Yunnan Tea

Yunnan is sometimes called Dianhong, which means Yunnan Black Tea. The brew is a bright red with a vivid robustness and sweet flavour, which can be attributed to Lychee and Rose used in the fermenting process. The tea can be used for multiple infusions.

Yunnan is one of the most beautiful provinces in China. It covers 152,000 square miles, has a population 45.7million and its capital is Kunming. Yunnan borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar (Burma).

Yunnan is viewed by many Chinese people as being the garden of China and due to its geographical location has the largest diversity of plant life in China. It is possible to find 60% of the plants used in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Yunnan.

The weather in Yunnan tends to be mild and fair, it is classed as being within the humid sub-tropical zone. In the warmer parts of the year the temperature will often be above 30⁰C and will drop to approximately 8⁰C in winter. Being very mountainous the temperature ranges can be almost freezing on the mountain tops yet still be hot and humid in the valleys. Due to some of the very high mountains in Yunnan, the average elevation is 6500feet (1980metres). The rainfall in Yunnan tends to occur between June and August and can be anything from 600mm in the driest years, to 2300mm in the wettest. This rain is drained by seven river systems, some of which are very well-known the world over. These are; the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Red River, the Irrawaddy, the Salween, the Pearl and the Xi River.

Yunnan is split into 16 prefectures, 129 counties and 1565 townships. Some of these townships are very well known in the world of tea, for instance Pu’Er. Yunnan province produces many types of tea; white, green, fermented and black.

Yunnan is often called Dianhong, which translated means ‘dian’ (Yunnan) and ‘hong’ (red tea); the Chinese refer to black tea as red tea due to the reddish colour of the liquor. Our Yunnan is classed as an Orange Pekoe, with the word pekoe meaning ‘black tea bud’. In Chinese our Yunnan would be described Dianhong Gongfu Cha. It has dark leaves and gives a bold reddish brew with a robust malty flavour and is a little stronger than the very similar looking Keemun Tea.