Ancient Tea Plantations of Pu'er

From my base at Kunming, it’s a 1 hour flight to the south-west town of Lancang close to the Myanmar border to get to Jingmai Mountain for the Ancient Pu’er tea plantation. For some reasons, both my flights to and from Lancang were delayed 2-3 hours. This seems to be the routine occurrence as I was told by my Lancang driver that it was due to airline trying to sell some last minute tickets. The Lancang airport is small with only 2-3 flights a days. Upon arrival, it’s easy to make arrangements with the airport taxis for a 5-6 hrs drive/tour of world heritage Jingmai Mountain to marvel at the ancestors of Pu’er tea plantation. Not quite one would expect of neatly manicured rows of tea growths as often presented in tea plantation pictures but, it’s almost like tea grown in the wild, and for the casual tourist, just a walk in the garden. Still, here is where one find the ancient tea trees and the beginning of the Old Tea Horse Road. To me, it’s China’s answer to Italy’s Val d’ Orcia…that is ‘what’s Jingmai Mountain to tea in China is what Val d’ Orcia in Tuscany to wine in Italy.

The drive out to Jingmai Mountain for the ancient tea plantation will include visits of some of the tribal villages of the Dai, Blang, Hani and Lahu tribes and further appreciation of their tea processing techniques and way of life. 

I am on a business trip to Hong Kong last week and decided to take a few days before to visit a site in China. After much deliberation, I decided to visit Jingmai mountain for the Pu'er tea. Pu'er is the de regueur tea at all Chinese restaurants in the US and you drink it over and over. So its time to find out where it comes from.

The first major surprise is that the plane ride ends up at JingHong via Kunming in Yunnan Province. This city is so far south that its near the border with Thailand and not surprisingly was the former capital of the local Tai kingdom. Looking at the map, its further south than Pu'er city (Simao) by a hundred Km.

The second major surprise is that instead of being a frontier town, it is a modern city of half a million with wide boulevards and very Thai architecture and not Chinese. Walking around the city center you see a lot of European fancy cars and wonder if the proximity to the Thai/Laos/Burmese border contributes to the wealth here.

The next day, a driver/guide took me for a 3.5 hour ride south west of town into the Jingmai mountain. The vegetation went from farm lands and as you gradually climb the mountain, you begin to see the traditional tea estates. After passing Jingmai village, the road ends (blocked) at the top of the mountain and there is a map that indicates where the old growth …

I'm lucky to have been part of an assessment team to visit the site early July 2013.

The mountain area is supposed to be an excellent example of tea cultural landscape - where tea culture, Hirayana Buddhism and traditional folk culture of Dai, Bulang, Yi and Lahu minorities have joined together to shape a beautiful landscape.

Among the traditional villages inspected, the best ones are Nuogan and Wengji - whose houses have the least intervention, and visual integrity not compromised.