Puerh Ratings 2022
Below find Puerh Ratings 2022 according to a few websites from Baidu searches.
Chinapp (品牌网)
The Chinapp derives their rankings “based on nearly 100 indicators such as brand strength, product sales, user reputation, and netizen voting.”
- Dayi (huge surprise. . . not)
- Liming (genuinely huge surprise)
- Zhongcha (fairly surprising, they’re referencing about the “new Zhongcha” for sure)
- Xiaguan
- Fucunmeiji (福村梅记). This one is a huge surprise. A few years ago, they also ranked quite highly. At the time of that ranking 2015, Yangpinhao had their hand in the processing of Fucunmeiji’s offerings. Dunno if that’s still the case.
- Longyuanhao
- Longsheng Puercha (龙生普洱茶）Totally unfamiliar.
- Laotongzhi
- Langhe
- Fuhai
Rankings (排行榜)
This is a pure rankings website that devised their ranking “according to the brand evaluation and sales volume”. Participants in rankings appear to be fewer than 100.
- Dayi
- Liming
- Qingfengxiang (庆沣祥) A upper tier of Colourful Yunnan Brand
- Xiaguan
- Laotongzhi
- Chenshenghao
- Gongming (宫明) Unfamiliar est. 2014
- Colourful Yunnan
- Fuhai
- Lancangjiang Familiar but never tried. Est 1985
Cangpin Puerh (藏品普洱)
While the two above seem to be keen on selling tea, this site only lists three and is much more focused on the history surrounding the factories.
- Dayi
- Fujin
- Chenshenghao
Newest Comparison of China’s Top 10 Puerh Brands 2022
This is just an article, but worth running through the translator. Bet you cannot guess which is #1.
- Dayi
- Xiaguan
- Laotongzhi
- Zhongcha
- Chenshenghao
- Lancang Gucha
- Mengku(rongshi)
- Douji
- Fuhai
- Liming
Puchawang (普茶网)
Seems this might have been devised in ’21 but reposted in May ’22. Site dedicated purely to puerh tea news, articles, storage, and brewing.
- Dayi
- Xiaguan
- Fujin
- Chenshenghao
- Mengkurongshi
- Liming
- Laotongzhi
- Changtai
- Xinghai
- Zhongcha
Reflections
Clearly, Dayi commands pole position in the world of puerh. As far as the remaining positions go, there is considerably more jockeying. Among the sites devising a list, some are clearly more geared toward plying their wares. This might influence what appears to be the presence of some fairly obscure brands. Others seem to be more influenced by reputation built by the brands, adhering to traditional views among experts. Among the five, the first two seem to be more sales oriented, whereas the last three more in the traditional camp.
No single list can be taken as gospel, but taken together one gains some idea about what consumers and experts both take seriously. The composite picture isn’t going to change much from one year to the next. Probably checking every five years is more than sufficient to apprehend any surprising developments.
Another thing is that it is highly doubtful that most of the lists are based upon the most recent productions. This makes it virtually impossible for upstarts to get on the list. Consequently, this makes the Chinapp list at least interesting in terms of introducing potentially viable fresh players. Longsheng isn’t a new player, but their presence given their age did garner attention.
Regarding specific factories, we see Liming placing in all of the top-ten charts. Again, it is not altogether clear why LM has the reputation it does in the English world, but at the very least it is reasonable to conclude that this view is not shared in the Mainland. Second, Fuhai does considerably better than Xinghai, but the Puerh Junky wonders to what extent Xinghai’s processing of Fujin factors. It just conjecture. Finally, the Puerh Junky sees factories making a list as largely a combination of size, history, marketing, connections, and finally quality. Tasting productions on an off the list is a bit of a lifetime project to determine how each may personally rate for you.
