春茶
Main harvest; in 2020 the first rain came on 10 April and spring production was finished by late May.
麻黑
Mahei
Village and administrative-village seat north-east of Yiwu town; vendors call it Yiwu's largest garden area and its benchmark soft, sweet, floral-honey style.
- 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.
55 places shown Across the view · 161 km
44 places shown Across the view · 54 km
Picking calendar#
谷花茶
Picked in some years; the 2020 autumn test pick (16 September) was judged too weak to buy.
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- Yunnan large-leaf
- Plant age
- Old arbor trees, mostly dwarfed by past pruning (over 90%); unpruned tall trees only in remote forest.
- Practice
- Village gardens; crude tea traditionally hand-fired by farmers.
Local words#
Market#
- Trading towns
- Yiwu
- Output
- Farmers estimate 7–9 t for spring plus autumn combined (vendor report, undated, c. 2010s).
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- No journalism price data found; vendors price Mahei as a Yiwu benchmark, below the remote northern forest areas (Guafengzhai Chawangshu, etc.).
Misnaming to watch for: Before about 2008 the whole area was sold generically as 'Yiwu Zhengshan'; vendors warn that much tea sold as Mahei gushu is not.
History#
- 2008-10Amid a slump, a tea company buys several tonnes of Mahei leaf in a few days and makes 'pure Mahei' cakes, then keeps the village as a fixed supply base (vendor account).
- 2013-03-05Mahei ancient tea garden and the Mahei section of the caravan road listed within the national protected Tea Horse Road.
Other names and written forms 5#
Chinese variants
- 麻黑寨Mahei — village
- 麻黑村Mahei — village
Romanisations
- Ma Hei
Translations and trade names
- Mahei Zhai
- Mahei Village
Notes#
Mahei is the seat of Mahei administrative village (麻黑村), one of Yiwu town's six; its committee also covers outlying hamlets such as Guafengzhai, Daqishu, Luoshuidong, Manxiu, Sanqiutian, Huangtian and Zhengjialiangzi (vendor list). The Mahei ancient tea garden (麻黑古茶园) and a Mahei stretch of the caravan road are protected parts of the Tea Horse Road. Most trees are arbor-type but more than 90% were cut down to bush height in the past; tall unpruned trees survive only deeper in the forest. Mahei was little known before 2008 and had been sold under the generic 'Yiwu Zhengshan' label; it rose after a Kunming brand bought the village's leaf in October 2008, and vendors now treat it as Yiwu's reference flavour. Farmers estimate combined spring and autumn output at only about 7–9 t; vendor claims of about 9,500 mu of gardens are not confirmed.
Prices of teas claiming this origin#
International retail
Show as table
| Product | Vendor | Channel | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZSL Ma Hei | Tea Encounter | International retail | $40.04 |
| ZSL Ma Hei | Tea Encounter | International retail | $50.72 |
| Mahei Gushu | The Essence of Tea | International retail | $80.00 |
Listings claiming this origin 3#
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
ZSL Ma Hei
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 |
£120.00 / 400 g | $40.04 £30.00 / 100 g ≈ $2.80 a session |
ZSL Ma Hei
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 |
£152.00 / 400 g | $50.72 £38.00 / 100 g ≈ $3.55 a session |
Mahei 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.
|
The Essence of TeaWorldwide |
$280.00 / 350 g | $80.00 ≈ $5.60 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.