昆明茶厂昆明茶廠
Kunming Tea Factory
State factory in Kunming where wodui (the shou pu'er process) was developed; known for shou bricks such as 7581.
- Kind
- company
- Based in
- Kunming
- Founded
- 1939
- Brands
- 中茶 (Zhongcha / CNNP)state label, eight-中 logo
- 吉幸 (Jixing)export label
- 金鸡 (Jinji, 'golden rooster')export label, e.g. 金鸡沱茶
History#
- 1938December: 云南中国茶叶贸易股份有限公司 founded; Chinese Wikipedia dates the Fuxing factory itself to 1938.
- 1939October: 复兴实验茶厂, predecessor of the Kunming Tea Factory, founded (Sohu).
- 1940October: 复兴茶厂 set up at 金碧路27号, Kunming, making tuocha (CTMA history).
- 1950Taken over and renamed 昆明茶叶加工厂.
- 1960Formally named 云南省昆明茶厂 under 中国茶业公司云南省公司; brick tea for northern Yunnan and parts of Tibet.
- 1973First ripe pu'er made by wet piling at the Kunming Tea Factory.
- 1976Provincial mark-number document: factory digit 1 = Kunming.
- 1984Drafts the ripe pu'er process specification spread across Yunnan.
- 1992Production stops (costs and raw-tea allocation); Sohu describes it as bankruptcy.
- 1994Remaining stock cleared and the factory formally closed (Chinese Wikipedia).
- 2006Reopens at a new site during the pu'er revival (Sohu).
- 20089 March: COFCO Zhongcha's 云南中茶茶业有限公司 opens in Kunming with a 中茶 trademark licence.
Also sold or written as 10#
Chinese variants
- CNNP Kunming / 中茶昆明Kunming's output is closely tied to the CNNP/Zhongcha brand.
- 复兴茶厂 / 復興茶廠(Fuxing Tea Factory)Founding works, 1938/1939/1940 by source.
- 复兴实验茶厂Fuxing — experimental tea factoryFounding name per Sohu (October 1939).
- 昆明茶叶加工厂Kunming — tea-processing factoryName from 1950 per Sohu.
- 云南省昆明茶厂 / 云南昆明茶厂Yunnan Kunming — tea factoryName from 1960.
- 中茶昆明茶厂Zhongcha Kunming — tea factoryForm used by Xinhua (2024).
- 云南中茶茶业有限公司Yunnan Zhongcha — tea company, limited liabilityCOFCO Zhongcha Yunnan company opened 2008; not shown to be the factory's legal successor.
Translations and trade names
- Kunming
- factory code 1
Abbreviations
- KTF
Names and ambiguities#
Founding year: 1938, 1939 or 1940
Closure: 1992, 1994 or 1996
Revival: 2006 restart vs 2008 COFCO company
Sohu says the factory reopened at a new site in 2006. The helloteacup translation describes a gradual restart from 2003 under the 吉幸 brand, with 中茶 returning in 2006. COFCO's own release records a new company, 云南中茶茶业有限公司, opening on 9 March 2008. No source shows that the revived plant is the same legal entity as the old factory, so 'reopened around 2006' should be read as a revival of the name and brand.
Year the factory codes were set
The 1960 name
Notes#
The Kunming factory came from the Republican-era Yunnan tea venture 云南中国茶叶贸易股份有限公司 (December 1938). Its first plant, the Fuxing works (复兴茶厂), made tuocha. Sources date its founding to 1938 (Chinese Wikipedia), October 1939 as 复兴实验茶厂 (Sohu), or October 1940 at 金碧路27号 in Kunming (CTMA history, citing Yunnan archive publications).
It was taken over in 1950 and renamed 昆明茶叶加工厂 (Sohu). In 1960 it was formally named 云南省昆明茶厂 (云南昆明茶厂 in Chinese Wikipedia), under 中国茶业公司云南省公司, making brick tea for northern Yunnan and parts of Tibet.
Ripe pu'er by wet piling was first made there in 1973 (CTMA). Xinhua credits 中茶昆明茶厂 with drafting, in 1984, the ripe-process specification adopted across Yunnan.
In the mark-number system Kunming's digit is 1; Sohu dates the factory codes to 1975 and Yang Kai to the 1976 document. Its early products include the 73 thick brick and the 7581 ripe brick. Its output went out under the state 中茶 (eight-中) label, with export labels 吉幸 and 金鸡 also used.
Production stopped in 1992 over costs and raw-tea allocation. Chinese Wikipedia says the factory formally closed in 1994 after stock was cleared, while Sohu calls 1992 a bankruptcy.
Sohu says the factory reopened at a new site in 2006 during the pu'er boom. A translated blog post says production resumed gradually between 2003 and 2006 under the 'Jixing' (吉幸) brand before the 中茶 name returned in 2006.
COFCO's Zhongcha opened 云南中茶茶业有限公司 in Kunming on 9 March 2008 with a licence for the 中茶 mark. No cited source states the legal link between the old factory and that company.
Bricks sold as '7581 Kunming brick' after 1994 were made elsewhere, often by small workshops (Chinese Wikipedia).