The leaves for this cake were selected from ancient tea trees along the 1500m-high Jingmai Mountain and were processed using solely traditional methods. It is a spring-harvest tea, which coincides with Yunnan’s dry season: lower precipitation and high sunshine contributed to the formation and accumulation of abundant aromatic substances in the leaves.

The first impression upon opening the cotton wrapper is the unique orchid fragrance of the Jingmai leaves. This aroma is more prominent on this cake than in other harvests, and lingers through as many as six steeps. The first infusion is soft with a fresh aroma, and thee taste mellows out in later steeps. It comes with a slight bitterness when tasted, though this quickly dissipates after swallowing. The orchid fragrance, however, remains in the cup for quite a while afterwards.

Recommend Brewing Method

Cup Method Chinese Gongfu Method Teacup: 12oz / 355ml Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml 203℉ / 95℃ 203℉ / 95℃ 5g Tea 8g Tea Brewing time: 5 - 8 mins 12 steeps: rinse, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 90s, 120s, 150s, 180s, 220s, 260s Rinse time is around 5 seconds

Tea Garden

The Jingmai Mountain Tea Area is located along the southwestern edge of Yunnan Province. It covers 10,000 acres of ancient arbor tea trees, and is the Millennium Tea Mountain of Pu-erh Tea. At an altitude of 1000-1700m above sea level the garden enjoys a calm, quiet environment, constantly enshrouded in mist and with fertile soil: the ecological environment here is of the highest quality for growing tea.

Landscape of Jingmai Mountain

The ancient trees grow naturally in the surrounding forest, still in their ecosystem with the other plants found here. The dry branches and fallen leaves along the earth protect the organic fertilizer rich in the soil, and the diversity of animals and insects helps to eliminate pests and diseases that might plague other tea gardens. As a result, this tea garden never needs to use pesticides or fertilizers: the unique orchid fragrance of Jingmai pu-erh comes from this beautiful natural interaction.

Moss, vines, wild fungi, and other things blanket the ancient tree branches here. The most famous is the Pangxie Jiao, a wild parasite unique to Jingmai Mountain ancient tea trees. It is said that it can only be found on tea trees of multiple hundreds of years of age, and that it contains a huge variety of organic compounds with high nutritional value.

Pang Xie Jiao

The trees growing here are very tall due to their age, and as such, the leaves are scattered throughout the canopy and difficult to pick: a skilled tea maker can harvest a few pounds each day. Usually the leaves here are picked by old women, 70-80 years of age.

In order to help preserve the natural environment here, the roads of the mountain are paved with stones instead of asphalt.

Tea Farmer

Tea is the symbol of Jingmai. People here have lived alongside it for thousands of years, with their descendants faithfully following the traditions of planting, picking, and producing tea. Xiaoyu, a Dai girl born to a family of tea farmers, has handled the plant since she was a child; over the years as a result she has acquired a rich tea-making experience. The ancient trees of her family have been passed down along generations.

Holding to the traditional principles of making top-quality tea, she continues the processes passed down from her ancestors so that more people can know and understand the inherent quality of Jingmai ancient tea trees.

Origin

Pu’er City, formerly known as Simao, is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan province. The elevation here ranges between 300 and 3400m above sea level, and the entire area is home to a vast range of ancient tea trees. This city was identified as the original hometown of pu-erh, as well as the birthplace of tea as a whole. It houses a rich variety of resources, divided into three general types: original wild ancient tea trees and populations; transitive-type trees; and cultivation-type trees.

These trees grow mainly in high altitudes within ancient forests, with all of the region’s natural ecosystems well-protected to ensure and maintain quality. According to the 2007 satellite survey results, these resources cover more than 100mu in Pu’er City.

Tea Bush

A feature of Jingmai tea is its medium- and small-leaf types. They are easier to distinguish from other varieties of tea due to this size difference. Yunnan has a unique advantage in its geography, in that its abundant rainfall and prime temperature are perfect for planting these types of trees. The leaves from these trees are abundant in polyphenols, catechins, amino acids, and caffeine.

History

Pu-erh is one of the oldest types of tea in China with a history stretching back over 1700 years to the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the tea was called Jing Cha. It is named after the town of Pu’er in Yunnan province, which was originally the early trading center for this tea. In early history pu-erh was used as a bartering currency in southwest China, with the famed Cha Ma Gu Dao, the Tea Horse Road, being built for the purpose of transporting this tea through the Himalayas to other countries and areas in Tibet.