Guizhou IV - Meitan and Fenggang
Meitan Tea Museum
On arrival, we saw the iconic Meitan Tea Museum (in the shape of a teapot and tea cup), but our guides led us to the Former Site of Meitan Central Experimental Tea Farm, (also known as the Guizhou Black Tea Export Base Museum) which contains a lot of the original wooden machinery used in manufacturing tea. A description of the museum (thanks to Google Translate) follows:
“In 1958, Guizhou black tea's independent export brand, Qianhong, was established. As soon as it entered the international market, it gained popularity and demand exceeded supply.
To meet international market demand and generate more urgently needed foreign exchange for the country, in 1960, relevant leaders and experts from the Meitan Tea Plantation's tea processing factory, including Li Minxuan, Wu Xiancai, and Ye Wenliang, responded to the call of the plantation's Party branch and launched an exploratory experiment centered on technological innovation and tool improvement. Under extremely difficult conditions, they developed a complete set of wooden machinery-equipped refining production lines for black tea, achieving automation, standardization, large-scale production, and cleanliness in black tea refining. This greatly improved production efficiency and product quality. Before the joint processing, a production capacity of 30 yen per day required nearly 100 workers; after the joint processing, daily production increased to 50 to 60 dan (a unit of weight), requiring only 5 workers. Previously, refining a batch of tea took 7 days; after the joint processing, it only took 2 days. All the refined tea was exported in its original packaging without inspection to more than 10 countries and regions, including Poland, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Chile. Guizhou was thus listed as one of the six major black tea exporting provinces in China, and the Meitan Tea Plantation jumped into the ranks of the eight major tea bases in the country.
This unique production line is the only existing wooden tea machine assembly line in the world originally created by Chinese tea experts and craftsmen. It has witnessed the tortuous development of China's tea industry, the glorious history of China's tea export earnings, and embodies the patriotism, hard work, self-reliance, and pioneering spirit of a generation of tea people!
An immortal monument to the spirit of craftsmanship in China's tea industry stands here!”
Notable is that much of the machinery used in manufacturing today is very similar (just made of metal instead of wood).
The museum is spread throughout
the many buildings of the former manufacturing area.
We had travelled to Meitan to attend the 17th Guizhou Tea Industry Exposition [1], but sadly it seems it had mostly wrapped up after the first day. There were very few tables left, but we talked to a few vendors and walked through the bonsai garden. We then chose to go for tea with a friend of Jianli Wu who has a shop in the same tea market. After a short break we went to a local producer who showed us their modern factory (which makes all types of tea including matcha, yellow and aged teas). This is the Guizhou Wofeng Tea Industry Co., Ltd.
The Chairman showed us how to make their Yellow Meitan - twice-cooked fragrant yellow tea, and then generously gave each of us a bag of the tea. It will be treasured and savoured. Jianli, Zhen and the Chairman in front of the factory’s stone.
The next morning we drove to Fenggang to see the sun-sheltered small-leaf tea fields where they make tencha (to be produced into matcha). China is the largest producer of matcha in the world.[2]
After visiting the fields and the factory, we went into Fenggang for lunch and to the Gui Tea shop to try some locally produced matcha.
We then drove back to our hotel in Guiyang and sadly said goodbyes to our wonderful driver Yao, who had been with us and safely delivered us to all our Guizhou destinations. We are off to Yunnan the following day.
[1] eguizhou.gov.cn (2026) 17th Guizhou Tea Industry Expo kicks off in Meitan. China Daily. Posted online April 18, 2026.
[2] Our China Story (2025) Japan matcha is made in China's Guizhou?｜China's new specialties. Posted online July 29, 2025.
