What a kilo of spring maocha (sun-dried, unpressed puerh) sells for at the farm gate in
Yunnan's tea mountains, year by year. Prices are in yuan a kilo. Each list is shown as printed, with its source; switch between
them, or to a best estimate that puts them all on one footing. The same figures are on each place's page on the
terroir map.
The famous mountains, 2000–todayiOld-tree maocha, best estimate (below), on a log scale — each line up is ten times the price. Before 2017 there are only press reports and a few sellers' series, so the early years rest on one or two figures each.
By regioni
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How the lists differ
Fresh leafiWhat pickers are paid for the fresh leaf before it is made into maocha — roughly 4 to 4.5 kilos of leaf make one kilo of maocha. Few lists give it: mostly the Kunming lists of 2018–19 and press reports on Bingdao. Prices quoted per jin (half a kilo) are doubled.
Forecast and listiEach spring since 2023 the provincial ethnic tea culture research society publishes forecasts in March or April: ranges, from what farmers in each village say they expect to sell at. The Kunming list comes a few weeks later as a single purchase price, often for one named plot. The bar is the forecast range for old-tree tea, the dot the Kunming list's old-tree price that spring (log scale).