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Tea Spirit Guardians Indigenous Chinese growers cultivate the world's oldest tea forests to produce "Drinkable Gold"

By Justin Jin (Full text available on request)

A family had gathered in front of an millenium-old tree on Jingmai mountain, chanting a prayer in the Blang people’s language, spoken by the Indigenous community throughout this region where five tea forests—collectively the oldest and largest on the planet—are cultivated. To the untrained eye, the tree might have been merely part of a forest in southwestern China. But for the family, it was the heart of a living shrine: They prayed to their Tea Spirit Tree, asking an ancestor, now considered a deity, to deliver a strong harvest.

A Jingmai tea gtowing family pray to their Tea Spirit Tree, the oldest and largest in their plantation atop Aileng Peak. For tea producers of Blang descent, cultivation is infused with spirituality. They honor the tea forest as a shrine. In Jingmai, tea trees are allowed to grow freely inside a real forest that protects them. Here, the tree measures 1.4 meters wide in the trunk. The tree is dated to around 1,000 years old. For this family, tea is an offering to the gods.

This photo-text journey takes us deep into Jingmai Mountain, home to the world's oldest tea forest, where trees over a millennium old still produce the coveted Pu'er tea. Through drought and prosperity, traditional wisdom and modern markets, UNESCO recognition and climate challenges, we witness how one Indigenous community's unwavering devotion to their ancestral practices has transformed "drinkable gold" into both cultural preservation and economic triumph. Their story reminds us that some treasures grow stronger with time, if we stay true to the mission.

Tea is the world’s most popular beverage after water. Globally, people drink an estimated 45 billion gallons of it each year in a wide range of styles, from green to black and oolong. While these varieties exist because of different processing techniques, they all originate from the same fundamental ingredient: Camellia sinensis.

Situated 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, Jingmai’s tea forests are often shrouded in fog and benefit from cool temperatures that allow tea trees to develop leaves with complex flavors. The area’s remote location also helped protect it from development during China’s industrial farming boom in the 20th century. Today Jingmai’s Pu’er tea, with its nutty, bitter taste, is valued among connoisseurs.
In a Jingmai home, Blang tea growers sort freshly picked leaves to begin the process of making tea cakes. They are derived from Camellia sinensis var. assamica, used to produce different styles of black tea. For Pu’er, growers hand-roll leaves, essential for developing complex flavors during fermentation.
UNESCO recognized this mountain for its exceptionally preserved traditional architecture, a factor in designating the mountain as a World Heritage site.
Blang tea growers prayed for relief during a festival on Jingmai’s Aileng Peak.
At Jingmai’s Water Festival, Dai women tea growers tie white strings around symbolic objects like money and beeswax candles, representing the connection between humans and the water spirit. During times of drought, they appeal for rain.
In Jingmai village, a worker compresses steamed tea leaves by moving in steady circles atop a stone press. Artisanal makers prefer the traditional method’s precise control over a machine’s sizable force. It is now ready for aging.
A Blang grower built a tea storage facility to better control temperature and humidity during the fermenting process. The slow oxidation and fermentation process softens the tannic bitterness of the tea and produce a rounded mouth feel.
As the value of Jingmai’s tea continues to increase, some residents of the remote area have found new ways to connect with consumers. This tea grower hosts a live stream, describing the taste and aroma of her Pu’er tea to digital connoisseurs across China.
Workers in an upscale Beijing mall showcase prized tea cakes from Jingmai Mountain. Over the past few decades, China has improved the roads in rural areas, allowing goods from the forest to reach major cities. Jingmai growers can now compete with other tea growers throughout the country.
A tea grower in Wengji village, checks her own tea before serving clients. Strong demand has encouraged many young people to stay in Jingmai Mountain and set up shop.

Credits:

Justin Jin

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