Yunnan, China

Wikipedia: Yunnan | Official Government Website: www.yn.gov.cn 
Updated: Apr. 2, 2018 

About Yunnan, China

Yunnan(云南) is the southwesternmost province of China, and is known for being the origin of a number of rich and diverse styles of tea. Yunnan borders Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Tibet in China, and also borders Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

Yunnan's climate and topography is diverse, with many mountains, but the climate tends to be mild, and tends to have strongly seasonal rainfall in keeping with the pattern of the Asian monsoon, with very wet summers and very dry winters. In the warmest parts of the province, the climate is closer to a tropical wet-dry climate, with only slightly cooler winters; the cooler areas have more of a subtropical climate with cool, dry winters.

Yunnan is best known for Pu-erh tea, a type of dark tea that originated in the region and is still produced primarily in the region. Yunnan also produces black teas (such as Yunnan red / dian hong), and green teas, many of which have unique qualities setting them apart from teas produced elsewhere.

Some of the tea produced in Yunnan province is produced in a system of permaculture, with ancient tea trees, some hundreds of years old, grown in a tree-like habit. In these regions, people pick the tea leaves by climbing the trees. The forests of tea trees in these areas support biodiversity that is much greater than that found in most monoculture tea plantations, with epiphytes, including moss, lichens, and flowering plants, growing on the tea trees.

There is also plenty of plantation-style cultivation as well.

Tea-Producing Regions of Yunnan, China

Styles of Tea Produced in Yunnan, China

This is a selection, not an exhaustive listing, of the styles of tea most commonly produced in Yunnan, China.

Best Yunnan Teas

The notion of the "best" Yunnan teas is subjective, because different people have different tastes. We present the most often-rated and highest-rated teas produced in Yunnan, China, and allow you to draw your own conclusions.

Browse All Yunnan Teas (336)