The most influential pu'er factory; its standard recipes such as 7542 and 7572 are reference points for the whole market.
TAETEA's own history dates Fohai Experimental Tea Factory to 1940, the Menghai rename to 1951, the registration of 大益 to 1989 and the factory's reform to 2004. It identifies Dayi as the Chinese brand name and TAETEA as its English rendering. TeaDB cautions that a CNNP cake with the same recipe number is not automatically a Menghai Tea Factory product. The rename chronology and the legal buyer in 2004 remain disputed in the accounts discussed below.
Many independent Menghai County factories put 'Menghai' on wrappers. It does not by itself indicate Menghai Tea Factory.
Chinese Wikipedia, and the existing record, put the rename in 1953, via 云南省茶业公司西双版纳制茶厂. Dayi's official timeline says the repaired factory was renamed Menghai Tea Factory in 1951. Sohu's factory history gives 云南省勐海茶厂 from January 1963 and 勐海茶厂 from 1982. The forms may simply differ (茶厂 vs 云南省…茶厂), but the first-use year is disputed.
Dayi and Jiemian date the start of construction to 1938. The Paper (China Tea Science Society, Dianhong explainer) and the CTMA history date the formal founding of 佛海实验茶厂 to September 1940. Economic Daily (2021) says Fan Hejun and Zhang Shicheng founded it in 1939. Keep 1940 as the founding year.
Sohu names 云南博闻投资有限公司 (October 2004). Jiemian says 博闻科技, the listed company where Wu Yuanzhi had been a director since 2003, bought it for about RMB 100 million. NBD says a team led by Wu bought it. A 2006 report describes 博闻科技 as a distributor that had bought out two Menghai product lines and had 'other important business links' with the factory, not as its owner. The legal buyer is unconfirmed; no exchange filing was found.
Dayi's timeline says artificial pile fermentation was proven at Menghai in 1973. Chinese Wikipedia (Menghai article) says wodui trials began there in 1964 and the basic process was done by 1966. The CTMA history and Xinhua credit Kunming Tea Factory with the first ripe batch (1973) and the 1984 process specification. These may be different stages, but the 'first' claim is contested.
Planning began in 1938, when Fan Hejun (范和钧) and Zhang Shicheng (张石城) led more than 90 tea staff to Fohai. The Fohai Experimental Tea Factory (佛海实验茶厂) was formally set up in September 1940 under the Republican-era Yunnan tea venture 云南中国茶叶贸易股份有限公司. Bombing during the war stopped production (1942 per Dayi; winter 1941 per the CTMA history). Production restarted in 1952. In 1953 the factory was renamed 云南省茶业公司西双版纳制茶厂 and then 勐海茶厂 (Chinese Wikipedia). Dayi's own timeline dates the rename to 1951, and the Sohu history lists 云南省勐海茶厂 from January 1963 and plain 勐海茶厂 from 1982.
Like the other state factories, it sold through the provincial tea branch under the state 中茶 mark. In the 1976 mark-number system its codes ended in 2. Exports went through Kunming until about 1984, and from 1999 the factory took orders on its own. The 大益 mark was first used in 1988 and registered in 1989. The factory was reorganised as 西双版纳勐海茶业有限责任公司 in 1996, and that company registered 大益牌 on 22 March 1995. So '1996' marks the change of corporate form, not private ownership. Privatisation came on 25 October 2004 (Chinese Wikipedia; Sohu says October 2004 under 云南博闻投资有限公司).
Jiemian says Wu Yuanzhi (吴远之), then a director of the listed 博闻科技, won the factory against Hongta Group for about RMB 100 million. Wu was chairman and president of 云南大益茶业集团 until his death on 19 December 2021. Dayi dates the formation of TAETEA Group to 2007. The craft was listed as national ICH in 2008 as 普洱茶制作技艺（大益茶制作技艺）, part of item Ⅷ-151, and the brand was named a 中华老字号 in 2011. Trademark and counterfeit problems are long-running. In 2006 a trader from Anxi applied to register 大益 in Hong Kong, and Yunnan trade bodies mobilised to oppose it. In Taiwan, where 勐海茶厂 owns registration no.
01266906 ('大益設計圖') and gave an exclusive licence from 30 Sep 2016, customs at Keelung held 2,604 cakes imported from Malaysia in late 2019. The factory confirmed them as counterfeit, and the IP court awarded NT$1,302,000 on appeal (case 112年度民商上字第2號). In the 2007 crash, a 30 kg case of 7542 at Guangzhou Fangcun fell from RMB 22,000–23,000 to 17,000–18,000 on 20 April and below 10,000 by early June. Dayi cakes also trade as speculative 'financial tea' (Jiemian 2021).
