Paka Cha (Pàkǎ chá, 帕卡茶) is a compressed tea from Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County (江城哈尼族彝族自治县) of Pu’er prefecture-level city, Yunnan Province. It is made from mature, “old” leaves picked after autumn (秋后, qiūhòu): the leaves are fixed by heat, sun-dried, softened again by steam, densely packed into a bamboo tube, tied, and sun-dried. The result is a cylinder, a “tube,” from which a piece is broken off and simmered in a clay pot by the fire. The word “paka” (帕卡) itself is a rendering of a Hani language word meaning “old leaves.” In 2016, the craft of making paka tea was included in the municipal list of intangible cultural heritage of Pu’er. The tea’s class by technology has not been established: official texts assign it to the “Pu’er series,” but it has not been described by technology as either sheng or shu pu’er.
1. Classification and Origin
- Type: Not established. Sources describe fixation of mature leaf by heat, sun-drying, repeated steaming, and pressing in bamboo; none of the verified sources describe a stage of wet piling (渥堆, wòduī) or oxidation. Absence of description does not yet prove absence of a stage, so the tea is not called here either dark tea or sheng or shu pu’er. The newspaper “Yunnan Ribao” (2019, reprinted on the provincial government portal) and the press service of the Pu’er municipal committee (2025) call paka tea “a traditional and ancient tea of the Pu’er tea series” (普洱茶系列茶品中一种传统而古老的茶) — this is a verbal positioning, not a classification by technology. The question of class may be resolved by the text of the group standard (see below), which has not yet been read.
- Category: A regional compressed tea of Jiangcheng County; not a plant cultivar and not a trademark. The provincial tea circulation association (云南省茶叶流通协会) calls “Jiangcheng Paka Cha” a regional public brand (区域公共品牌, qūyù gōnggòng pǐnpái) of the county; this is not the same as a geographical indication.
- Origin: China, Yunnan Province (云南, Yúnnán), Pu’er prefecture-level city (普洱, Pǔ’ěr), Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County (江城哈尼族彝族自治县, Jiāngchéng Hānízú Yízú Zìzhìxiàn). In the municipal heritage list, the place of the craft is named as Jiangcheng County, and the keeper is the county cultural center (江城县文化馆). Whether paka tea is made under this name outside the county is not reported by sources.
- Tianfang Village: The paka tea workshop from the list of municipal heritage workshops put forward for discussion in 2024 is located in Tianfang Village (田房村, Tiánfáng cūn) of Guoqing Township (国庆乡, Guóqìng xiāng). A 2015 report names this village as the place where the craft originated; there is no other confirmation of this, and a single workshop is not a boundary of style.
- Standard: Group standard T/YNTCA 038-2025 “Jiangcheng Paka Cha.” Its number and title are cited by the Pu’er government (2026), according to which the county participated in its development; judging of the 2026 county paka tea competition was announced under this standard. The text of the standard has not been read, so its requirements are not retold here; the publisher is not directly named in available texts, and the exact release date has not been established. No local (DB) standard under the keys 帕卡 and 帕卡茶 and no state (GB) standard under the key 帕卡 was found in national databases in October 2026, which does not exclude a document under another title.
- Heritage: The craft “帕卡茶传统手工制作技艺” — traditional handmade technology of paka tea — was included in the third batch of the municipal intangible cultural heritage list of Pu’er: notice of the district government 普政发〔2016〕100号 of September 12, 2016, section of traditional crafts. According to publications of 2021–2022, the technology is also listed in the county heritage list of Jiangcheng; the date and document of that decision have not been found.
- Geographical indication: Not found. Registration of a trademark or certification mark “Jiangcheng Paka Cha” has not been checked.
- Geographic coordinates: No exact coordinates of the production site are given in verified sources.
2. History and Cultural Significance
- History:
- Explanation of the custom. The provincial information center for culture and tourism of Yunnan (2022) explains the emergence of paka tea as follows: tender leaves of spring and summer harvest were mostly made by peasants into pu’er and green tea for sale, while old leaves picked after autumn were kept for themselves; from these, paka tea, its special technology, and the habit of simmering tea in a clay pot developed. This is the source’s explanation, not a dated history: sources give no first mentions or dates.
