What Is Yunnan Tea? Climate, Origin, and Ancient Tea Trees

Yunnan Province covers 394,000 square kilometers, which is larger than Japan, and just under 90% of it is mountainous. It sits at about the same latitude as Darjeeling, Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan, so the climate is warm but still has four distinct seasons, which suits high-quality tea. Most tea gardens lie at around 1,500 meters, and in Lincang in the southwest some gardens reach nearly 2,400 meters.

Yunnan still has many ancient tea gardens. Unlike the low, neatly trimmed gardens common in Japan and Taiwan, the villages in the mountains have many tea trees growing in their natural shape, like the other trees on the mountain. Some are several hundred years old, and a few are over 500. In the mountains, some gardens are still farmed naturally in the traditional way. The large difference between day and night temperatures at high elevation, together with the slow growth of leaves on old trees, gives the tea a long lingering finish, a rich aftertaste, and deep flavor. With all these conditions in place, Yunnan produces some of the best teas in the world for length of finish and richness of aftertaste.

At HOJO, we source only Yunnan teas grown without fertilizers or pesticides. Most of them come from old trees aged about 100 to 500 years. However, in Yunnan each tea farmer processes their own tea, so even with excellent raw leaves, the finished tea varies with each farmer's skill and judgment and with the weather that day. For this reason, we stay in Yunnan for nearly two months, from the start to the end of the spring tea season, and manage everything ourselves, from selecting the raw leaves to processing, packing, shipping, and logistics.

In Yunnan, we make Raw Pu-erh, Ripe Pu-erh, black tea, white tea, and green tea, and we are also developing new teas based on our own ideas.