Although sales of pu'er tea have been hit by the global financial recession, it's time for China's tea industry to have its own brands, says Yang Shanxi, director of the Office of Tea Industry in the Yunnan provincial government.

He was speaking at the 4th Yunnan International Pu'er Tea Expo held in the provincial capital, Kunming.

The market already has some big names such as Taetea, Long Sheng, Long Run, and Colorful Yunnan. Of these, the Taetea Group is one of the strongest contenders. Its predecessor, Menghai Tea Factory, began production in 1940. In 2007, it became the first Chinese tea brand to have its ad broadcast on prime time on China Central Television (CCTV), at a cost of 56 million yuan ($8 million).

The Menghai Tea Factory was also the first to speed up the maturing of pu'er tea, in 1972. Under this process, the leaves are put under controlled humidity and temperature conditions.

Instead of several years, the new technique can get the tea ready for the market in less than three months, says Wang Hongbin of the Taetea Group.

The new kind of pu'er tea is called shou pu, or artificially matured pu'er. It is now widespread in the market.

"Pu'er tea used to be matured naturally while being transported on horseback from Yunnan to Tibet," Wang says. "But now that maturing process can be controlled and standardized."

Long Run is another big-name tea group in Yunnan and sold thousands of cakes to visitors to last year's Olympics.

Wang Bin, its deputy general manager, says while China produces different teas, pu'er "has stood the test of time".

"The tea endures storage, and one can taste culture and history in it."

The company has come up with some creative products like the "chacolate" - a tasty tablet made of pu'er tea and Yunnan olive that one can keep in the mouth and let melt slowly.

Owing to the big drop in the production of pu'er last year, the Yunnan government is trying to direct production and sales in the direction of dianhong, or Yunnan black tea.

"Although black tea consumption accounts for just 2-5 percent of overall consumption in China, it is a growing trend," says Wang Tianquan, GM of the Yunnan Dianhong Group.

The group used to export mainly to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Now, besides Poland, Russia, and countries of the Russian Federation, it also exports to Myanmar, the United States and the United Kingdom.

"We've hired top-level brand development experts," he says, adding that he believes dianhong will drive China's black tea growth.

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