The Chinese character “tuo” literally refers to ball-like shape into which tea is pressed. Yunnan boasts a long history of producing and processing Tuocha Tea, which originated in Jinggu County and therefore earned the fame ‘Gucha’. Guzhuang Tuocha Tea is mainly made from kneaded green tealeaves picked around Jinggu County.

“Tuocha, which was first produced around 1902, enjoys historical fame.” Embryo of the tea featured steamed tealeaves that were pressed into round lumps. Its original name was “Gucha” because the tea was first produced in Jinggu County of Southwest Yunnan, where the tea was also known as “Girls’ Tea”. Some say the tea shows the shape of a sliding weight on a steelyard, the Chinese character for which is pronounced “tuo”.

“Evolved from the ‘Girls’ Tea’ which was formerly made in Jinggu County, the bowl-shape Tuocha was first produced in the 28th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty. Raw materials of the tea were first- and second-grade, sun-dried Yunnan green tealeaves that respectively consisted half of the tea”.

In the 26th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (A.D. 1900), a man named Li Wenxiang who was a native of Jinggu County set up a tea-processing workshop. By utilizing indigenous method, he used high quality, sun-dried green tealeaves as raw material, which was steamed and pressed into moon-cake-shape lumps. Such lumped tea was the prototype of Gucha. In the 28th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign…, Gucha became quite popular in the market and was reputed as Tuocha. Tuancha (also known as Gucha or Guzhuaung Tea) was believed as the embryo of Tuocha, and Jingu County has since been known as the hometown of Tuocha Tea.