春茶
First-flush spring is the premium lot (vendor pressings).
南糯山
Nannuo Mountain
Hani mountain about 20 km east of Menghai town on the Jinghong road: about 30 villages, 12,000 mu of old gardens, and the site of Yunnan's first machine tea factory (c. 1940).
- Level
- Mountain
- Within
- Yunnan › Xishuangbanna › Menghai
At a glance#
Where it lies#
Tea places nearby, plotted by their coordinates. Only physical positions are shown, no boundaries.
1911 places shown Across the view · 198 km
64 places shown Across the view · 72 km
Altitude#
Garden elevations here and in neighbouring places, as sourced.
Picking calendar#
谷花茶
Autumn Nannuo leaf is pressed and sold separately (vendor autumn Banpo cake).
Terroir#
- Slope and light
- Township-wide mean temperature 17–18 °C and rainfall 1,350–1,500 mm; the same page gives Nannuo 22.5 °C, which looks too warm for 1,450 m (not used). Vendor figures: average altitude 1,400 m, 1,500–1,750 mm, 16–18 °C, about 150 fog days. The Bama area south-west of Shitou is at about 1,860 m.
Cultivation#
- Cultivars grown
- Yunnan large-leafZijuan
- Landraces
- Old Hani-planted large-leaf seedling gardens; Nannuo is also associated with the purple-leaf Zijuan type (en Wikipedia).
- Plant age
- About 12,000 of over 30,000 mu are ancient gardens (about 40%, inference); vendor pressings cite trees of 60–200 years around Banpo.
- Practice
- Forest-garden old trees around the villages plus later terrace and eco tea; vegetative (cutting) propagation trials succeeded here in 1953 and were spread province-wide.
Local words#
People#
- Hani (Aini) 哈尼族
- Mostly Hani; Gelanghe township is 87.28% Hani. Hani genealogies (patronymic naming) are said to trace 50+ generations on the mountain (vendor).
Market#
- Output
- No Nannuo output figure found. Gelanghe township (incl. Nannuo and Pasha): 2,145 t (2017 page).
- Prices of teas claiming this origin
- Kunming spring-price release, 23 April 2020 (as reported): eco tea 200–300 yuan/kg; old-tree 900–1,500 yuan/kg. The 800-year tea king's leaf was auctioned yearly; a vendor reports 2.4 kg (2023) sold for 300,000 yuan, which may refer to the newer tea king.
History#
- 1939-04Provincial finance department sets up a tea trial ground on Nannuo, giving free seedlings and advice (2018 report; a vendor says Bai Mengyu arrived in 1938).
- 1940Nannuo tea factory of the Yunnan Sipu tea experiment station founded with imported rolling, cutting, drying and sifting machines; makes green and black tea.
- 1941Machine production begins in earnest: about 2,000 dan of tea that year (China Ethnic News).
- 1942War cuts the Burma route; the factory falls idle.
- 1951-12Zhou Peng of the provincial tea research institute records a cultivated 'tea king' in the forest of Banpo Xinzhai.
- 1953Nannuo factory restored by the government.
- 1953Vegetative (asexual) propagation trials succeed on Nannuo and are promoted across Yunnan.
- 1954Nannuo factory handed over to Menghai Tea Factory.
- 1956Road built from the Kunming–Daluo highway to the Nannuo factory, Menghai's first county–village road.
- 1982Nannuo Baihao (南糯白毫), made by Menghai Tea Factory from Nannuo leaf, named a national famous tea.
- 2000The old Nannuo factory ceases production.
Other names and written forms 3#
Romanisations
- Nannuoshan
Translations and trade names
- Nannuo
- Nan Nuo
Names and ambiguities#
Founding date and machinery of Bai Mengyu's factory
1938 (vendor), April 1939 trial ground with 1940 factory and Indian-bought machines (Xishuangbanna News 2018), production from 1941 with English-made machines shipped via Kengtung (China Ethnic News 2017). Probably stages of one project (survey 1938, set-up 1939–40, output 1941); 'British India' can reconcile 'India' and 'England'.
Death year of the 800-year tea king
Notes#
Nannuo is an administrative village of Gelanghe Hani township (87% Hani). The 2017 township page gives Nannuo 33.21 km², 28 villager groups, 1,034 households and 4,319 people at about 1,450 m; a 2018 report says over 1,150 households and nearly 5,000 people in about 30 villages, with over 30,000 mu of tea including 12,000 mu of ancient gardens (end-2017). The Hani have grown tea here for over a thousand years by their own account, and vendor guides list ten old-tree villages, among them Banpo Laozhai (半坡老寨), Shitou Laozhai, Bama (拔玛) Laozhai, Guniang Zhai, Yakou Laozhai and Zhulin Zhai.
