Yunnan Dianhong Group (Fengpai / 凤牌)

Yunnan Dianhong Group traces directly to the origin of the tea it's named for. Dianhong — Yunnan black tea — was developed in 1938 by a team led by the tea expert Feng Shaoqiu, after China's coastal tea-producing regions fell to Japanese occupation during the war and production had to shift inland; Yunnan's climate turned out to suit black tea production, and the new style became an export earner used to help fund the war effort. The company itself was formally established on March 8, 1939, in Fengqing County, the tea's birthplace, and by the same year the first export shipment had reached the UK via Hong Kong at prices that made international headlines in the trade.

Today the group farms more than 6,600 hectares of tea gardens and runs 85 primary processing factories, producing around 15,000 tons of tea a year under the Fengpai (凤牌) brand. The range runs from everyday-grade Dianhong up to premium gold-tip Jinya, made from the golden buds that give top-grade Dianhong its distinctive color and honeyed character.

For anyone interested in Yunnan black tea specifically, this is closer to the source than most retailers get — the original producer, still operating from the county where the style was invented, rather than a downstream blender or exporter.