Where the Name "Pu'er" Comes From: Place, Prefecture, and Tea

Today the word "Pu'er" is almost synonymous with a kind of tea, but it started out as a place name, later became the name of a prefecture and a county, and since 2007 has also been the name of a city. Separate these layers of meaning, and many questions like "Is pu'er tea made in Pu'er?" become clear.

The Place Name Came First, Then the Tea Name

Pu'er was originally the name of a place in southern Yunnan, roughly around today's Ning'er County in Pu'er City. There are several accounts of where the name came from. One says it's a transliteration from a local ethnic language, written as "Buri" (步日) in early historical sources and as "Pu'er" (普洱) only from the Ming dynasty onward. As for its original meaning, some interpret it as the name of a certain tribe, others as "the village by the river bend," and accounts don't agree.

In the Ming dynasty, this area was already a place where tea was traded. Xie Zhaozhe's Dianlüe, from the Wanli era of the Ming, mentions that everyone in Yunnan, high and low, drank "Pu tea," one of the early records most often cited by tea historians; the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings), compiled in the early Qing, also records that several mountains within Pu'er "all produce Pu tea." "Pu tea" can be understood as "tea from the Pu'er area," a shorthand combining the place name with the word for tea. By the Qing dynasty, the term "pu'er tea" appeared frequently in local gazetteers and books on tea.

Pu'er Prefecture: The Key to Settling the Tea's Name

In 1729 (7th year of Yongzheng), the Qing court carried out its policy of replacing native chieftains with court-appointed officials in Yunnan and established Pu'er Prefecture, with its seat at today's Ning'er. Pu'er Prefecture governed a large area, including the Six Ancient Tea Mountains around today's Xishuangbanna. During the Yongzheng era, the government also set up a general tea office in Simao: tea from the mountains was first gathered there, priced and taxed by officials, and then handed over to merchants to ship out.

As a result, tea picked and made on mountains such as Yibang, Yiwu, and Youle all flowed out through Pu'er Prefecture, the administrative and commercial center. Outsiders didn't necessarily know which mountain a tea came from, only that it came from Pu'er, and so the name "pu'er tea" stuck. In the same period, pu'er began to be sent as tribute to the imperial court, and its fame reached the capital. Around 1825, Ruan Fu of the Qing dynasty wrote his Record of Pu'er Tea (Pu'er Cha Ji), documenting the tea mountains under Pu'er Prefecture and the types of tribute tea. This history is covered more fully in Pu'er Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty and Ruan Fu's Record of Pu'er Tea.

From Pu'er Prefecture to Pu'er City

Prefectures were abolished in the early Republic: Pu'er Prefecture was dissolved in 1913, and the area around its former seat became Pu'er County. For a long time afterward, the administrative center of the region was Simao, and the region was also called Simao: a county-level Simao City was established in 1993, and it became a prefecture-level Simao City in 2003.

On January 21, 2007, the State Council approved renaming Simao City in Yunnan Province to Pu'er City, and the new name officially took effect on April 8. At the same time, the former Cuiyun District went back to its old name and became Simao District, and the former Pu'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County was renamed Ning'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County. So, "Was Pu'er City once called Simao?" Yes: today's Pu'er City is what was called Simao City before 2007, and the "Pu'er" that was the seat of the Qing-dynasty Pu'er Prefecture is now called Ning'er.

Is Pu'er Tea Made in Pu'er City?

Not necessarily. Pu'er is a tea name, not an origin label limited to Pu'er City. Under the measures for protecting pu'er as a geographical indication, the protected area covers 11 prefectures and cities and 75 counties, cities, and districts in Yunnan, and Pu'er City is only one of them. Today's best-known major growing regions:

• Xishuangbanna Prefecture: Lao Banzhang and Nannuo Mountain in Menghai, and Yiwu in Mengla, are all here.
• Lincang City: The Bingdao, Xigui, and Mengku areas.
• Pu'er City: Jingmai Mountain, Kunlu Mountain, Jinggu, and more.

Pu'er City is of course an important growing region, and Jingmai Mountain was even inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2023; but when it comes to famous mountains, Xishuangbanna and Lincang are every bit its equal. For how the regions are laid out, read Pu'er's Three Major Growing Regions and An Overview of the Pu'er City Region.

Why Pu'er City Isn't Necessarily the Main Growing Region

The reason goes back to history: the name Pu'er was originally the name of a "distribution hub," not a "place of origin." The Qing-dynasty Pu'er Prefecture was the hub where tea was gathered, taxed, and shipped onward, while the mountains that actually produced the tea were mostly along both banks of the Lancang River south of the prefectural city. The tea's name followed the hub, while the origins were scattered across the surrounding mountains, much like the many goods named after a port or a market town. As administrative boundaries changed over time, Xishuangbanna and Lincang each became separate prefectures and cities, and the name "Pu'er" stayed on in the name of a city and of a tea.

Pu'er Tea and Pu'er Coffee

Southern Yunnan, where Pu'er City is located, is also one of Yunnan's important coffee-growing regions, and coffee grown there is often sold as "Pu'er coffee." The two simply share a place name: one is tea leaf and the other coffee beans, with completely different raw materials and processing, and they aren't blended together.

FAQ

Is Pu'er a place name or a tea name? Both. Pu'er was originally a place name in Yunnan. In 1729 the Qing court set up Pu'er Prefecture, and tea from the surrounding mountains was distributed through Pu'er, which gave rise to the name "pu'er tea."

Was Pu'er City once called Simao? Yes. With the State Council's approval in January 2007, Simao City was officially renamed Pu'er City from April 8 of that year; the original Pu'er County was renamed Ning'er County.

Where do "Pu tea" and "pu'er tea" first appear? Xie Zhaozhe's Dianlüe, from the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty, already uses the term "Pu tea," an often-cited early record; the name "pu'er tea" came into common use only after the Qing established Pu'er Prefecture.

What's the connection between pu'er tea and Pu'er coffee? Only that they share the name of where they're grown. Coffee is also grown around Pu'er City, but coffee and tea are different crops and different drinks.