Top 10 places to buy tea in Beijing

Maliandao Tea Town

Maliandao Tea Town [File photo]

Founded in 2000, Maliandao Tea Town is located in the middle section of Maliandao Tea Street, which is often called "China's No. 1 tea street." The Tea Town, which covers 68,000 square meters, is a large-scaled market for tea wholesale and retail. This most famous of the ten "tea towns" in the street gathers more than 300 tea suppliers from across the country, offering over 500 varieties of tea, as well as tea wares and other handicrafts. It also showcases local tea ceremonies and rich Chinese tea cultures. At Maliandao, tea lover can find any tea they can imagine. Visitors are also allowed to sample teas as they decide whether to purchase.

Other tea towns in the 120,000-square-meter Maliandao Tea Street, in which more than 3,000 tea companies operate, include Jingmin Tea Town, Beijing International Tea Town, Qingxi Tea Town, Chayuan Tea Town and Jinghua Tea Town. Its annual sale revenues reach more than 4.2 billion yuan ($668.8 million), accounting for about 10 percent of the national total. It's one of the three largest tea distribution centers in the country.

Information:

Address: 11 Maliandao Road, Xicheng District, Beijing

How to get there: Take Subway Line 9 and get off at Liuliqiao Dong