Tea Cultivar · Camellia sinensis var. assamica
Da Ye Zhong
- Origin
- China - Yunnan
- Primary use
- sheng puerh, shou puerh, Yunnan black tea
Overview
Da Ye Zhong - 'large-leaf variety' - is the umbrella term for the broad-leafed Camellia sinensis var. assamica populations native to southern Yunnan and the foundational raw material for all true puerh tea. It is not a single cultivar but a typology encompassing dozens of named local landraces (Mengku, Menghai, Bingdao, Manlu, Jingmai and many more) along with the ancient seed-propagated gushu (古树) forest tea trees that may exceed several hundred years of age. Chinese national standards for puerh specifically require that maocha be made from Yunnan da-ye-zhong material, distinguishing it legally from green or black teas of other origins.
Characteristics
Leaves are dramatically larger than sinensis cultivars - often 12 to 20 cm long with prominent veins and a glossy, leathery surface - and the bushes naturally grow into single-trunked small trees rather than the multi-stemmed shrubs of small-leaf varieties. Polyphenol content (especially the simple catechins EGCG and EC) is exceptionally high, which both gives young sheng puerh its famous bitter-astringent grip and provides the substrate for the decades-long microbial and oxidative transformation that defines aged puerh. Caffeine content is correspondingly high.
Flavor profile
Young sheng made from da-ye-zhong is bold, bitter, and aromatic - tropical fruit, camphor, honey, wild flowers and tobacco - with a powerful huigan (returning sweetness) and yan yun (rock rhyme) signature that small-leaf cultivars cannot match. Aged sheng evolves toward dried fruit, autumn leaves, sandalwood and old-wood depth; ripe shou shows earth, cocoa, and damp forest notes layered over the cultivar's foundational sweetness.
History
Yunnan is the recognized birthplace of the tea plant; wild da-ye-zhong tea trees of confirmed age exceeding 1,000 years grow in the forests of Lincang and Xishuangbanna, and the ancient tea-horse roads of Pu'er city traded compressed da-ye-zhong tea across Tibet and Southeast Asia for at least 1,300 years.
Where it grows
China - Xishuangbanna · China - Lincang · China - Pu'er · China - Dehong