春茶
Chaping's old trees are picked earlier than those at Chawangshu and Baishahe.
刮风寨刮風寨
Guafengzhai
Yao village on the Laos border in Mahei administrative village, northern Yiwu; forest gardens such as Chawangshu, Chaping and Baishahe give some of Yiwu's priciest leaf.
- Level
- Village
- Within
- Yunnan › Xishuangbanna › Mengla › Yiwu
At a glance#
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
65 places shown Across the view · 161 km
43 places shown Across the view · 54 km
Altitude#
Garden elevations here and in neighbouring places, as sourced.
Picking calendar#
Terroir#
- Slope and light
- 1,203 m is the village's average elevation; forest plots lie in surrounding primary forest under shade and diffuse light, with slow growth. Heishuiliangzi, the area's (and Yiwu's) highest point at 2,023 m, is within Guafengzhai's lands.
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- Yunnan large-leaf
- Plant age
- Old trees of several hundred years, some three storeys tall with trunks two people can barely circle.
- Practice
- Forest gardens in state forest, worked by assigned households; Lengshuihe trees escaped the mass pruning of the past.
Local words#
People#
- Yao 瑶族
- Majority; described as a century-old Yao village on the border.
- Miao 苗族
- Minority of residents.
Market#
- Trading towns
- Yiwu
- Output
- Nearly 10,000 mu of gardens; a reported 2016 tea income of 470 million yuan is inconsistent with the same article's income figures and is not used.
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- Chawangshu fetches the highest prices among Guafengzhai plots and sells out yearly (vendor); no journalism price figures found.
Misnaming to watch for: The name became a premium label only from the mid-2000s; earlier teas such as a 2007 Taiwanese boutique 'Yiwu Chawang' are only 'supposedly' Guafengzhai. Plot names (Chawangshu, Chaping, Baishahe) are now themselves marketed and hard to verify.
History#
- 2001First road reaches the village.
- 2006Inference: 'Guafengzhai' begins appearing on wrappers only from the mid-2000s.
- 2013First brick-and-concrete houses built; most families leave thatched houses by 2015.
- 2016Villagers set up tea workshops and cooperatives; per-capita disposable income 17,516 yuan.
- 2018Village leaves the poverty register.
- 2022Per-capita disposable income passes 20,000 yuan; over 200 pickups and SUVs in the village.
Other names and written forms 5#
Chinese variants
- 刮風寨GuafengzhaiTraditional characters.
- 刮风寨村Guafengzhai — village
Romanisations
- Gua Feng Zhai
Translations and trade names
- Windy Village
Abbreviations
- GFZ
Notes#
A Yao (with some Miao) village of 204 households and 988 people (2023), on the China–Laos border near boundary marker 14 and about 2 km from the line; it belongs to Mahei administrative village. Average elevation is about 1,203 m. Tea is almost the only income: nearly 10,000 mu of gardens (about 30 mu per household), with old trees scattered through about 50 km² of primary forest, the nearest some 25 km from the village. The main old-tree plots are state-forest blocks shared among about 120 households: Chawangshu (茶王树, ~30–40 households, the most expensive), Chaping (茶坪, ~20 households, about 15 km away and picked earliest), Baishahe (白沙河, ~15 km west, more disturbed because of a mining road), Lengshuihe (冷水河, 3–4 hours' walk), Heishuiliangzi (mainly younger trees) and Sanjiacun; Bohetang (薄荷塘) is also named. No road reached the village until 2001; an asphalt road from Mahei (22 km) was due in 2023.
Prices of teas claiming this origin#
International retail
Show as table
| Product | Vendor | Channel | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| TE Yiwu Guafengzhai | Tea Encounter | International retail | $16.82 |
| TE Chawangshu | Tea Encounter | International retail | $48.05 |
| Gu Shu Gua Feng Zhai Pu'er 357 g | Yoshi en | International retail | $55.26 |
| Gu Shu Gua Feng Zhai Pu'er 25 g | Yoshi en | International retail | $66.84 |
| Bitterleaf Reserve – Windfall Fall Guafengzhai Raw Pu'er | Bitterleaf Teas | International retail | $74.50 |
| TE Guafengzhai Chaping | Tea Encounter | International retail | $114.11 |
| Pristine Gua Feng Zhai Abor Tree Sheng Pu'er Tea | Meimei Fine Teas | International retail | $119.05 |
| BYH Chawangshu Gushu | Teas We Like | International retail | $127.78 |
| TE Lengshuihe Gushu | Tea Encounter | International retail | $220.22 |
Listings claiming this origin 9#
Price ranks compare recorded retail offers for the same tea, including offers outside the current delivery filter. Shipping and import charges are excluded.
Prices compared in the selected currency; unknown values appear last.
| Product | Vendor | Price | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
TE Yiwu Guafengzhai
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Tea EncounterWorldwide |
£45.00 / 357 g | $16.82 £12.61 / 100 g ≈ $1.18 a session |
TE Chawangshu
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Tea EncounterWorldwide |
£72.00 / 200 g | $48.05 £36.00 / 100 g ≈ $3.36 a session |
Gu Shu Gua Feng Zhai Pu'er 357 g
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Yoshi enSelected destinations |
€175.90 / 357 g | $55.26 €49.27 / 100 g ≈ $3.87 a session |
Gu Shu Gua Feng Zhai Pu'er 25 g
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Yoshi enSelected destinations |
€14.90 / 25 g | $66.84 €59.60 / 100 g ≈ $4.68 a session |
Bitterleaf Reserve – Windfall Fall Guafengzhai Raw Pu'er
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Bitterleaf TeasSelected destinations |
$149.00 / 200 g | $74.50 ≈ $5.22 a session |
TE Guafengzhai Chaping
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Tea EncounterWorldwide |
£171.00 / 200 g | $114.11 £85.50 / 100 g ≈ $7.99 a session |
Pristine Gua Feng Zhai Abor Tree Sheng Pu'er Tea
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Meimei Fine TeasWorldwide |
$25.00 / 21 g | $119.05 ≈ $8.33 a session |
BYH Chawangshu Gushu
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Teas We LikeSelected destinations |
$460.00 / 360 g | $127.78 ≈ $8.94 a session |
TE Lengshuihe Gushu
DetailsCompare the details Recorded seller claims; a blank means unrecorded here, not necessarily absent from the seller’s page. Matching production does not establish identical storage or condition.
|
Tea EncounterWorldwide |
£330.00 / 200 g | $220.22 £165.00 / 100 g ≈ $15.42 a session |
Prices recorded on the dates checked. Conversions use ECB rates dated 2026-10-20; original prices appear alongside. Origin, age and cultivar are stated by the vendor.