- 2015. A report describes how an elderly master demonstrated paka tea making at a festival in Jiangcheng; according to the account given in the report, only a few old people then knew the craft. There is no primary confirmation of this.
- 2016. The craft was included in the third batch of the municipal intangible cultural heritage list of Pu’er.
- 2021–2022. Publications of these years report that the technology was also included in the county heritage list of Jiangcheng.
- 2024. The municipal bureau of culture and tourism of Pu’er put out for public discussion (公示) the results of recognizing the first batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage workshops; the list includes a paka tea workshop in Jiangcheng County. The final decision after discussion was not checked.
- 2025. The number of the group standard “Jiangcheng Paka Cha” is T/YNTCA 038-2025.
- 2026. A paka tea competition was scheduled for August 7 in the county: participation was open only to local tea of 2025–2026 output from county raw material, judged under the group standard. Whether the competition took place and how it ended was not checked.
- Name:
- 帕卡茶 — official spelling: this is how the craft is named in the 2016 notice of the Pu’er government, and how publications of provincial and district state institutions write it.
- 帕卡 (pàkǎ) — a rendering of a Hani language word meaning “old leaves” (老叶子, lǎo yèzi). A 2015 report specifies that this is the language of the Hani-Akha (阿卡人) and that “帕” in it means “old.” The word itself in Hani language transcription is not given by sources, and the meaning of the syllable “卡” is not explained. The only Chinese element in the name is 茶 — “tea.”
- 老帕卡 (lǎo pàkǎ), “old paka” — the name of the tea in Jiangcheng; according to a 2015 report, locals affectionately call it that. 老帕卡筒茶 (lǎo pàkǎ tǒngchá) — “tubular lao paka,” the finished cylinder.
- 江城帕卡茶 (Jiāngchéng pàkǎ chá) — the name with the county name: this titles the publication of the provincial information center (2022) and the group standard.
- 腊帕卡 (là pàkǎ) — a form from a 2022 publication; what 腊 means is not explained by the source.
- In a Russian-language description of 2023, the tea is called “paka cha” and “old paka”; the second form corresponds to Chinese 老帕卡.
- Sources do not give a toned reading of the name. Pàkǎ chá — the standard reading of the characters: 帕 reads pà, and 卡 in the rendering of foreign words and names reads kǎ; the reading qiǎ belongs to other meanings of this character.
- Cultural significance:
- Whose tradition this is. The name came from the Hani language, but the custom of simmering tea (煨茶, wēichá) is attributed by the Pu’er press service (2021) and the provincial information center (2022) to the Hani, Dai, Yi, and other peoples of Jiangcheng County. The masters written about by the press in 2015 and 2021 are Yi (彝族); in the list of candidates for municipal bearers of the tradition put out for discussion in 2023, one is Hani; Tianfang Village is described in publications as a place where Yi live. The definition “tea of the Hani people” is therefore incomplete: according to sources, this is a tradition of a multiethnic county with a name from the Hani language.
- Craft as heritage. What was included in the heritage list is not a product and not a brand, but a craft — the traditional handmade technology of production.
- Rice with tea. According to a folk notion cited by the Yunnan Wang portal (2022), glutinous rice (糯米饭, nuòmǐfàn) covered with paka tea infusion becomes smooth and soft in taste.
3. Botanical Description and Raw Material
- Cultivar / Variety: Not named by any verified source.
- Raw material: Fresh mature (“old”) leaves of the tea plant, picked after autumn (秋后). Large mature leaf, not buds and young shoots, is the main thing that distinguishes paka tea raw material.
- Picking: According to a publication of the Pu’er press service (2021), leaves are picked in clear weather, after the morning dew has dried — so that moisture does not cause them to begin fermenting prematurely and spoil. One master in a 2015 report considered winter leaf, from November to January, the best, and said that “real” paka tea is made from leaves of trees over 200 years old that received no chemical fertilizers. This is one person’s opinion, not a general norm: official publications name only picking after autumn and do not write about tree age.
- Picking standard: How many leaves and what part of the shoot are taken is not specified by sources.
- Raw material requirements: The requirements of the group standard are unknown; its text has not been read. The rules of the 2026 county competition include only raw material from Jiangcheng County; this is a competition rule, not a definition of style.
4. Terroir and Growing Features
- Region: Jiangcheng County, Pu’er prefecture-level city, Yunnan. There are no descriptions of relief and climate specifically for paka tea in verified sources.
