Insight
What is Chunmee tea?
Chunmee, also written Chun Mee, is a refined Chinese green tea with a slender, slightly curved leaf — the name means eyebrow tea. It is produced mainly in Zhejiang and Anhui and is the second green tea category after gunpowder in West African trade, as well as the principal green grade moving into Central Asia. The liquor is a clear light gold, lighter than gunpowder.
Like gunpowder, Chunmee grade codes describe the finished make after refining and screening. The number is a specification of leaf shape, size grading and broken content, not a statement about garden or harvest.
| Grade | Make | Typical role | Principal markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41022 | Standard export make | The widest-traded grade | West Africa, Central Asia |
| 9371 | Fine make | Step above the 936x series | Uzbekistan, Central Asia |
| 9366 | Standard | Volume grade | West Africa |
| 9367 / 9368 / 9369 | Descending make | Blending and price-led lots | Blending, re-export |
How does Chunmee differ from gunpowder in the cup?
Gunpowder is rolled into pellets that release slowly and hold up to repeated infusion; Chunmee is an open, slender leaf that opens faster and gives a lighter, clearer liquor. In markets that brew three rounds from one charge of leaf, that difference is commercial: it changes how much leaf a household uses per pot and therefore the effective cost in use.
Buyers frequently run both. Gunpowder carries the traditional preparation; Chunmee serves blending, bagging and the lighter end of the retail range.
Where is Chunmee demand growing?
Central Asia. Uzbekistan took 29,217.4 tonnes of Chinese tea in 2025, up 17.3% — second only to Morocco by volume among China's ten largest markets and ninth by value. Uzbekistan is landlocked, so this site quotes it by rail through the Khorgos–Altynkol corridor rather than by sea.
Rail changes the packing brief. Transit humidity, handling profile and pallet configuration differ from a container moving Ningbo to Casablanca, and moisture control at or below 7.0% has to survive a different journey.
West Africa remains the volume base. Senegal, at 24,000 tonnes and USD 4,024.6 per tonne in 2025, and Ghana, at USD 72.4 million with 99.92% green tea, both run Chunmee alongside gunpowder.