Xiaguan Tea Factory: Tuocha and Iron Cakes

Xiaguan, in Dali, Yunnan, sits at the foot of the Cangshan Mountains at the southern end of Erhai Lake and is famous for its strong winds, which locals call the "Xiaguan wind." It's also the most famous source of tuocha in the pu'er world. Today the factory's full name is Yunnan Xiaguan Tuocha (Group) Co., Ltd., located in Xiaguan, Dali City, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, and tea drinkers simply call it "Xiaguan."

From Merchant House to Factory

Tea-making in Xiaguan predates the factory itself. In the mid-to-late Qing dynasty, merchant houses trading between Yunnan and Tibet and between Yunnan and Sichuan set up shops in Xiaguan, and tea was a major commodity. According to a chronology compiled by Xiaguan Tea Factory, "Yongxingxiang," founded by Xizhou merchants in the first year of the Guangxu reign (1875), added capital and was renamed "Yongchangxiang" in 1902, moved its head office to Xiaguan, and created bowl-shaped tuocha. The national intangible cultural heritage listing regards Yongchangxiang's opening of a tea refining workshop in Xiaguan in 1902 as the starting point of tuocha craftsmanship, while the factory's chronology dates the first refining workshop to 1908. The difference is whether "creating tuocha" and "opening a refining workshop" happened in the same year or one after the other. The factory officially counts its brand from 1902.

The factory's direct predecessor was the Kang-Zang Tea Factory. In 1939, the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission and the Yunnan China Tea Trading Company agreed to set up a joint-venture factory, which was founded in March 1941 and began operating in May. It mainly made jincha for Tibet and tuocha for Sichuan, and its registered trademark for jincha was "Baoyan." Production stopped for a time around 1949.

From 1950 the factory became part of the state-owned system. Its name changed several times before it was settled as Xiaguan Tea Factory in the 1950s, and Xiaguan's existing private merchant houses were gradually merged into it in the same period. In 1994 it was reorganized as Yunnan Xiaguan Tuocha Co., Ltd., and in 2004 it was privatized through a property auction, becoming today's group company. In 2011, "dark tea-making technique (Xiaguan tuocha-making technique)" was added to the third national list of intangible cultural heritage, and in 2024 "Yunnan Province Xiaguan Tea Factory" was named to the sixth list of national industrial heritage sites.

What Xiaguan Is Known For

• Tuocha: bowl-shaped compressed tea with a hollow underneath, synonymous with Xiaguan. Common types include Jiaji (Grade A) tuocha, Teji (Special Grade) tuocha, and "Xiaofa tuo," exported to France from the 1970s on. For the shape and the origin of the name, see Tuocha: Bowl-Shaped Pu'er and Xiaguan; for classic tuocha, see V93 and the Classic Xiaguan Tuocha.
• Jincha and frontier tea: Baoyan jincha is a long-standing product for Tibetan areas, and Xiaguan is still one of the designated producers of frontier tea. For the shape, see Square Tea, Jincha, and Pillar Tea.
• Iron cakes: compressed cakes pressed in metal molds with no dimple on the back. The most famous is 8653, generally recorded as a recipe begun in 1986. See T8653 and the Xiaguan Iron Cake and Iron Cakes.
• Qizi bing and bricks: Xiaguan also makes 357-gram qizi bing and various bricks. Its recipe codes end in 3, like the "3" in 8653.

The Songhe Trademark

Songhe (Pine and Crane) is the most common trademark on Xiaguan tuocha, showing a pine tree and a crane. There are two ways its date is given: the factory counts the history of Songhe tuocha from 1902, meaning the origin of tuocha as a product, while trademark reference sources record that Xiaguan Tea Factory began using "Songhe" as a registered trademark for tuocha in 1992. The two years refer to different things: one is the product's starting point, the other the registration and use of the trademark. In 2002, Songhe Xiaguan tuocha was registered as a geographical indication product.

Besides Songhe, Xiaguan packaging may also show marks such as Baoyan (jincha) and Zhongcha (the trademark used uniformly within the system during the state-owned era). Which one appears can help identify the product line and era.

Why Xiaguan Tea Is Said to Be Smoky

Longtime tea drinkers often speak of a "Xiaguan taste," and part of what they mean is a smoky note, especially in iron cakes and tuocha from the early-to-mid 2000s. There are several explanations:

1. Fuel: in the early days, wood fires were used for kill-green and drying, and the leaves absorbed the smoke. This is the most widespread explanation in the tea world.
2. Drying rooms: pressed tea was dried in wood-heated drying rooms, and the smoke came from this step.
3. Transformation in storage: Xiaguan Tea Factory technicians have said in interviews that sun-dried maocha carries a "sun taste" from strong sunlight, and that large amounts of material stored in a cool, dry environment for three years or more develop a smoke-like aroma.

These explanations don't have to exclude one another; different years and batches may each have their own source. In recent years, Xiaguan's new teas have become much less smoky, and people who like that style seek out earlier products. If the smoke is so strong that it's harsh and overwhelms the tea, it's a processing fault. For how to judge, see Off-Flavors and Faults.

Xiaguan's Style

Xiaguan often blends material from Lincang, Pu'er, and other regions and presses it fairly tight, especially its iron cakes, so it ages relatively slowly and tastes strong and noticeably bitter when young. Tea drinkers often talk about Xiaguan and Menghai together: one represented by tuocha and iron cakes, the other by qizi bing recipe codes, each with its own loyal following. For regional styles, see Menghai, Yiwu, and Lincang Character; for reading recipe codes, see 7542, 8582, 7572: The Stories Behind Pu'er's Classic Recipes.

FAQ

Where is Xiaguan Tea Factory? In Xiaguan, Dali City, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, near the Cangshan Mountains and the southern end of Erhai Lake.

What is Xiaguan best known for? Tuocha, followed by jincha and iron cakes, with 8653 as a signature recipe code.

Is all Xiaguan tea smoky? Not necessarily. Smokiness is mostly found in some batches from the early-to-mid 2000s, and recent new teas are much cleaner.

When does the Songhe trademark date from? The factory traces Songhe tuocha back to 1902; as a registered trademark, it's generally recorded as in use from 1992.

What's the last digit of Xiaguan's recipe codes? It's 3, as in 8653.