The Terroir of Mengding Mountain
Spanning the transition zone between the Chengdu Plain and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Mengding Mountain holds an extraordinary place in Chinese tea history. Situated at high elevations between 1,000 and 1,500 metres, the tea gardens sit where cold mountain air meets warm lowland currents, creating regular mists around the peaks. This soft, diffused light slows growth and allows leaves to build up rich interior compounds.
Underneath the soil lies a foundation of weathered red sandstone. The native Lao Chuan Cha (老川茶) tea bushes—many around 80 years old—extend their roots deep into the rock layers, absorbing minerals from the stone. Because red sandstone drains water efficiently, the tea plants retain minimal cold, damp moisture. Combined with southeast-facing slopes that capture ample sunlight, Mengding Mountain naturally imbues its tea with what ancient texts describe as a fully solar, warming character.
A Heritage Journey
Master Gao Huasong's path to tea began on Mengding Mountain, where he sought out traditional elders to preserve historical hand-processing techniques. He formally apprenticed under Huang Qihua, a master artisan from Mengding Mountain, learning to bare-hand pan-fire raw leaves in scorching woks and master charcoal roasting. He later studied under renowned Sichuan tea master Jiang Zhaoyi and audited tea science and biochemistry at Sichuan Agricultural University.
Driven by a determination to keep ancient techniques alive, Master Gao established the Zhen Yuan Handcrafted Tea Workshop in a renovated brick-and-wood courtyard. Today, as an official municipal heritage inheritor of the Mengshan tea crafting method, he continues to champion small-batch, handcrafted teas over industrial processing. His work has won top honours, including awards at national green and black tea processing competitions.
The Spring Harvest
High on Mengding Mountain, the native Lao Chuan Cha bushes wake up significantly later than lowland varieties, making their harvest timeline unique. For this particular tea, the harvest began on 7 April 2026 across high-altitude plots above 1,000 metres.
Having spent the cold winter storing reserves of L-theanine and essential amino acids in their root systems, these old bushes push their nutrients into the first spring flush. Picking on clear days allows Master Gao to harvest leaves that are naturally sweet, highly aromatic, and low in astringency.
"茶只有去掉它的寒性之后才能真正滋润我们的身心健康……"
"Only after its cold nature is fully transformed can tea truly nourish our physical and mental health. Many teas do not have their coldness fully transformed, and drinking them over long periods can affect bodily health."
The Craft: Artisanal Yellow Tea (Men Huang)
Creating authentic yellow tea (huángchá) requires a rare degree of skill. Master Gao applies a traditional "Three Pan-Fires, Three Smothers" (三炒三焖) procedure that takes around three days to complete, combining sun-withering, dry-smothering, and wet-smothering techniques followed by 20 to 30 hours of slow roasting:
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Fire and Energy: Leaves are pan-fired over wood fuel and dried over charcoal. Traditional firewood and charcoal heat provides a deep, stabilizing warmth that transforms the raw, cold nature of the leaf.
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Micro-Oxidation & Balance: Through carefully monitored yellowing (mēn huáng), the green harshness is dispelled, enriching the tea with flavonoids. Master Gao adjusts the humidity and temperature at every step to produce a tea designed to feel soothing, warming, and comfortable on the body.
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Paper-Wrapped Smothering (Bao Huang): Between pan-firings while the leaves are still warm and humid, small bundles are wrapped tightly in traditional straw-pulp paper. This breathable paper trapping retains gentle heat and moisture inside the parcel, encouraging subtle enzymatic micro-oxidation while allowing excess steam to escape slowly.
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Laborious & Highly Technical: Hand-firing and smothering leaves over three full days requires constant physical presence and sensory judgment. Regulating heat purely by hand while controlling the micro-oxidation of every batch is exceptionally demanding and impossible to scale commercially, keeping each harvest to small, artisan quantities.
"真正的好茶源于自然"
"Truly exceptional tea originates from nature; truly exceptional tea nourishes both body and mind."
— Master Gao, Zhen Yuan Handcrafted Tea Workshop
