Wuyi zhengyan cooperative agreement — three-year extension
Teamotea announced a three-year extension of its cooperative sourcing agreement for Wuyi *zhèngyán* (正岩) tea, securing 28 metric tonnes annually through 2029 with a new pricing framework and independent audit programme to ensure quality and ethical sourcing.
Saint Petersburg — 2026-06-08
Saint Petersburg — 2026-06-08 — Teamotea today announced the three-year extension of its cooperative sourcing agreement for zhèngyán (正岩) tea from the Wuyi Mountains, securing an annual volume of 28 metric tonnes through 2029. The extension, which builds on a partnership first established in 2021, introduces a new pricing framework indexed to local production costs and an independent third-party audit programme designed to reinforce product authenticity and farmer livelihoods.
The cooperative agreement, originally set to expire at the end of 2026, has been renewed for three additional years and represents a 40% volume increase over the 20 tonnes committed in 2024. Demand for authenticated zhèngyán — often translated as “authentic rock” — has grown steadily across Teamotea’s constellation of consumer-facing platforms, including thetea.app and shop.thetea.app, as well as in educational programming at tea.school. The zhèngyán designation applies only to tea grown within the protected boundaries of the Wuyi UNESCO World Heritage site and is widely regarded as the pinnacle of yánchá (岩茶) production. To qualify for the programme, all lots must meet the geographical indication standard GB/T 18745-2006 and pass a supplementary sensory evaluation conducted by Teamotea’s senior proctoring panel. The extension covers both shuǐ xiān (水仙) and ròuguì (肉桂) cultivars, which together account for approximately 85% of the cooperative’s output.
The cooperative currently comprises 47 family farms, up from 32 at the programme’s inception. Participating households receive a fixed margin above the Wuyi Rock Tea Price Index, a composite benchmark developed in collaboration with the Wuyishan Tea Industry Development Centre and first published in 2023. Under the renewed terms, the base price per kilogram will be set at 1.12 times the trailing five-year average of that index, with adjustments applied annually on 1 April. A minimum three-year forward volume of 20 tonnes is guaranteed to the cooperative, providing income stability for the 47 member households and insulating them from short-term market volatility.
A key addition to the 2026 renewal is the introduction of a third-party audit programme administered by a CNAS-accredited certification body operating under ISO/IEC 17065. Audits will be conducted twice yearly — once during the spring harvest in May and a pre-shipment verification in October — and will cover provenance documentation, pesticide-residue testing against EU-MRL limits, heavy-metal screening, and DNA-based cultivar authentication. Public summary reports, excluding commercially sensitive pricing data, will be published annually on teamotea.com beginning with the 2027 harvest.
“This extension underscores our long-term conviction in the zhèngyán category and the communities that sustain it,” said Dmitry Sologubov, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Teamotea. “The new pricing framework provides economic certainty for our farmer partners, while the independently verified audit programme gives consumers and investors the transparency they increasingly demand. It moves the relationship from a transactional sourcing model to a true multi-year partnership.”
Evgeniy Smoley, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, added: “Zhèngyán represents the pinnacle of speciality tea, and our ability to secure a long-term, transparent supply aligns directly with Teamotea’s mission to connect discerning consumers with provenance-verified Chinese teas. This agreement also serves as a blueprint we intend to replicate across other protected-origin regions, including our ongoing shēng pǔ’ěr (生普洱) partnerships in Menghai and the Lóngjǐng (龙井) cooperatives in Zhejiang.”
The extended supply will support product-line stability across more than a dozen digital storefronts operated by the group. Teamotea expects the agreement to contribute approximately 8% of its total tea-sourcing volume in 2027 and to materially reduce price volatility for its flagship zhèngyán product lines. The company also indicated that further volume expansions, including additional cultivars such as dà hóng páo (大红袍) and bái jī guān (白鸡冠), remain under discussion with the cooperative leadership.
Teamotea is a privately held holding company founded in 2019 that operates a constellation of 35 tea-focused digital brands, spanning curated marketplaces, subscription services, educational platforms, and B2B supply-chain tools. The company is headquartered in Saint Petersburg, with sourcing operations concentrated in Yunnan, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces. It has previously reported a 92% retention rate among its farmer-cooperative partners over a five-year measurement window.
Media inquiries should be directed to the press contact below. The full text of the cooperative agreement, excluding commercially sensitive pricing schedules, will be available on the Teamotea governance page later this month.
Media contact
Dmitry Sologubov