Yongde Tea

Last updated 2026-11-10 — Yongde tea is a specialty of Yongde County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province. Tea cultivation has a long history in Yongde. The region is home to 22 major ethnic groups, among which the ancestors of the ancient Yi, Wa, Blang, De’ang, and Lahu peoples were all closely connected to tea. Today, Yongde has 230,000 tea farmers, creating a landscape where every township grows tea and everyone is involved in the tea industry. The area boasts abundant tea tree resources and possesses some of the world’s finest natural conditions for tea cultivation. It also has unique ancient tea resources, making it one of the few tea-producing regions in Yunnan that does not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other inorganic substances—offering purely natural, pollution-free, and eco-friendly tea. It is the region in Yunnan with the largest stock of ancient tea trees, the largest tea-growing area, the most concentrated plots exceeding 1,000 acres, the highest yield, the oldest trees, and the greatest representativeness. Yongde’s ancient tea tree germplasm resources exhibit a full range of growth forms, including wild-type, transitional-type, and cultivated-type ancient teas. These are large in scale, have been cultivated for a long time, and demonstrate the evolutionary process from wild to cultivated tea—serving as a microcosm of the history of tea cultivation. According to assessments by domestic experts, Yongde’s ancient tea trees represent the world’s highest-altitude, densest population, and drinkable wild ancient tea tree community, with some trees over a thousand years old.