Zhenghe, Fujian

小赤甘 · Xiǎo Chìgān · Little Scarlet Sweet

Black

Following

800–850 metres, on a forested slope beside a stream.

No fertiliser and no pesticides; the bushes are left to their own seasonal rhythm.

Cai Cha (菜茶) — a seed-grown local population. The bushes are about 60–90 years old.

The third of three plots from the same maker — not a ranked selection, just a different piece of the same hillside. Here he works with old Cai Cha bushes through the same heritage-recognized process, aiming to keep the tea close to what these old bushes have always given.

Picking runs from about 20 April to 10 May: one bud with one or two leaves, made in the traditional way. A normal year gives about 150 kg.

In 2026 the leaf was picked more tender than usual, and the wild character, bush aroma and woody notes came through more clearly.

Old Cai Cha tea bushes on a forested slope below a rock face, Zhenghe, Fujian

Tall, unpruned tea bushes growing in shaded forest undergrowth

Sunlight through the canopy of old tea bushes and surrounding trees

Slender old tea trunks rising from the forest floor

One place. One

plot

. One maker. One harvest.

Harvests

Every harvest is recorded here, whether or not it is selected. Tea is offered only when a harvest meets our standard. The place and the maker remain independent.

The archive here begins with its first harvest.

One place, observed over time.

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