Jason’s Tea Diary, Pt 1: Wonderful Jing Mai Pu-Erh

Writing & Photography by Jason Chen

The Trip to Jing Mai

In April of 2019, I took off on a 7:45 am flight from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Xishuangbanna, the southernmost airport in China. Four hours later, A Liang, a good friend, came to pick us up at the airport and then drive us to Jing Mai.

The mountain road was long and winding, the sun was shining, and the beautiful red phoenix flowers and bougainvillea grew on both sides of the road. At 5pm we arrived at the famous Dazhai area of Jing Mai, which is at a height of 1,250 meters.

A Liang’s family name is Dao, which means knife. Dao is also the surname of the Dai nobles, and A Liang or “Yan Liang” means “glowing rock.” The Dai People are known as silent, steady, and intelligent.  A Liang is an outstanding young Dai individual. A Liang’s mother is a village doctor; she once magically cured my bite from a poisonous insect using only honey and tea leaves from centuries old tea trees.

CC Fine Tea’s Jing Mai Pu-Erh Tea Source

A Liang’s family runs a tea business, an ancestral ancient tea garden, and a Pu-Erh tea factory. They follow the traditional Pu-Erh tea process and produce high-quality, Ancient-Tree Pu-Erh Tea which they supply to CC Fine Tea every year.

Jing Mai Old-Tree Pu-Erh is mellow, rich, and powerful like Pu-Erh from Lao Ban Zhang, yet soft and sweet like Yiwu Pu-Erh, and it can be brewed many times.

The Jing Mai tea area is 1,600 to 1,800 meters high and is part of the  Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. It has deep, fertile soil; the climate is warm and humid, and the original ecological environment is very good.

The ancient 2,000-acre wild tea forest is the largest contiguous ancient tea forest in China. There, the magical millennial tea trees and other plants live symbiotically in the mountains and forests, and are full of vitality. Jing Mai Pu-Erh Tea is truly fascinating.

Read Jason’s Tea Diary – Jing Mai Pt. 2!

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