Continued from Precious State: The Unusual and Obscure Teas of Guizhou – Part 2

The government has been investing heavily in the Guizhou tea industry in recent years and bold propaganda banners can be seen throughout Shiqian warning farmers against the use of agricultural chemicals. Rui’s friend Xiang runs a very modern, organic-certified tea factory that applies refined green and red tea processing techniques to Shiqian’s Tai Cha making teas in the style of Long Jing and Jin Jun Mei.

Our last stop in Guizhou was Duyun, a short distance south of Guiyang. Duyun is unbelievably picturesque: The tea farm we visited was on the shore of a high elevation lake nestled in the mountains. The government exhortations to grow tea organically were present here as well, and we got to see some of the local farmers’ ingenuity in the form of a pair of cows peacefully grazing their way along the rows of tea plants, eating weeds. Apparently, they never eat the tea itself – an elegant and charming alternative to herbicides.
Duyun

One of the things I love most about sourcing tea is that I’m constantly being surprised and learning about new things. Guizhou’s ancient purple tea trees, half-oxidized oolong-like greens and yellows, jar-aged
Images provided and copyright held by author