Mangshui Minggu Maocha 2021

Well, where is Mangshui?

When we speak about Puer tea, you may hear about  Xiaguan, Menghai, Yiwu, Bulang, Banzhang, Bada, Jingmai, Mengku, Bingdao, etc. All these places are well known, bearing a famous tea-producing name. But there are still plenty of places out of reach for “laowai” 老外 (the old outsider), or simply – the foreigner.

Mangshui town is situated in Baoshan region and is home to Bai ethnic group. Some of their houses are still made of clay and wood, and I had the feeling that their architecture will last longer than modern habitats. When I was arriving in this mountain town for the first time, people on the local bus were weirdly staring at me and making fun of my hairy appearance.

After getting off the bus I asked the bus driver where can I get a good tea from Mangshui. One lady told me that her neighbor is producing a very good tea. His name is Yu Hongwem. And she was right, his tea was exceptional. I stayed there no less then a week and had a chance to climb and pick tea from trees older then 300 years. Here I have  produced my first kilo of gushu tea.
The pan was so hot, that you have to be very skillful not to roasted your hands. Unfortunatelly, when the master decreased the temperature to avoid me burning my hands, he eventually increased the time of roasting. After 20 minutes I felt totally exhausted, then I had to roll and roast it again. It took me 39 minutes to finish this hard work.
Then we scatter the tea on the bamboo mats and let it dry. At the end of the day, I have made only 1kg from 4kg of fresh leaves. I have finally understood that to make a fully hand-made tea is so exhausting.