Fengqing 鳳慶

Fengqing is a county in Lincang, Yunnan, and one of Yunnan's classic tea areas, with high elevations, mist, regular rainfall, and rich concentrations of gushu 古樹 ancient tea trees (well over 100 years old, some over 300). It is home to the Xiangzhuqing tea tree, about 3,200 years old and considered the oldest tea tree in the world, and it is where dian hong was first made, in the late 1930s.

Much of the material grows naturally in the forest, in the yesheng 野生 approach, and the majority of tea here is produced without fertilizers or pesticides. Fengqing has 17 yesheng ancient tree communities covering about 2,100 hectares, alongside about 2,700 hectares of cultivated ancient gardens.

Fengqing is one of our first two sourcing origins in the province. Much of our work there runs through Master Wang, a tea maker based in Zhonghe, in the high-altitude part of the county. Master Wang has spent his entire life making tea in this part of Yunnan, and was one of the first makers we began working with after founding ho yum tea. He is officially recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor for tea processing, and is regularly invited to teach farmers across Yunnan, and he also lectures. Despite this recognition, his own production remains relatively small: a family workshop he runs together with his wife.

Master Wang's specialty is oxidation and fermentation. Whether a batch becomes dian hong, shai hong, or shu pu'er, the fermentation is natural, with no additives. One thing we have learned over the years is that Fengqing's humid environment is less suitable for aging shu pu'er on site – the tea ages better once moved to locations such as Kunming or Menghai. In our case, we now age it in our dedicated pu'er aging room in Xiamen, where conditions are more closely monitored.

Our relationship with Master Wang goes back to the early years of ho yum tea. He is one of the three largest contributors to our Blind Tasting Club over the years, and during the pandemic we took part in a knowledge exchange with farmers outside China. For years he was our only shu pu'er producer. That is no longer the case, but we still sell a lot of his shu pu'er.

We test his shu pu'er for mold and yeast, and no traces have ever been detected. For shu pu'er this matters even more than pesticide testing, and like pesticide testing it is barely enforced in the tea trade worldwide, although mold and yeast can be dangerous to human health.

Master Wang has never used pesticides or chemical fertilizers in his life. He and his wife live a sustainable life on their farm at 2,075 meters, composting food scraps in the gardens, producing very little waste, and cooking simple, nutritious food.

Fengqing is also home to a strong Bai minority community (Baizu 白族). One of our sources is a third-generation Bai family who make tea on their own mountains, keeping every step, from cultivation to processing, within the family. Our preference is their dian hong and shai hong, and in recent years they began making gaoshan 高山 white tea from their highest-altitude ancient trees, tea we reserve in advance. The loose-leaf batch we offer exists because we asked the family to reserve part of the harvest for us.

For anyone beginning to learn Yunnan tea, Fengqing is where we often point first. These teas offer high value for money, and make a natural entry-point into the unique character this county is known for. Fengqing sheng pu'er is priced well below Yiwu. After five to ten years of aging, semi-aged Fengqing sheng can come close to Yiwu in character, and that is when we release it.

We do not offer young Fengqing sheng, or factory editions whose source and maker we do not know first hand. The price gap with Yiwu reflects fame, not the tea, which is why semi-aged Fengqing sheng is a good place for a beginner to start.