瑞 Yiwu · Che Shun Hao 简繁EN日한
Since 1839 · Yiwu Che Shun Hao · Rui Gong Tian Chao

One plaque
rewrote the fate
of a tea house.

In 1839, after a top-tier palace tea contest in the capital, at the Peony Terrace of the Old Summer Palace, the Daoguang Emperor brushed the words Rui Gong Tian Chao. It is the only imperially bestowed tribute-tea plaque in Chinese tea history still preserved intact to this day. From that day, Che Shun Hao became the first tea house ever to hold imperial scholar rank, a fourth-rank title, an imperial plaque, and the status of appointed tribute tea.

1839Brushed by the Emperor · one of a kind
5 genChe Zhijie · today's keeper
PalaceMuseum · holds a Che Shun Hao tea cake
Rui Gong Tian Chao imperial plaque
Brushed by the Daoguang Emperor · kept at the Che family home in Yiwu · National key cultural relic
The Story · Chronicle

Not a marketing line, but a story recorded in the Pu'er Prefecture Gazetteer.

Plenty of people in the Pu'er world tell its history. Most of it is legend. What Che Shun Hao can point to is the 1839 palace contest, the imperially brushed plaque, a trademark lost and won back, and the three Daoguang Tongbao coins still in Che Zhijie's hands.

183918th year of Daoguang
Che Shunlai, founder of Che Shun Hao
Che Shunlai · Founder of Che Shun Hao

A palace contest in the capital; a cup of tea at the Old Summer Palace

The capital held a top-tier tea competition. Che Shunlai brought fresh tea, aged tea and tea paste, advancing through the preliminary, second and palace rounds, and at the final tasting on the Peony Terrace of the Old Summer Palace, won unanimous praise from the Daoguang Emperor and his court.

Clear and mellow, rich and deep, soothing to the senses, with a long sweet finish — an auspicious treasure among teas. — The Daoguang Emperor

On the spot the Emperor granted the name Che Shun Hao and conferred the rank of tribute scholar with a fourth-rank honor, and brushed the four characters Rui Gong Tian Chao at his desk. A minister of the Imperial Household, Yu Xin, traveled to Yunnan to oversee the making of the plaque, carrying it to the Che residence in Yiwu, the source of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road. Che Shunlai held a ceremony to welcome it and celebrated for seven days and nights.

1839→Three coins
Daoguang Tongbao coins and tea vessel
Daoguang Tongbao coins · tea vessel

Three Daoguang Tongbao coins, handed down to today

To mark the imperial plaque, Che Shunlai bought three large Daoguang Tongbao coins and gave one to each of his three sons. The coins are still kept in the family today, a physical witness to Chinese tea culture. Not a story to be told, but objects the Che family hands down, generation after generation.

2005Fifth generation
Che Zhijie, fifth-generation keeper
Che Zhijie · Fifth-generation keeper

The trademark was taken — and won back.

After the trademark was registered out from under the family, fifth-generation keeper Che Zhijie fought to reclaim the brand and restarted Che Shun Hao. His credo — integrity is the life of Pu'er tea — is the opening line of this generation of Che Shun Hao. Today's Che Shun Hao sets out to revive the old imperial tribute-tea standard, quality over quantity, in the craftsman's spirit of restoring Pu'er tribute tea as it once was.

NowToday

A tea cake in the Palace Museum; a plaque in the old house in Yiwu.

The Palace Museum holds a Che Shun Hao tea cake, displayed as tribute tea. The old residence in Yiwu and the Rui Gong Tian Chao plaque are listed as national key cultural relics. And every spring's tea is still overseen by Che Zhijie himself, made by the old methods.

Imperial Honors

The first in the tea world — and the only one.

Across the world of Pu'er, few names can truly claim a link to the imperial court, and only Yiwu Che Shun Hao holds all of these honors and recognitions at once.

I

Tribute Scholar

In 1839 the Daoguang Emperor personally conferred the rank of tribute scholar on Che Shunlai.

II

Fourth-Rank Honor

The same year, a fourth-rank official title — a rare honor for a tea maker.

III

The Imperial Plaque

The Emperor brushed the four characters himself; a court minister oversaw the making and delivery to the old house in Yiwu.

IV

Appointed Tribute Tea

Che Shun Hao became an imperially appointed tribute-tea house, sending tribute each year.

V

Held by the Palace Museum

The Palace Museum keeps a Che Shun Hao tea cake, shown as tribute tea.

VI

National Cultural Relic

The old residence and plaque in Yiwu are listed as national key cultural relics.