- Growing altitude: No data.
- Soils: No data.
- Tea among trees: According to a publication of the Pu’er press service (2021), Yi from Tianfang Village, when laying out tea plots, plant cypress (柏木, bǎimù) and camphor trees (香樟, xiāngzhāng) among the tea. Whether this custom is connected with the taste of paka tea is not said by the source.
5. Production Technology
Paka tea is made by hand, and sources describe its production differently. Below is the sequence according to the publication of the Pu’er municipal committee press service (2021); the same author repeats it in a 2022 text, so this is one description, not a generally accepted norm.
- Picking (采摘, cǎizhāi): Mature leaf after autumn, in clear weather.
- Washing: The leaf is washed and allowed to drain.
- Fixation (杀青, shāqīng): In an iron wok or by steam in a wooden steamer (木甑, mùzèng) — until the leaf is evenly heated and changes color.
- Sun-drying (晾晒, liàngshài): The leaf is shaken, spread on flat winnowing baskets (簸箕, bòji), and dried.
- Repeated steaming: The dried leaf is again placed in the steamer until it softens.
- Pressing in bamboo: The soft leaf is packed into a bamboo tube (竹筒, zhútǒng) and densely tamped with a wooden mallet, giving it a cylindrical shape.
- Tying: The cylinder is tied with bamboo shoot leaves (笋叶, sǔnyè) and kudzu stems (葛根藤条, gégēn téngtiáo).
- Sun-drying: The tied cylinder is dried in the sun; this yields “tubular lao paka” (老帕卡筒茶).
Where descriptions diverge:
- Fixation. A 2015 report describes roasting the leaf in a wok on a hearth with stirring by a wooden stick and calls fixation the most important operation for taste. The provincial information center (2022) lists masters’ techniques at the wok: simmering, steam, boiling, roasting, shaking, swinging, tossing, and turning — for even heating of the leaf. The newspaper “Yunnan Ribao” (2019) and the Pu’er press service (2025) describe paka tea production in eight operations: washing fresh leaf, steaming (蒸青, zhēngqīng), boiling (煮青, zhǔqīng), drying, second steaming, pressing, final drying, and packaging. In a Russian-language description of 2023, the main feature is called boiling of fresh leaf — “until it turns yellow.” Sources do not give a single fixation scheme.
- Rolling (揉捻, róuniǎn). A 2015 report writes that after the wok the leaf is kneaded in a winnowing basket, while a 2022 publication says the master rolls the leaf with measured force: part of bitterness and astringency leaves the leaf, and the leaf is broken just enough. The 2021 description does not mention rolling.
- Density. Chinese publications speak of dense packing with a mallet; the Russian-language description of 2023 speaks of light pressing. This is a difference in degree, not in stage.
- Tube — form or dryer. According to a 2015 report, the partially dried leaf is lightly steamed or boiled, packed hot into the tube, and after 12–24 hours of cooling the tube is opened and the cylinder is tied. The Russian-language description also says that cylinders are removed from the bamboo and then dried. According to these two descriptions, bamboo serves as a form, not a dryer; official publications do not directly write about removal from the tube, and there is no primary confirmation of this.
- Tying. Besides bamboo leaf and kudzu, a 2015 report names “蒙古藤,” and the Russian-language description names rattan. What these plants are has not been established.
- Regimes. Sources do not give temperatures, durations, or humidity; the only duration is 12–24 hours of cooling in the tube according to a 2015 report.
Form. According to a publication of the Pu’er press service (2025), the traditional “tube” of paka tea is about 30–33 cm long and 5–6 cm in diameter, weighing about 150–200 g; a 2015 report names about 200 g. This is a reference point from a text about production, not a standard of form.
6. Organoleptic Characteristics
There is no standardized tasting of paka tea in verified sources. Below is the little that publications write, with an indication of who says it.
- Dry leaf appearance: A cylinder of tamped large mature leaf, tied with bamboo leaf and lianas. According to the observation of a Russian-language description of 2023, during packing the leaf mostly remains whole, although crumpled.
- Dry leaf aroma: No descriptions in verified sources.
