2025 Yunnan - Wuliang mountain Ruanzhi wulong

Wuliangshan Qingxin Wulong Yunnan Province In 2013, I traveled to China for the second time, spending three months exploring the country on a tourist visa. The journey began in Sichuan, where I joined friends before we boarded an all-day bus ride into the majestic hills of Yunnan. Once they departed, I was free to wander — seeking out remote and hard-to-reach places at my own pace. It was in a hotel in Nanjian that fate intervened. I crossed paths with a group of Chinese scientists and offered them some fine black tea from Fengqing. In return, they invited me to dinner — where, for the first time in my life, I encountered puer tea served à la carte, sorted by vintage. Over the meal, I learned that these scientists were heading into the mountains to collect walnut samples near a tea plantation producing organic wulong — and that they personally knew the head of the factory. I could hardly believe it. That factory was the very reason I had come to town. The following morning, after a three-hour journey winding through the mountains, they dropped me off at the factory gates and promised to return in four hours. I had the place — and the tea — all to myself. That encounter brought the 2013 medium-roasted Wuliangshan wulong all the way back to Prague. Years later, I dusted off the old contact and this time placed my trust in the Ruanzhi cultivar — also known as Qingxin. It exceeded every expectation. The dry rolled leaves greet you with the warm scent of butter cookies. In the cup, the floral character is long-lasting and layered, with a wonderful, lingering aftertaste. Perhaps it is no coincidence — Chinese cherry trees grow among the tea bushes on this mountain, and one can only wonder whether their presence lends the tea its remarkable fragrance.