How can you capture the essence of a high altitude rainforest in a tea leaf? Why have some tea groves survived for hundreds of years without any need of fertilizers or pesticides? How do you keep tea trees producing top quality leaves year after year?
These are some notes from my conversations with tea masters Weng Shangyi, Yang Si, Men Er and Da Zhen. All pictures were taken in their groves.
Tea farmers pluck the best blossoms early in spring; it is only fair to share some of the rest with the “other folks” in the grove.
She also likes the tea leaves in Da Zhen's grove (Anji)
Bug bites are good news in older leaves of Master Weng Shangyi's Long Jing tea bushes.
Flowers, lichens, moss… the richness of a high altitude rainforest is captured in every tea leaf that grows there. This diversity, along with the substrates in the terroir, makes the difference between good and sublime tea.
Lichen covers the trunk of tea master Yang Si's centuries-old tea trees in Nannuo Mountain.
Flowers like these grow wild next to tea master Men Er's groves in Nannuo Mountain.
Healthy tea groves are defined by more than just plants.
Happy spider spinning its web on a tea bush, next to a field of wild chrysanthemum (by tea master Zhan Zimei's home).
One of the neighbors in tea master Da Zhen's tea plantations (Anji).
If your grove lies under the canopy of taller trees, the soil will be rich.
Giant trees like these provide shade and enrich the soil of tea master Yang Si's groves in Nannuo Mountain.
The "ocean of bamboo", as it is called in China, nourishes Da Zhen's tea groves in the province of Zhejiang.
Old trees, like old friends, are best.
Men Er, Pedro Villalon and Yang Si under the "King Tea Tree" in Nannuo Mountain.
