Yunnan

Yunnan lies in southwestern China, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar — a plateau of range upon range, threaded by the Lancang river (the upper Mekong). Scholars regard it as the original homeland of the tea plant on earth.

In the old-growth forests of Xishuangbanna, Lincang, and Pu'er, tea trees thousands of years old still live — humanity's 'ancestor trees' of tea. Yunnan is the source of the Tea Horse Road, the trade route that carried tea across Asia more than a thousand years ago.

Its soils are red earth and humus-rich forest soil, deep in profile; the climate stratifies with elevation, sunny by day and cold by night, and the ancient forest shelters the broad-leaf tea varietal so it gathers potent compounds — the basis for a thick flavour and the capacity to age for years.

Yunnan is the homeland of pu-erh: tea pressed into cakes and aged as microbes transform it. Raw pu-erh grows more precious with time; ripe pu-erh is pile-fermented for a warm, deep fragrance. From the same ancient trees also comes Dianhong black tea, richly honey-sweet.

This is among China's most ethnically diverse regions — the Blang, Dai, Hani, Yi and more, each with its own tea customs; many peoples revere the tea tree as a deity, binding tea to belief and festival. The cultures of 'eating tea' and 'worshipping the tea ancestor' endure.

The rugged terrain once made trade depend on caravans of packhorses; today expressways and railways link Yunnan to the whole country and Southeast Asia. Pu-erh has become a collectible valued like fine wine, bringing substantial income to the mountains.

Ancient-tree tea from the early-spring flush is most prized; renowned mountains such as Bingdao, Lao Banzhang, Yiwu and Jingmai each carry their own 'mountain rhythm'. Pu-erh is pressed into cakes and paper-wrapped for long keeping.

Pu-erh grows more precious with proper storage (dry, airy, odour-free); aged raw tea and single-ancient-tree cakes fetch very high prices. Rinse once or twice before steeping; collecting pu-erh is now like collecting fine wine, so choose trusted sources to avoid faked age.