From the old tea routes to a modern cellar
The path to this collection winds along the ancient tea-horse road, where sheng pu’er was first tasted in a Lhasa teahouse and the brick tea caravans were later traced north into Siberia and Mongolia. That cross-regional lens — balancing the dry cold of the steppe with the humid age of Yunnan — defines the approach to curation and aging.Over fifteen years, relationships were built with smallholders around Bulang, Yiwu, and Lincang, returning each spring to select maocha destined for the cellar. This starter set is a syllabus: a ten-year sheng to show early transformation, a twenty-year to reveal the silkiness of deep time, a shou as the grounding force, a regional flight that maps terroir, and a vertical to witness one leaf across seasons. Each cake was stored in a naturally ventilated Guangzhou warehouse before being pressed and wrapped. A collection begins not with rarity but with understanding the dialogue between leaf, microbe, and years. The set is an invitation to listen.