Jinghong Pu'er Tea

Jinghong Pu'er Tea

　　Jinghong Pu'er Tea is a specialty of Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

　　Pu'er tea is already world-renowned, but did you know? The birthplace of Pu'er tea is Xishuangbanna—in Jinghong. The *Dianhai Yuheng Zhi* records: “Pu’er tea is famous throughout the world and comes from the six tea mountains under the jurisdiction of Pu'er: the first is Youle, the second is Gedeng.” Youle refers to today’s Jinuo Mountain Township in Jinghong. It was simply because Pu'er was a distribution hub for tea at that time that the name "Pu'er tea" came about.

　　In the deep forests of Jinghong and Xishuangbanna, there are many wild tea trees, some of which are over a thousand years old—with trunks measuring 3.8 meters in girth and heights reaching 34 meters, astonishing the tea world. In addition to these wild tea trees, an 800-year-old cultivated “tea tree king” has also been discovered. This tree has a trunk diameter of 1.38 meters and a height of only 5.5 meters. Local Hani tea farmers call it “Shagui Bama.” The discovery of this cultivated tea tree king shows the long history of tea cultivation in the area.

　　“As the saying goes, ‘The best tea grows in the misty mountains.’” The tea from Jinghong is known for its strong flavor and high quality. Historical records note: “The teas of Yibang and Manzhuan are superior,” and as such, they were designated as tribute teas by the Qing court. The six major tea mountains contributed up to 66,000 jin of tribute tea annually—so highly prized in the capital that they were also welcomed by merchants, leading to the presence of “a hundred thousand people engaged in tea production in the mountains.” Today, tea plantations in Jinghong have spread to every township across the city, with tea gardens nestled in thousands of valleys and mountains, covering tens of thousands of acres and yielding tens of thousands of dan of tea per year. It has become another pillar industry of Jinghong. The city is home not only to the renowned Datugang Tea Factory, but major tea-producing towns have also established a number of refined and primary processing plants. This allows you not only to taste traditional famous teas—such as Pu'er tea—but also newly developed varieties like Nan Nuo White Down, Yunhai White Down, and Banna Silver Peak. The tea-growing region will surely let you “taste all the fine teas of ancient and modern Xishuangbanna, and take away a piece of the tea farmers’ hearts.”