, practised mainly in Fengqing with Fengqing large-leaf tea, is a national heritage item.
• Menghai Tea Factory 勐海茶厂 (Měnghǎi Cháchǎng), Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Pu'er's best-known factory. It began as the Fohai Experimental Tea Factory, founded in 1939–40 by Fan Hejun to earn export income during the war, and took the name Menghai when Fohai County was renamed. It became a centre of the new ripe pu'er in the 1970s, and its craft is a national heritage item. Known for: Ripe and raw pu'er recipes such as 7572; the Dayi brand; blending teas of different areas, seasons and grades into a steady style. Economic Daily (2021) dates the founding to 1939, by Fan Hejun and Zhang Shicheng, to earn foreign exchange for the war effort; Chinese Wikipedia gives 1940, with Fan as director. The Menghai name followed Fohai County's renaming (linked to 1953 in Chinese Wikipedia). On ripe pu'er the sources disagree: Economic Daily says Menghai's team first used wet piling in 1973; English Wikipedia and Pu'er Magazine credit Kunming Tea Factory in 1973, with Menghai adopting and refining the method and exporting ripe cakes such as 7572 by 1975; Chinese Wikipedia mentions fermentation trials as early as 1964–66. The Dayi trademark was registered in 1995 (in use from 1988); the factory was restructured in 1996 and became private in 2004.

Background

• Pu'er tribute tea and Pu'er Prefecture 普洱贡茶 / 普洱府. In 1729 the Qing court created Pu'er Prefecture, seated at today's Ning'er, from the six great tea mountains and the 'inside-river' lands of Xishuangbanna. Tea from the mountains was gathered at Pu'er to be processed and sold on, which is how the tea got its name, and under the Qing it was sent to court as tribute, with an official tea bureau to run it. Qing stone edicts from 1738 onwards are kept at Yibang, and Ning'er's tribute-tea craft became a national heritage item in 2008.
• Inside and outside the river 江内 / 江外. Qing records split Xishuangbanna at the Lancang (Mekong). In 1729 the 'inside-river' (jiangnei) lands, together with the six great tea mountains, were taken into the new Pu'er Prefecture, while the 'outside-river' (jiangwai) lands stayed with the hereditary ruler of Cheli. In tea writing today, jiangnei means the east bank — Mengla's old tea mountains such as Yiwu and Yibang — and jiangwai the west bank, Menghai.
• Yunnan large-leaf tea 云南大叶种. The tea pu'er must be made from. 'Yunnan large-leaf' covers the province's big-leaved, mostly tree-form tea plants (Camellia sinensis var. assamica), native to the Lancang basin in the south and south-west. Local strains such as Mengku, Fengqing and Menghai large-leaf are well known, and the variety was among China's first 30 nationally recognised tea cultivars in 1984. The GI sets a floor of 28% polyphenols for raw pu'er.
• Ancient tea tree 古茶树. In Yunnan, 'ancient tea tree' is a legal term. The Yunnan Regulation on the Protection of Ancient Tea Trees, adopted on 30 November 2022 and in force since 1 March 2023, covers wild and cultivated tea trees 100 years old or more. It bans unauthorised felling or transplanting, carving, stripping bark and harmful chemicals in protected areas, and forbids foreigners to collect or buy the trees' seeds, cuttings or other planting material.
• Old tree, big tree, small tree, terrace tea 古树 / 大树 / 小树 / 台地茶. These are trade grades, not legal categories; only 'ancient tea tree' (100 years or more) is defined in Yunnan law. In CCTV's words, old-tree tea comes from trees usually over a century old, growing in forest with little intervention, while terrace tea comes from dense, high-yield modern gardens of younger trees; 'big tree' and 'small tree' sit in between and have no fixed definition in the sources checked. Prices follow the grades, often many times over, and that gap invites blending and mislabelling, so a grade on a wrapper is a claim, not proof.
• Single-mountain tea 山头茶. Pu'er named for one mountain or village rather than a factory blend. As pu'er became a collectors' tea from the 1990s, buyers began paying for named places and old trees, and leaf from the most famous villages rose steeply: Lao Banzhang's, by one account, more than a thousandfold between 2000 and 2015. The market crashed in 2007, but famous mountains kept their premium. Fame also brings fakes: CCTV found cheap cakes sold as 'Lao Banzhang' at a Menghai wholesaler.
• Does every mountain taste different? 山头风味. Partly. A 2024 study made raw pu'er from 26 mountains of Pu'er City the same way: most samples were floral and fruity, and place (county, latitude, longitude, altitude) explained about a third of the differences in their aroma compounds, less than the saying 'one mountain, one flavour' suggests. Another 2024 study could tell old-tree teas from five counties apart by their aroma compounds alone. Neither tested bitterness, returning sweetness or 'mountain character', so the taste notes on these cards are the trade's descriptions, not lab findings.
• Wet piling: how ripe pu'er is made 渥堆. Ripe pu'er is sun-dried leaf that is piled and wetted so that damp heat and microbes ferment it, turning green, brisk leaf red-brown, sweet and mellow. Most accounts date the modern method to 1973: Yunnan sent technicians from Kunming, Menghai and Xiaguan to Guangdong to learn the wet-piled tea Hong Kong buyers wanted, and Kunming Tea Factory made the first successful batch that year. Menghai took the method up and refined it, and was exporting ripe cakes such as 7572 by 1975. Sources differ on who was first, by a year or two.
• Tea Horse Road (Yunnan side) 茶马古道. The caravan roads that carried Yunnan tea to Tibet and beyond. From the tea areas of Pu'er and Xishuangbanna, mule trains went north through Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La to Lhasa, and other routes led to Sichuan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Tea was steamed and pressed into cakes and wrapped in bamboo leaves to travel, and the GI spec credits the long, warm, damp journey with first giving pu'er its mellow, aged character. In 2013 China listed the Tea Horse Road as a national key cultural relics site, covering Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.