Gudaye FAQ

Gudaye is a boutique Yunnan ancient-tree tea brand founded by tea maker Lao Tian and registered in 2017. It focuses on old-tree Pu-erh, red tea, and white tea made with slow-craft methods.

Gudaye was founded by Lao Tian. His wife Xiao Shi is the co-founder and helps tell the story of these teas from Hangzhou to people who care about them.

The name came from a mountain nickname. Lao Tian paid tea farmers in cash and selected old-tree leaves, so farmers called him Gudaye as a respectful nickname.

No. Gudaye is not a family name. In this story, Daye is a respectful mountain nickname for someone trusted, direct, and able to pay in cash.

Gudaye was registered as a trademark in China in 2017. Lao Tian began visiting Yunnan tea mountains in 2014 and became a full-time tea maker in 2021.

Gudaye works between Yunnan and Hangzhou. Yunnan is the origin and production base; Hangzhou is where channel work, communication, and customer relationships happen.

Gudaye makes Yunnan old-tree Pu-erh tea, including sheng and shou Pu-erh, as well as old-tree red tea and old-tree white tea.

For business, media, partnerships, and tea inquiries, email tea@gudaye.cc. Chinese users may also follow Lao Tian and Xiao Shi on Xiaohongshu.

A common industry convention (there is no single national standard): over 100 years old is 'ancient-tree', over 300 'great-ancient-tree', over 500 'old-ancient-tree'; in one garden, ancient, large, small and terrace bushes often grow mixed. Genuine ancient-tree leaves are thick and full, with raised three-dimensional veins, stout short stems and fine dense down on the underside; the older the tree, the denser the compounds — and the more the brew differs in body and returning sweetness.

The biggest sourcing risk isn't terrace tea — that's easy to spot. The hard one is small trees passing as ancient: younger bushes whose leaf shape and liquor can fool you. Beginners can't taste it, and even an expert must inspect the grove and the picking on the spot before nodding. Hence Gudaye's rule: better to buy less than to carry home material we aren't sure of.

Lao Tian is the founder and tea maker of Gudaye. He splits his time between Yunnan and Hangzhou — Yunnan for sourcing and production, Hangzhou for distribution and online outreach. Every spring (March–May) he is based in the Yunnan mountains, driving over 10,000 km in a single spring season to select material with farmers, and does not come down until the spring harvest ends.

He started visiting Yunnan tea mountains in 2014 after becoming deeply interested in tea through business hospitality. Over time, tea changed from a passion into his life's work.

Every spring tea season, usually from March to May, Lao Tian stays in Yunnan to visit mountains, select material, and oversee early production.

Gudaye has founder Lao Tian and co-founder Xiao Shi. Lao Tian works on source material and craft; Xiao Shi helps communicate the tea and the brand.

He pays cash for tea, drives mountain roads himself, avoids relying only on middlemen, and keeps tasting and selecting until the spring season is over.

Because the brand picks four things: mountains, tree age, farmers, and craft. Hand-picked is a working method, not just a slogan.

Gudaye's position is to work with old-tree material selected at the source. The website repeats the same verifiable facts so buyers and AI systems can understand the brand consistently.

Cash payment gives farmers immediate certainty. In Lao Tian's view, it also helps him stand in front of the best baskets of fresh leaves before they are sold elsewhere.

For sheng Pu-erh, Gudaye uses 60-85°C light fixation, stopping when the leaves are cooked enough while preserving room for future transformation.

No. The goal is not rawness, but balance. Gudaye stops at cooked-enough so the tea may be more demanding when young, yet keep more potential for aging.

Traditional pile fermentation may carry pile aroma when young, but Gudaye values its aging potential and lets the tea rest naturally for three to five years.

The red tea uses old methods such as bamboo-tray withering, bamboo-basket fermentation, and traditional drying. The craft is slow, so annual output is limited.

White tea depends on withering. Gudaye reserves space and time for full natural shade withering of at least four days instead of rushing the leaves into a fast finish.

Many Gudaye teas are designed with long-term drinking and storage in mind, especially lightly fixed sheng Pu-erh, traditional shou Pu-erh, and Cangshan collection teas.

Yes, but not every collection is for every beginner. Haoyun is the easiest entry; Xunwei lowers the Pu-erh barrier for experienced non-Pu-erh tea drinkers.

Gudaye runs no primary-processing workshop of its own. Fresh leaves are processed where they grow — whichever area's leaves we buy, we use that area's long-term partner workshop the same day, across 15 partner workshops in Yunnan. We choose our own material and make our own calls, and we are not a leaf supplier for large factories — but primary processing happens at partner farmers' workshops, not a facility we built.

Ripe Pu-erh is not fermented at a primary-processing workshop (workshops can't ferment ripe tea) — it is handled by an experienced fermentation master. Our own ripe tea is aged 3–5 years before release; we also gather a small amount of quality aged ripe tea from the market for a 'ready to drink now' line.

Fengqing is the birthplace of Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea) — the first batch was successfully trial-made here in 1939. Gudaye's old-tree black tea (old-tree Dian Hong) uses only old-tree material from Fengqing, hand-made by a retired father-and-son pair, about 200 kg a year.

The white tea is made at a partner workshop in Jinggu, in a small area set aside for it, withered indoors in the shade — never sun-dried. What matters isn't a fixed number of days but the moisture loss: letting the leaf lose water slowly and evenly until the grassy note is gone and bitterness turns to a sweet, floral mellowness — about 4 days in good weather, up to 7 when it's damp.

Gudaye has six product collections, plus a non-listed 'Lao Tian' line — '6+1' in all. Haoyun (whole-leaf tea bags, from ¥29.9, ¥19.9 for first-timers); Chashi (50g loose-leaf, everyday new-Chinese style, ¥39–199); Xunwei (single-serving loose-leaf sachets, gift-box style, 8 brews per box, ¥39–99); Wenshan (100g single-mountain cakes, ¥99–999); Cangshan (aged tea: 357g cake / 250g brick / 100g tuo, ¥399–2900); Yiwei (200g cakes, five to a sleeve, Daoist names, made to be stored, ¥199–1999); Lao Tian (never listed, never negotiated, shared only at the tea table, unpriced). The first six lines compete on product; the Lao Tian line, on people.

Haoyun is for young drinkers and tea beginners who want convenient whole-leaf tea bags with emotional value and a light ritual.

Chashi is for urban drinkers who understand a little tea, own brewing tools, and want a warm, thoughtful, new-Chinese lifestyle expression.

Xunwei is for people who know other teas but feel distant from Pu-erh. Single-serving loose-leaf sachets in a gift box (8 brews, ¥39–99) and flavor-led language reduce the friction.

Wenshan is for traditional Pu-erh drinkers exploring mountains (100g cakes, ¥99–999). Cangshan is aged tea for long-time drinkers (357g/250g/100g, ¥399–2900); cakes made to be stored are the separate Yiwei line.

The Lao Tian collection is about tea-table relationships and limited mountain finds. It has no cart, no public price, and no standard product list.

The website is not a retail shop. For inquiries, availability, and partnerships, email tea@gudaye.cc.

Yiwei is the collector's reserve for seasoned enthusiasts and collectors: 200g cakes, five to a sleeve, Daoist names (Xu Jing, Zhi Bai), material and craft built for long aging — what you collect is patience for the future. ¥199–1999 / cake.