Start with a famous mountain, or go straight to Lincang and Pu’er City. Each guide separates the real place, the tea-market name, and what a label can actually prove.
Answer guides
Start with the question, then open the map.
These comparisons and diagnostics connect the broader tea questions to the exact regions and village guides below.
The Lancang separates the historic eastern core from the later comparison set. Focus one side, then select a name to see what the map can—and cannot—tell you.
Orientation anchors · not surveyed boundariesN ↑
New Six · west & southAncient Six · east
Select a label to inspect it. Select the active label again—or use “Read the guide”—to open the full story.
Method, naming and map limits
Modern map labels: Yiwu, Yibang, Manzhuan, Gedeng, Mangzhi and Jinuo Mountain; Nannuo, Mengzhe, Mengsong, Jingmai, Bulang and Bada. Historical lists may use Mansa, Youle and Nanjiao.
Orientation anchors use named towns, villages, townships or the Jingmai heritage landscape. The four closely grouped Xiangming names are deliberately separated with leader lines.
Last checked 17 Jul 2026.
East of the Lancang River
The Ancient Six Tea Mountains 古六大茶山
The Ancient Six were the heartland of the Qing-era pu-erh trade. Tea moved from mountain villages into Yiwu’s merchant houses, was pressed for long caravan journeys, and—at its most prized—sent north as imperial tribute.
Yiwu was the merchant hub: Qing-era tea houses pressed cakes here before caravans carried them out of the mountains. Drinkers now chase its perfume, silky texture and sweetness that gathers slowly.
Tastes like
Usually fragrance-led and gently sweet, with flowers, honey or stone fruit, rounded texture and returning sweetness; stronger lots can still be bitter.
flowers and honey
stone fruit
rounded texture
Browse 5 villages and places
Mahei麻黑Taste: fruit and honey · oily texture · variable bitterness
Luoshuidong落水洞Taste: floral fruit · rounded texture · moderate grip
Tiny Yibang once punched far above its size. Nearby Mansong supplied tribute tea, while Yibang became known for unusual small-leaf trees and a fine, high fragrance.
Tastes like
Claimed examples often favor floral-fruit fragrance, fine texture and returning sweetness, but bitterness, tannic grip and stamina vary across lots.
floral fruit
fine texture
returning sweetness
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Mansong曼松Taste: honeyed fragrance · fine texture · gentle entry
Manzhuan is the quiet recommendation when Yiwu prices get loud—an old production mountain loved for sturdy structure, deep sweetness and fewer celebrity villages.
Tastes like
Claimed lots are often sweet and aromatic, from floral-honey softness to citrus bitterness and darker structure; maker, locality, season and storage matter greatly.
honeyed fruit
sticky texture
variable bitterness
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Manlin曼林Taste: gradual sweetness · structured liquor · fine grip
Gedeng survives as a famous name even though its old gardens are scattered and much smaller than Yiwu’s. That scarcity makes it feel like a nearly lost chapter of the Ancient Six.
Tastes like
Claimed examples range from floral-fruity sweetness to smoke, leather, tang and firm bitterness; processing, storage and unmatched provenance explain much of the spread.
Mangzhi was once busy with markets and caravan traffic; today it is the half-forgotten sibling of Yibang and Gedeng. Its obscurity is exactly why curious drinkers look for it.
Tastes like
Claimed young lots suggest floral or herbal aroma, sweetness, salivation and lively bitterness, while village examples and processing widen the range substantially.
Historically called Youle, this is the only Ancient Six mountain outside modern Mengla County. It is also the homeland of the Jinuo people, whose tea culture long predates today’s wrappers.
Tastes like
Claimed teas range through fruit, flowers and sweetness to grain, smoke and strong astringency; maker, processing and storage readily overpower the name.
stone fruit
floral sweetness
building grip
Browse 1 place
Longpa龙帕Taste: stone fruit · floral aroma · oily texture
The New Six rose as the modern pu-erh world looked west of the Lancang for bigger personalities: Nannuo’s perfume, Bulang’s famous bitterness and Jingmai’s forest-grown fragrance.
