First the hard truth: if you buy 2025, better buy top quality puerh that’s not available aged. How each year works is the best 5% of material sells out super quick, the other 95% remains and will be later sold aged. Because the prices rise each year, you want that top 5% (can’t buy it later), while for the rest you can usually find very good deals on already aged tea.
So if you’re going to buy teas that are not 100% pure ancient tree 1st spring pick, you may as well buy already aged tea. Aged Benchmark quality tea is extremely rare, we have a few going back to 2020s but they were so hard to source.
For example we tried to make GuaFengZhai last year and we couldn’t get a tea with similar quality to our stellar 2011/2016 Gold Mark GFZ, and the price was higher for the new harvest than what we’re selling our 2011 cake for!
So the point of buying 2025 harvest is buying leaf quality that is so good and rare that is simply not available aged. Aim for 1st spring pick, 100% pure ancient tree or single big/extra tall ancient trees that have never been cut before, no wild varietals, clean environment.
Weather and pricing
The weather is good and due to economic downturn in China we see teas that were overvalued dropping sharply in price (even 20-30% for teas like Jingmai, parts of Menghai, a lot of Lincang and Pu’er and generally small trees everywhere).
Teas that have inherent quality value are keeping the price relatively stable compared to last year (which is still better than the usual 10-20% yearly increase).
Overall the market is converging more towards valuing higher teas with actual quality value (Benchmark quality is a good proxy to explain teas with actual quality value) and teas that were not as good but were propped up by general prices are dropping sharply. Quite logical and sane development.
Lincang and Pu’er
You want to buy at least a big single ancient tree (>2kg maocha) in these regions, and if possible a king tree (shuwang, >4kg of maocha)
In small pockets of excellence (Xigui, Bingdao, KunluShan, Midi…) gushu can also be okay, the problem is that it’s very likely to be very expensive and authenticity is a problem.
Top tip: Nahan is an undervalued area with 80-90% of Xigui taste and energy and half the price, we will bring some big ancient trees Nahan this year, recommended if you like teas like Xigui and Bingdao.
Outside these areas, most Lincang and Pu’er gushu is a bit too plain and there’s frankly a big amount around, you might as well buy aged (like our 2014 MengSa or even 2005 MengKu).
The prices of big and king trees are actually rising, we tried to buy the same tree of 2022 Bangdong Jigushu this year and the price has increased 2 and a half times since 2022! (we didn’t buy it in 2025 at this higher price, one cake remains available of this tea).
Xishuangbanna
Yiwu, Manzhuan, Yibang and some other pockets in Banna (LBZ, Naka, parts of Youle): Prices remain quite high but the best quality teas can be found here. 1st spring pick 100% gushu is a good standard for the areas above, but wherever possible (eg: in forests), gaogan gushu (extra tall trees) is much better. Of course, single trees are sometimes available here too but they’re usually not cheap. (Remember the point of a single tree is that it’s an older, bigger tree than the gushu pick, it’s not just a random tree!)
Actually some good deals can be found this year because of weak economic situation and we have our eyes on a few very exclusive teas (Yiwu BaiHuaTan, LBZ single big ancient trees, Yibang DaHeiShan…). We will also be able to do FengHuangWo single extra tall trees, arguably the best garden in the whole Yiwu guoyoulin and possibly of all Puerh, it may seems expensive but the quality of this tea is so astronomically high and rare (there’s only 20 trees or so that can do single tree) to easily reach prices 2-3 times as high as this in the next few years, once the market catches up with its real value.
TianMenShan is another great tea to buy before prices skyrocket in the next years, we will have some this year again. Tread carefully with Yiwu teas, there’s a lot of famous places that have very high prices but the quality doesn’t match anymore because of overharvesting (BoHeTang, TongQingHe, a lot of GuaFengZhai…). LonTanQing is a great undervalued area in the Yiwu guoyoulin.
Rest of Menghai, Jingmai, rest of Banna in general: better to aim just for single big trees at a minimum, or if you want to age it for a long time you can consider very cheap (no more than $75 for a 200g cake) big trees blend with the view to hold them 10+ years to get rid of excess astringency (but first check aged tea is not available at similar pricing to this year harvest).
Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand
Small areas of Laos offer comparatively unspoiled forest with a taste profile similar to Yiwu/6 famous tea mountains. This year we will feature a “Beyond Yiwu” from big gaogan trees in Phongsaly and again the sold out Laos Chawang (Chuan Kuang province), both of these are excellent recommendations for value.
Some areas in Myanmar are actually commonly sold as Ban Zhang and Lao Ban Zhang given the similar type of leaf, good deals can be found on the right material (but it’s hard to get, some of these places are in or near rebel controlled territory). The most popular LBZ brand routinely blends 50-80% of myanmar leaf in their yearly “lao ban zhang” cake. We will offer an outrageously low priced “Beyond Banzhang” cake from 100% pure big ancient trees this year, stay tuned if you like punchy tea.
For both Laos and Myanmar there is a significant problem: Processing is often not up to par with chinese standards, and purity is often an issue (old trees blended with small trees). Best to get these teas from people that are competent in sourcing Myanmar and Yiwu teas first.
Not much top level puerh comes from Vietnam and Thailand, the trees are usually too different from standard Puerh and they taste more like wild varietals (yesheng). These areas can represent good value when the processing is right and the tea tastes at least similar to standard Puerh.
Conclusion
Buy smart, not all gushu is equal, both because a lot of “gushu” is actually cut trees 2nd or even 3rd spring pick, blended with other trees, but also because areas matters a lot, the guide above will give you enough to get started. This is even before we get started about how much gushu is actually a fake or partial fake (for most producers the standard for “gushu” is 20% gushu and 80% smaller trees).
If you’re interested in starting or expanding a serious puerh collection and want some teas that can only be accessed in exclusive collector circles (both 2025 and older) please get in touch at info@puerh.uk.
See the currently available benchmark ancient trees teas here and for already aged gushu, see Gold Mark Gua Feng Zhai and Lao Bao Zhang in Treasures by Puerh.uk.