Jada HiggsVisiting Yunnan: Explorations with our Director of Tea

This past March, I had the pleasure of traveling to China. My two week journey was spent in the Yunnan Province visiting Xishuangbanna, Kunming, Yiwu, Menghai, and Dali. Though I’ve been to tea producing countries before - Japan, Thailand, South Korea, New Zealand - this experience immediately felt different as it was my first time doing this type of travel for business.

I was so excited, almost overwhelmed, to begin my journey scratching the surface of China’s rich culture: to walk the land, taste as many teas as possible, and to meet the producers - or forest keepers as they like to call themselves - who I’d know from afar, Vivian and Lorenzo. After many email communications and video chats, it was long overdue to finally meet in person. They’re both so passionate and knowledgeable about tea, its history and culture, and preserving the land on which it is grown. The warmest souls; it felt like I was reconnecting with old friends.

The group in Yiwu after exploring Tea Horse Road

Workshop Day

This was an intense day of back-to-back sessions related to tea preparation, brewing, and culture. As a lover of learning, my notebook and pen were ready to jot down all the knowledge I would gain that day.

The first workshop was on the traditional tea ceremony with Jiajia. She taught us the proper way to place the setting for a gongfu ceremony: where each item is placed and in which direction, how to sit, which direction to pour water and pass cups, and to always remember to serve yourself, the brewer, last.

The second workshop was with Vivian and focused on the relationship between tea and incense. During this workshop, we smelled a variety of natural incense made from herbs. We learned how incense evolved from a sacrificial, religious tool to, more recently, a luxury product. In China, incense is believed to be felt vertically in the body while tea can be felt both vertically and horizontally.

The last workshop of the day was focused on Yixing clay with HaiBo. Brewing with Yixing clay teapots is very common in China. They are sometimes used more often than gaiwans. These teapots come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Each one has a specific use and can alter the flavor experience of the brewed tea.

Osmanthus Trees

Laoman’e Mountain was very quaint and quiet and home to many monks. The King and Queen Tree¹ stand right next to one another and are 100+ years old. Both trees still produce about 2-3kg of tea per year and all the money from the tea sale goes to the surrounding temples.

As we walked, an intense yet heavenly scent stopped many of us in our tracks. Easily becoming drawn in and delighted, we learned that the smell came from the tiny yellow Osmanthus flowers. I’d never smelled or tasted Osmanthus before and was stunned to find out that it was often used to scent tea, used in local noodle dishes, and could even be used to create incense. The smell is so captivating - intense but delicate - and honestly makes me feel an extreme amount of joy, almost like the sun is beaming down on me.

Tea Forest

Walking through tea forests and mountains is truly breathtaking. Seeing tea trees at different stages of life and heights puts a lot into perspective. Learning that each mountain has their own history, aromatic and flavor characteristics of the leaves and their own King/Queen Ancient Tree was so insightful. In the mountains, your senses are heightened due to the high elevations, which provides an intense, full body, immersive experience.

• Sight - Greenery, vibrant tea buds, flowers, bamboo trees, banana trees, butterflies.
• Smell - Fresh leaves, crisp air, minerality, spring water.
• Sound - The soft crackling of swaying bamboo trees. Like a cool breeze, the trees stood firm all while being flexible being led by nature.
• Touch - The dew of the tea mountain mist on the skin. The slightest bit of dampness that is refreshing and almost luxurious, left the skin exposed to it very supple.
• Taste - Each tea that comes from the mountains has its own distinct taste. Sweet, crisp, stonefruit, florals, molasses, brown sugar, honey, sweet milk, nutty, cocoa, woody.

Tea plants throughout the mountains: Nannou and Lu’an

Tea Processing

The time of my visit was before harvest season really began, but there were still some opportunities to see tea processing steps in action. March in Yunnan is slower with small harvesting and production conducted as the calm before the storm.

Tea processing steps include withering, fixing, rolling, oxidation and drying. All teas go through some, if not all, of these steps, depending on the tea type. There are special processing steps for particular teas but now, we’ll focus on the basics.

Day 1: We began our ascension into Nannuo Mountain and were greeted by tea leaves on large bamboo discs being withered. Withering is the process of releasing moisture from the leaves. Withering can be done in the sun, in the shade, or a combination of both.

Day 10: Bags of fresh harvested leaves were brought in and dumped into the wooden holding bins before any processing began. The fresh leaves were vibrant green and smelled extremely earthy and fresh. So fresh that there were even little green worms, which I believe are called cankerworms, squirming through the leaves. Popping a few fresh leaves in my mouth, they tasted very vegetal, like spinach, with a slightly tangy zest at the end.

Day 11: Walking through historic Yiwu, on the way to a local museum, we stumbled upon a mother and son in their front yard cooking something. Politely peeking in, a basket of tea leaves were in sight. The son was fixing the leaves. Fixing is the process of heating the leaves to “kill green.”

Tea leaves withering; overlooking the mountain.

Fresh tea leaves, just harvested, ready for the next step!

Notes worth mentioning:

1. Tea: all day, every day, everywhere.
2. The people of Yunnan are so welcoming, curious, and warm.
3. There is coffee in Yunnan as well, specifically in Baoshan.
4. Dali is extremely beautiful and serene.
5. Spirituality is huge and influences many things and ways of life.

China’s culture is rich, deep, full of tradition and I cannot wait to return!

1. 1Essentially the King and Queen trees are the oldest trees on a mountain. Each mountain can have their own King and Queen