Hani villages climb Nannuo at different elevations, so one mountain name can hide many different cups. It became a modern classic for fragrant, approachable tea with enough bitterness to turn sweet.
Tastes like
Often floral and sweet-edged, but compared teas range from soft and fruity to bitter, drying, thick or thin as village, maker, season and storage change.
floral edge
early sweetness
variable grip
Browse 3 villages and places
Banpo Laozhai半坡老寨famous old-garden locality beneath NannuoshanTaste: flowers or fruit · coating texture · variable bitterness
Shitou Xinzhai石头新寨home of the protected early tea-factory siteTaste: profile unverified · possible florals · variable bitterness
Guniangzhai姑娘寨present-day tea and visitor economyTaste: profile unverified · possible florals · variable grip
Mengzhe is the place behind the older New Six name Nanjiao. Its shifting identity is a useful clue: pu-erh mountain lists change whenever trade, borders and fashion change.
Tastes like
Sparse commercial accounts suggest lifted aroma, mild thin sweetness and quick salivation, sometimes with thin body; no representative tasting set supports a regional fingerprint.
Mengsong rises high above Menghai, and villages like Naka helped make it a collector name. Fans look for bright aroma, lively bitterness and a cooling high-mountain feel.
Tastes like
Compared lots range from floral sweetness and brown sugar to citrus, herbs, vegetables and moderate bitterness; texture, sweet return and stamina vary sharply by locality.
floral sweetness
citrus or herbs
moderate bitterness
Browse 4 villages and places
Naka那卡a village group beneath Manlü; the old “Manyi” conflict was OCR noiseTaste: floral aroma · textured liquor · lively bitterness
Huazhuliangzi滑竹梁子a real summit and a fuzzy tea-market umbrella, not a villageTaste: fruit or flowers · bitter-sweet structure · variable creaminess
Baotang保塘a Banglong branch at the center of Huazhuliangzi market usageTaste: floral sweetness · moderate bitterness · active salivation
Nanben Laozhai南本老寨a Sanmai locality with an official tea-industry program historyTaste: floral edge · gentle bitterness · citrus hints
Jingmai’s tea trees grow beneath a forest canopy among Blang and Dai villages—a landscape cultivated for over a thousand years and now UNESCO-listed. Orchid-like fragrance is its calling card.
Tastes like
Floral and honeyed, often orchid-like, with citrus or stone-fruit lift, gentle-to-moderate bitterness and returning sweetness.
Bulang is where pu-erh’s famous bitterness becomes a virtue. Blang communities and headline villages such as Lao Banzhang built a modern legend around powerful tea and fast-returning sweetness.
Tastes like
Often structured by bitterness, drying grip, salivation and returning sweetness, with floral, fruit, herbal or smoky shifts; the large region resists a single fingerprint.
structural bitterness
drying grip
active salivation
Browse 3 villages and places
Lao Banzhang老班章Taste: concentrated body · firm bitterness · quick salivation
Xin Banzhang新班章a separate Banzhang village group; “new” says nothing about tree ageTaste: firm bitterness · full body · active salivation
Laoman’e老曼峨Taste: forceful bitterness · herbal depth · active salivation
Bada sits on Menghai’s western edge with cultivated gardens, stories of wild tea trees and the old Blang village of Zhanglang. It has a human story far richer than the name on a wrapper.
Tastes like
Available lots suggest flowers or honey, green herbs, mild-to-firm bitterness, drying structure and returning sweetness, but the sample record is thin and village-dependent.
flowers or honey
green herbs
variable bitterness
Browse 1 place
Zhanglang章朗Taste: floral sweetness · spice or citrus · variable bitterness
Explore the greater Yunnan area, from Lincang and Pu’er City to the mountain systems and villages beyond the famous twelve.
Lincang uplandsPu’er uplandsSouthern Yunnan
Swipe the map sideways to explore, or use the guide links below.
Map method and sources
Natural Earth 1:10m Admin 1 – States, Provinces (v5.1.1), simplified for display; public domain.
Editorial regional centres assembled from the cited government and specialist locality sources in the individual guides.
Last checked 17 Jul 2026.