- Infusion aroma: The provincial information center (2022) calls the aroma pure and fresh (纯正清冽, chúnzhèng qīngliè); the newspaper “Yunnan Ribao” (2019) writes that when boiled in water it is fuller. In the Russian-language description of 2023, opinions diverged: the author’s colleagues called the tea very aromatic, while his own sample, brewed by infusion rather than boiling, turned out to be “nothing.”
- Taste: Descriptions of taste are almost absent. Publications call boiled paka tea tastier than infused; according to the words cited by the Pu’er press service (2021), when slowly boiled over low heat the infusion becomes “full in taste, fragrant, and sweet” (味足香甜). The author of the Russian-language description of 2023 considers that paka tea has no established taste profile.
- Infusion color: According to the publication of the provincial information center (2022) — golden-yellow and transparent (金黄透彻, jīnhuáng tòuchè).
- Wet leaf (spent leaf): In a sample described in Russian in 2023, the leaf unfolded into large, often whole leaves 10–17 cm long. This is one sample, and leaf size is not transferred to style.
7. Chemical Composition
There are no analyses of paka tea in verified sources: neither polyphenols, nor caffeine, nor amino acids have been measured for it.
A general pattern for tea leaf, not data about this tea: mature leaves usually contain less caffeine and fewer amino acids than buds and young leaves. How steaming, boiling, sun-drying, and long boiling during brewing affect the composition of paka tea is unknown.
8. Health Properties
There are no verified data on the effect of this specific tea. Chinese press attributed medicinal effect to long drinking of paka tea, but there are no studies confirming this in verified sources, so such claims are not repeated here.
9. Brewing
The tradition described in sources is boiling, not infusion. Publications call paka tea a “high-temperature” tea (高温茶, gāowēn chá): boiled, it is, according to them, tastier than infused.
- Water temperature: Boiling water; the tea is simmered over low heat.
- Amount of tea: Sources give no proportions. A piece is broken off from the cylinder; the boiling time, according to the words cited by the Pu’er press service (2021), is determined by the drinker’s taste. Sources do not write about the strength of the infusion.
- Teaware: Traditionally — a clay pot (陶罐, táoguàn) by the hearth; according to the words cited by the Pu’er press service (2021), the tea is better boiled in a kettle over low heat.
- Process:
- Break off a piece from the cylinder.
- According to the practice of one master (2021 report), warm the tea in a heated clay vessel, stirring continuously — it is said, a full hundred times — so that the leaf heats evenly and reveals its aroma.
- Pour boiling water over it in a clay pot.
- Simmer over low heat until the infusion reveals its aroma; how long to boil is decided by the drinker.
- Pour out the infusion.
- Sources do not write how many times water is refilled. When boiling coarse mature leaf, water is usually refilled and boiled again until the infusion weakens — this is general practice, not a description of paka tea.
10. Storage
Sources say nothing about storage conditions or aging of paka tea. General practice for compressed teas, not data about this tea: store in a dry, clean, ventilated place, without direct light and foreign odors. Whether paka tea changes with age is unknown.
11. Price and Counterfeits
There are no price references suitable for an encyclopedia in verified sources: individual seller prices from different years are not included here.
- How to avoid confusion and counterfeits:
- Two meanings of “老帕卡.” According to a self-published text by one pu’er seller (2023), on Yunnan’s “ancient tea mountains” “老帕卡” is also called coarse old leaf selected during maocha production, without any pressing in bamboo. Jiangcheng 老帕卡 is different: a pressed cylinder of a special technology.
- Old yellow flakes. A 2015 report warns that paka tea externally resembles “old yellow flakes” (老叶黄片, lǎoyè huángpiàn), but such flakes are selected during pu’er production and are different in quality; the buyer is advised to distinguish them.
- Origin. The name “Jiangcheng Paka Cha” is tied to Jiangcheng County; the 2026 competition admitted only tea from local raw material.
- Form. Traditional paka tea is a cylinder tied with plant materials; sizes from sources are a reference point, not a norm.
- Mark. No geographical indication for paka tea has been found, so authenticity cannot be checked by such a mark.
12. Interesting Facts
- What was included in the Pu’er heritage list is not a product but a craft — “traditional handmade technology of paka tea production.”
- The word “帕卡” in the name is not Chinese: it is a rendering of a Hani language word meaning “old leaves.”
