沱茶从面上看似圆面包，从底下看似厚壁碗，中间下凹，颇具特色。沱茶的种类，依原料不同有绿茶沱茶和黑茶沱茶之分。绿茶沱茶是以较细嫩的晒青绿毛茶为原料，经蒸压而制成；黑茶沱茶是以普洱茶为原料，经蒸压而制成。用晒青绿茶压制而成的称云南沱茶；用普洱散茶压制而成的称云南普洱沱茶。
Tuo tea is of special characteristics. When looking from upside, it looks like a bread roll, and from the opposite side, it looks like a thick bowl with middle undercut. Due to different raw material, Tuo tea can be classified into greenteaTuo tea and black tea Tuo tea. While the green tea Tuo tea is taken from tender sun-dried green tea and autoclaved; Black tea Tuo tea is taken from Pu’er and autoclaved. The autoclaved sun-dried green tea is called Yunnan Tuo tea and the tea autoclaved from loose Pu’er tea is called Yunnan Pu’er Tuo tea.
沱茶的名称由来，传说很多。有的说，它过去都销往四川沱江一带，故而得名；有的说此茶古称团茶，沱是由团转化而来。云南沱茶产、制历史悠久，早在明代万历年间(公元1573-1620年)的《滇略》一书中就有记载，至今约有300年的历史。沱茶原产于云南省景谷县，又称“谷茶”。云南省下关(今大理市)茂恒、永昌祥等茶号相继生产后，又有谷庄与关庄之分。谷庄沱茶采用景谷县附近地区生产的滇青揉压；关庄沱茶采用滇西勐库茶(双江)、凤山茶(凤庆)、大山茶(西双版纳、思茅)等地滇青在下关设厂拼配、揉制，其品质胜于谷庄，因而后来逐步取代了谷庄沱茶。近40年来，云南沱茶集中于下关制造。
Many stories tell of Tuo tea’s origin. One versionsaid that this tea was sold in Tuojiang river in Sichuan in the past, so it was named Tuo tea; another version went that this tea was called Tuan tea and changed into Tuo tea. Yunnan is the hometown of Tuo tea, it has a long history of tea production and manufacturing. As early as the Wanli period of Ming dynasty (A.D. 1573-1573), “Yunnan record” wrote about Tuo tea, which had a history of about 300 years. Tuo tea originated in Jinggu County of Yunnan Province, it was also called “Gu tea”. Afterwards, tea shops like Maoheng, Yongchangxiang appeared in Xiaguan(now Dali) in succession, and there were Guzhuang and Guanzhuang Tuo tea. Guzhuang Tuo tea was made of green tea in the regionnear Jinggu County; Guanzhuang Tuo tea was made of Mengku tea(Shuangjiang) in west Yunnan, Fengshan tea(Feng Qing) and Dashan tea(Xishuangbanna, Simao) after mixing and kneading all of them. So, it had a higherquality than Guzhuang Tuo tea, and then gradually replaced it. In recent 40 years, the manufacturing of Yunnan Tuo tea mainly took placein Xiaguan.

云南沱茶，以一、二级滇青为原料，蒸压成碗形，外径8厘米，高4.5厘米，外观显毫，品质最好的是“特级沱茶”，香气馥，滋味醇厚，喉味回甘，汤色橙黄明亮。用普洱散茶蒸压而成的云南普洱沱茶，外形紧结，色泽褐红，有独特的陈香，滋味醇厚回甘，汤色红浓明亮。普洱沱茶运销海内外，颇受消费者欢迎。法国巴黎医学家给20位血脂过高的病人一天喝三碗普洱沱茶，1个月后，病人的血脂下降了22%，疗效显著。
Yunnan Tuo tea takes first and second levelgreen tea as its raw material, and it is autoclaved into a bowl shape with outer diameter 8 cm, height 4.5 cm. The highest quality is “Super Tuo tea”, with fragrantaroma,mellow taste, sweet throat flavor,  andbright orange soup. Yunnan Pu’er Tuo tea is autoclavedfrom loose Pu’er tea, it is of tightappearance, brown red color, unique fragrantaroma, mellowtaste, and red thick bright soup. Pu’er Tuo tea enjoys markets at home and abroad, it is quite popular with consumers. Paris therapistsmade a research that 20 patients with high blood lipid drank three bowls of Pu’er Tuo tea, after one month, the patients’ blood fat dropped by 22%, which showed its remarkable effect.
沱茶除云南主产外，四川重庆也有生产，依所用原料的优次分为“特级重庆沱茶”、“重庆沱茶”和“山城沱茶”三种。四川沱茶的重量分50克、100克和250克三种规格。
Tuo tea is mainly made in Yunnan, also in Chongqing, Sichuan. According to different raw materials, the tea in Chongqing can be classified into three categories: “Super ChongqingTuo tea”, “Chongqing Tuo tea” and “Shancheng Tuo tea”. Sichuan Tuo teaweigh 50 grams, 100 grams and 250 grams.