Meng Ying met Sister Yuming in 2023 during Dai Minority New Year celebrations (April) in her village on Jingmaishan, roughly 200 km from Pu'er City, Southern Yunnan.
She was immediately drawn by this slowly crafted, primeval tea made by Sister Yuming according to Dai minority's old knowledge. They made friends and Meng Ying stayed there for a month learning and volunteering at her house, tea mountain and tea workshop. This was the first of many visits in which I had the pleasure to join. The local people harvest it at Qing Ming Festival, from the old trees on Jingmaishan, some of them among the oldest in the world at 1700 years of age. Old trees have that unique "crab foot" ending as you can see it in the photo. The leaves are large, but release plenty of oil, or juice when processed. After the "kill the green phase" to stop oxidation, they are baked on large woks and left to dry on bamboo rafts. They are then compressed in tea biscuits or cakes of mainly small and medium sizes: here we sell small biscuit samples of about 8 grams. Sister Yuming steeps the tea bricks every day in local primitive but wooden-fired earthenware that gives the tea a rocky, roasty, forest-like flavor. I usually steep half a small biscuit in a small tea pot and the flavor lasts for at least 8 infusions. It is bittersweet to the tongue, with a little pinch of honey and peanuts, honest and reinvigorating, but not aggressive at all. It just renews my vision, gently alerts my eyes, sharpens and clears my mind while I am studying or reading.