More tea country to explore
Northwest of Xishuangbanna
Lincang mountain systems 临沧茶区
Lincang is drama in both directions: Bingdao became shorthand for cooling sweetness and perfume, while Xigui built its reputation on rocky slopes above the Lancang. Fengqing, meanwhile, gave the world Dianhong black tea.
The west side holds Dongguo, Xiaohusai and the most famous Bingdao villages. Drinkers chase cooling sweetness, perfume and a soft-but-long finish—the qualities that turned Bingdao into a luxury name.
Tastes like
Representative teas often combine floral or honeyed aroma, bitterness, salivation, coating texture and sweet return; controlled evidence shows origin and season both shift the balance.
The east side is less internationally famous but no less serious. Banuo, Najiao and Nasai are sought for firmer structure, brighter bitterness and better value than celebrity Bingdao.
Tastes like
Controlled Banuo material was thick, strong and slightly astringent; broader east-side teas may show floral, green-herbal or sweet notes, with village and season still decisive.
Bangdong tea grows among dramatic granite outcrops above the Lancang. Xigui turned that landscape into a cult name, known for vivid aroma, mineral tension and sweetness that snaps back after bitterness.
Tastes like
Compared young raw teas are often aromatic, bittersweet and coating, sometimes cooling with persistent sweetness; named village, season, processing and storage can change that arc substantially.
Yongde is the treasure-hunt county: broad mountains, old gardens and far fewer famous labels. Mangfei is the name to remember for robust, aromatic tea without Bingdao theatre.
Tastes like
Mangfei examples often show floral aroma, bitterness, astringency and sweet return, while broader Yongde teas range through fruit, honey, smoke and wood as age and storage intervene.
Fengqing changed Chinese tea history in 1938 when makers developed Dianhong here. Its big-leaf trees also make raw pu-erh with honeyed aroma and a sturdier frame than the black tea suggests.
Tastes like
Compared raw teas range from sweet, floral and coating to bitter, smoky and forceful; differing years, storage and sparse village provenance prevent one county profile.
sweet wood
floral lift
variable bitterness
Browse 1 place
Xiangzhuqing香竹箐Taste: high aroma · full body · low grip reported
Pu’er City holds some of Yunnan’s most atmospheric tea landscapes: forest-grown Jingmai, imperial-garden legends at Kunlu, towering old trees near Qianjiazhai and the long high ridges of Wuliang.
Jingmai feels like a living tea museum: forest, villages, ancestor stories and tea gardens are woven together. Its thousand-year Blang and Dai landscape became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
Kunlu carries an imperial-tea-garden legend and a reputation for delicate fragrance rather than brute force. Small production and mountain mystique make it one of Pu’er City’s most romantic names.
Tastes like
Examples often show floral, vegetal or honeyed aroma, gentle bitterness, salivation and returning sweetness; conflicting reports of delicate versus thick liquor make texture a key comparison.
The Ailao range is huge, but Qianjiazhai gives it a face: waterfalls, protected forest and one of Yunnan’s most celebrated old tea trees. The teas are prized for fragrance and mountain freshness.
Tastes like
Cultivated examples often combine floral, honey or fruit aroma with clear bitterness, salivation and returning sweetness; smoke, citrus brightness, age and storage can redirect the session.
floral or honeyed
clear bitterness
active salivation
Browse 1 place
Qianjiazhai千家寨Taste: floral or honeyed · firm bitterness · active salivation
Wuliang means “immeasurable,” a fitting name for a range that seems to run forever. High elevations and cooler air can give its teas bright aroma, clean bitterness and excellent everyday value.
Tastes like
Young raw examples often show floral-green aroma, clean bitterness, moderate body and returning sweetness; county, material, factory style, age and storage can overwhelm that broad pattern.
Xiaojinggu is a cluster of “Wen-” villages and an insider’s source for bold, sweet tea. It lacks a superstar village—which is often good news for the drinker paying the bill.
Tastes like
Better-documented young raw teas often combine floral or sweet aroma, salivation, firm bitterness and returning sweetness; softer Wenshan Ding examples resist a town-wide profile.
floral sweetness
firm bitterness
active salivation
Browse 1 place
Wenshan文山Taste: floral sweetness · firm bitterness · active salivation