The famous cultivated 'tea king' Sha Gui Bo Ma (沙归拨玛) was put at over 800 years old, about 5.5 m tall with a trunk base diameter of about 1.38 m; the 2018 report says it has died and a newly found tea king has taken its title. In December 1951 Zhou Peng of the provincial tea institute recorded a cultivated tea king in the forest of Banpo Xinzhai.
The Nannuo tea factory was set up by Bai Mengyu (白孟愚, born Bai Yaoming 白耀明, 1893–1965, a Hui from Shadian) with imported machinery hauled by ox cart from Kengtung in Burma; it began machine production of black and green tea around 1940–41, stopped during the war in 1942, was restored in 1953, passed to Menghai Tea Factory in 1954 and ceased production in 2000. Menghai Tea Factory's Nannuo Baihao (南糯白毫) green tea from Nannuo leaf was named a national famous tea in 1982. Coordinates are the OSM node 半坡寨 (Banpo; inference that it is Banpo Laozhai), with Shitou Zhai about 1.3 km away.
Prices of teas claiming this origin#
International retail
Show as table
| Product | Vendor | Channel | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fangmingyuan Bama | Tea Encounter | International retail | $26.03 |
| Nannuo Duo Yi Zhai | Tea Encounter | International retail | $42.04 |
| Pu'er Tee - Sheng Nannuo Shan Brick Pest.Free | Yoshi en | International retail | $53.79 |
| Nannuo Gushu | The Essence of Tea | International retail | $55.46 |
| Hai Lang Hao Nan Nuo Shan Gu Shu Raw Pu'er Tea Cake | Yunnan Sourcing | International retail | $60.99 |
| Yunnan Sourcing Nannuo Ya Kou Raw Pu'er Tea Cake | Yunnan Sourcing | International retail | $78.00 |
| Nan Nuo Shan Ba Ma Village 500+ Years Old Gushu Pu'er | Tea Habitat | International retail | $98.77 |
| Nannuo Shan Cooked Pu'er | Postcard Teas | International retail | $99.77 |
Listings claiming this origin 8#
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Fangmingyuan Bama
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 |
£78.00 / 400 g | $26.03 £19.50 / 100 g ≈ $1.82 a session |
Nannuo Duo Yi Zhai
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 |
£63.00 / 200 g | $42.04 £31.50 / 100 g ≈ $2.94 a session |
Pu'er Tee - Sheng Nannuo Shan Brick Pest.Free
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 |
€119.90 / 250 g | $53.79 €47.96 / 100 g ≈ $3.77 a session |
Nannuo 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 |
$198.00 / 357 g | $55.46 ≈ $3.88 a session |
Hai Lang Hao Nan Nuo Shan Gu Shu Raw Pu'er Tea Cake
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.
|
Yunnan SourcingSelected destinations |
$217.75 / 357 g | $60.99 ≈ $4.27 a session |
Yunnan Sourcing Nannuo Ya Kou Raw Pu'er Tea Cake
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.
|
Yunnan SourcingSelected destinations |
$195.00 / 250 g | $78.00 ≈ $5.46 a session |
Nan Nuo Shan Ba Ma Village 500+ Years Old Gushu 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.
|
Tea HabitatWorldwide |
$56.00 / 56.7 g | $98.77 ≈ $6.91 a session |
Nannuo Shan Cooked 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.
|
Postcard TeasWorldwide |
£14.95 / 20 g | $99.77 £74.75 / 100 g ≈ $6.98 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.
Teas associated with this place#
南糯山生茶
Nannuo sheng pu'er Nánnuòshān shēngchá
Sheng Pu-er from Nannuo Mountain in Menghai, where named village gardens offer more precise origins than the mountain label alone.
draft
生普
Sheng pu'er shēng pǔ
Pu-er made from sun-dried maocha without the accelerated wet-piling used for shou; its character changes with manufacture and storage.
draft
Cultivars that originate here#
勐海大叶种
Menghai large-leaf Měnghǎi dàyèzhǒng
Seed-propagated large-leaf population from Nannuo Mountain in Menghai, used for black tea, Yunnan green tea and pu’er. A regional landrace, not a single clone.
sourced
云抗10号
Yunkang 10 Yúnkàng 10 Hào
Clonal cultivar selected from Nannuo Mountain’s tea population by the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Widely used material with suitability for several tea-processing styles.
sourced
云抗14号
Yunkang 14 Yúnkàng 14 hào
Large-leaf selection from Nannuoshan tea material, also recorded under the newer name Yuncha 14.
sourced