The six famous tea mountains are a group of mountains in Xishuangbanna that are renowned for their climates and environments, which not only provide excellent growing conditions for Pu-erh, but also produce unique taste profiles (akin to terror in wine) in the produced pu-erh tea.

Pu-erh tea, known as "dark tea" or "black tea" in China, is a semi-rare type of tea that is made in Yunnan, China. In the West, pu-erh tea is known for its health benefits. 

One of the more distinctive characteristics of pu-erh tea is in many shapes. Pu-erh commonly comes in shaped forms, such as bricks, cakes (which are disc-shaped and also known as "bing cha") and "tuo cha" (which are shaped like tiny bowls). These shapes make the transport and storage of pu-erh convenient.

In traditional Chinese herbalism, pu-erh tea is considered to open the meridians, "warm the middle burner" (the spleen and stomach) and be beneficial to "blood cleansing" and digestion. For these reasons, it is often consumed after heavy meals or drunk as a hangover cure / preventative. Some studies have shown that pu-erh may lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and increase metabolism.