There is no doubt that most Puerh lovers have heard about the six famous tea mountains, as all of them refer to Puerh mountains, but have you ever noticed that you can find different listed versions of the six mountains? This is owing to the fact that each production area has held a different weight in different historical periods, and so the list has, over time, been changing.
It is generally recognized that these reputed mountains are mainly situated in the Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture, except Jingmai mountain, in Pu’er city. As a credible statement, Gedeng, Yibang, Mangzhi, Manzhuan, Mansa (currently known as Yiwu) and Youle are considered as the “Six Ancient Famous Tea Mountains”. Nowadays they are still the best and most important tea mountains, although some of them no longer have as large an output as they once did.
Another idea is that Nannuo, Hekai, Mengsong, Jingmai, Bulang and Bada are deemed to be the “Six Famous Tea Mountains Outside the River”, which makes clear that they are the most influential tea mountains with a great reputation on the western side (outside) of the Lancang river. Relatively, the “Six Ancient Famous Tea Mountains” are also considered as the “Six Famous Tea Mountains Inside the River”, as all of them are located on the eastern side (inside) of the Lancang river.
All of these important tea mountains have their unique characteristics in flavors and aromas, due to the different varietals, different soil and climate in each area. How many Puerh have you tried from these famous tea mountains? Check out our excellent collections of Puerh on our website.