Heritage in Frames

Heritage you can see, laid out on one table.

The imperial plaque, the family's old keepsakes, the tea cakes of the day, and a cup of old-tree Yiwu tea — the Che Shun Hao story isn't only on paper; it's still here on the table.

Rui Gong Tian Chao imperial plaque
Rui Gong Tian Chao · Imperial PlaqueBrushed by the Daoguang Emperor; still kept at the Che family home in Yiwu.
Rui Gong Tian Chao tea cake
Rui Gong Tian Chao · Tea CakeRaw Yiwu tea pressed the old way — still wrapped under those four characters.
Che Shun Hao old-house tea cake wrappers
An Old House · Cake WrappersCotton paper, seals, the house name — a stack of cakes carries the Che family's rules.
Daoguang Tongbao coins and tea vessel
Three Daoguang CoinsBought to mark the imperial plaque, given to three sons, still kept in the family.
Tea soup, up close
A Cup of TeaThe liquor of old-tree raw Yiwu tea — for those who sit down and sip slowly.
Yiwu Terroir · Terroir

Yiwu is one of the heartlands of Pu'er tea.

The Six Ancient Tea Mountains — Youle, Gedeng, Yibang, Mangzhi, Manzhuan and Mansa (today's Yiwu) — are the source of Pu'er. From the late Qing onward, the Pu'er gazetteer ranked Yiwu first among the six.

High in altitude and wrapped in mist all day, sunlight breaking over the leaves, rain and negative ions feeding the bones of the tea. This rare interplay of sun, cloud and rain gives Yiwu tea its signature lifted aroma, soft water.

Clear and mellow, rich and deep, a long sweet finish, soothing to the senses — an auspicious treasure among teas. — A line from Yiwu's tea history, of one source with Che Shun Hao
Old Arbor Trees

Trees from before 1949

Not terrace bushes, not shrubs, nothing planted after the 1960s. Deep-rooted old trees and a blessed climate make for rich content and many steeps.

Stone-Pressed Cakes

The Old Craft

Sun-dried, never baked. Pressed whole, never cut. 4–4.5 kg of fresh leaf for 1 kg of maocha. Spring and autumn are best.

The Che Shun Hao old residence in Yiwu with its heritage marker
The Che Shun Hao old residence in Yiwu · National key cultural relic
Lao Che on Tea

Fifth-generation keeper Che Zhijie — a few blunt words about raw Pu'er.

In the Pu'er world these days, nothing is more overused than the words aged tea. Che Zhijie doesn't buy it. Good tea, he says, rests on quality and traditional craft — not on simply sitting around long enough to be worth money.

  1. The harder someone pushes age, the more likely the fresh tea was poor. No amount of storage turns bad tea into good.
  2. Historically, Pu'er had no concept of aged tea. The conditions of the time simply didn't allow storing it in quantity.
  3. Older is always better has become a sales line for unscrupulous merchants pushing low-grade tea.
  4. Good tea doesn't need the older-is-better myth. Pu'er comes from nature — why would its flavor be limited to a shallow fragrance?
  5. What lets a tea keep and transform is quality and traditional craft. That's the foundation, not a gimmick.
There are fools in this world, but the tongue is never fooled.
— Lao Che on Tea

Four iron rules for how Che Shun Hao makes tea today: single material, no blending, no facing, honest through and through. No passing off lesser leaf as better, no green as raw — so Pu'er truly earns its place worth keeping.

Spring 2025 · Chang Jiu

2025 Chang Jiu · Old-Tree Yiwu Spring Tea · 400g Pressed Cake

Old-tree Yiwu spring tea, single material, no blending, round cake, cotton-paper wrap. Made 2025-05-16, batch X2505251, passed GB/T 22111-2008 testing by the Xishuangbanna inspection and certification institute.

24.9%Tea polyphenols
40.1%Water extract (≥35.0)
8.32%Moisture (≤13.0)
32 testspesticides: none detected
Appearance

Dark green · even and trim

Pressed just right, no flaking. Round cake, cotton paper, 400g each.

Character

Clean aroma · full flavor

Bright liquor, thick yellow-green spent leaf. Sun-dried the old way, meeting GB/T 22111-2008 for raw Pu'er pressed tea.

Safety

32 pesticides · none detected

DDT, BHC, pyrethroids, organophosphates and more — 32 pesticide residues, none detected. Heavy metals, pathogens and coliforms all pass.

See the teas → View the full lab report (PDF) → Want a taste · get in touch →
Tea Friends · Reach Out

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