- According to the explanation of sources, paka tea appeared as tea for oneself: tender leaf went for sale, while old autumn leaf remained with peasants.
- Paka tea is called “high-temperature”: it is preferred boiled, not infused.
- According to a folk notion, glutinous rice covered with paka tea infusion becomes smooth and soft in taste.
13. Comparison with Similar Teas
- Bamboo tea (竹筒茶, zhútǒngchá; 竹筒香茶, zhútǒng xiāngchá): Among the Lahu of Naka (那卡), and according to the article “Yunnan Lücha” — also among the Dai and Hani, raw material is packed into fresh bamboo and heated by the fire directly in the tube. Paka tea, according to a 2015 report and the Russian-language description, is only pressed in bamboo, and dried outside the tube; the technology of bamboo tea was not checked here against primary sources.
- Pu’er (普洱茶, pǔ’ěrchá): Official texts assign paka tea to the “Pu’er series,” but by technology it is not described as either sheng or shu pu’er; about pu’er itself, see the article “Pu’ercha.”
- Gupa Cha (古琶茶, Gǔpá chá): A green tea from Guangxi; only the sound resembles paka cha.
- Menghai Pasha Cha (勐海帕沙茶, Měnghǎi Pàshā chá): Tea of Pasha Mountain in Menghai County; it shares with paka cha only the character 帕.
In conclusion:
Paka Cha is a tea not from tender buds, but from mature autumn leaf, which the residents of Jiangcheng, according to the explanation of sources, kept for themselves. It is fixed by heat, sun-dried, softened by steam, tightly packed into bamboo, and then boiled by the fire in a clay pot. The craft is included in the municipal heritage list of Pu’er, the tea has a group standard, in 2026 the county announced a paka tea competition, and the name, which came from the Hani language, reminds that this is a tradition of a multiethnic county.
Much about paka cha remains unknown: class by technology, processing regimes, bush cultivar, and a taste that could be called typical. For those interested in tea as part of a local way of life — with long boiling over fire instead of a precise brewing recipe — it shows how Jiangcheng handles old leaf; part of the questions may be clarified by the text of the standard.
Sources
Standards
Documents and publications
- 普洱市人民政府关于公布普洱市第三批非物质文化遗产项目保护名录的通知（普政发〔2016〕100号） — 普洱市人民政府
- 普洱市文化和旅游局关于2024年度市级第一批非遗工坊认定结果名单公示 — 普洱市文化和旅游局
- 普洱市文化和旅游局关于第六批市级非物质文化遗产项目代表性传承人拟命名名单公示 — 普洱市文化和旅游局
- 乐享云南｜非遗·江城帕卡茶 — 澎湃号·政务 «云南文旅发布»; 2022-12-21
- 夜听普洱·普洱故事丨江城老帕卡：这罐茶里有暖暧的味道 — 澎湃号·政务 «普洱发布»; 2021-05-02
- 世界的普洱·中国的茶——普洱景迈山茶｜非遗技艺制茶 赋能茶产业发展 — 澎湃号·政务 «普洱发布»; 2025-02-17
- 全国标准信息公共服务平台 — 地方标准 + std.samr.gov.cn 国家标准全文公开系统 — 国家市场监督管理总局国家标准技术审评中心 / 国家标准化管理委员会
- 普洱市国家生态产品价值实现机制试点案例之二十｜聚焦“生态产业化 产业生态化”发展主线——江城打通茶产业从资源优势到富民效益全链条 — 普洱市人民政府; 2026-09-24
- 【协会标准】《江城高密度茶园改造技术规程》团体标准发布实施 — 云南省茶叶流通协会; 2026-09-29
- 公告｜江城县2026年帕卡茶品鉴大赛报名启动！ — «醉美国庆»
- “电商+扶贫”走出致富路 — 云南省人民政府门户网站, 来源：云南日报; 2019-07-11
- 老茶味道 把时光煨煮成一罐金色的汤 — 云南网 (普洱频道), 2022-02-17
- 七旬老人手工制作帕卡茶过程全解 — 中国网中国视窗 / 中国网龙城视窗
- T/YNTCA 038-2025 江城帕卡茶 标准 — 分析测试百科网 (antpedia.com)
- 帝一汤—老帕卡 — 网易号 «老化说茶之老班章», 2023-01-06
Full list — on the Sources page