November 2025 Tea Subscription

The first tea this month is one of the famous cultivars of Wuyi rock teas. The Wuyi Mountains are located between Wuyishan City of the Nanping prefecture in northwest Fujian province, and the town of Wuyishan within Shangrao city in northeast Jiangxi province. The mountain range is known worldwide for its status as a refugium for several rare and endemic plant species, its dramatic river valleys, and the abundance of important temples and archeological sites in the region. Since 1999, the mountains have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for cultural, scenic, and biodiversity values.

In Chinese, Bai Ji Guan mean white cockscomb. Ming dynasty records tell of a tea that is found in ‘External Ghost Cave' (外鬼洞) of Flaming Peak of Huiyuan (慧苑火焰峰) in Wuyi mountain. In that sense, it has a longer history as compared to Scarlet Robe that is from the Qing dynasty. This tea has buds that appear white under sunlight. In fact, the buds are light green at the leaf's edges, but quickly becoming green at the base of the leaf nearer to the stem. This is different to another cultivar of the same name found at 'Bat's Cave' (蝙蝠洞) or 'White Snake's Hole’ (白蛇洞), which exhibits a full yellow bud right to the base of the leaf. In the market, both cultivars are sold as Bai Ji Guan. Our tea is of the Ghost Cave cultivar. The tea is lightly processed through withering under shade.

We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, with 3.5g of tea to 120 ml of 90°C distilled water for 1 mins. As mentioned, this is a lightly processed Wuyi wulong tea, and one would not expect much roastiness note from it. Indeed, the leaf colour is light grey, and do not smell roasty. When brewing, a sweet floral note emerges. In the tea cup, the first impression is sweet floral notes, with honeysuckle being dominant with mild but lively acidity. The secondary note is brown spices, with nutmeg coming forward of the usual cinnamon from a darker roast Wuyi wulong tea. There is a hint of woodiness, which could give hints of dried longan. We are brewing this tea a second and third time, to much sweetness and little astringency. With the honeysuckle notes peaking in the second brew, more woodiness come forward with more brews.


The second and third teas made in different ways from Bangdong (邦东) area of Lincang City (临沧) in Yunnan - from two of the most attention-grabbing villages. We will first drink a red tea from Xi Gui (昔归). Looking at the map, Xi Gui village is on the Mang Lu Mountain (忙麓山) range of average 1,000 – 1,500 m at the west bank of the midstream section of the 4,900 km Lancang River (澜沧江) and on the east of the main village of Bangdong (邦东村). Extending northwest on the same mountain range is another village – Man Gang (曼岗) which is located at a higher elevation of 1,400 to 1,500 m. All the tea areas on this range have sandy red soil, and tea trees grow amongst rocks and boulders – a sign of good tea. There is a good biodiversity in the area, where half of the land is primary forest. The village is at a relatively low elevation of 800 m and is one of the few tea areas which defy the common saying that good teas can only come from high elevation. Coupled with the low annual spring production of about 2 tons from a tiny area of about 200,000 m² (= 20 hectares), it is no wonder it is highly sought after and attracting astronomical prices. In the olden days, Lancang River was part of the water section of the tea transport route known today as the Tea Horse Route (茶马古道). Because the village is at the bend of the river where it was suitable to build a pier, it developed into a supply point for jute ropes used for tying tea packages. ‘A place to twine jute ropes’ is the meaning of Xi Gui in the local Dai (傣) language. During the end of the Qing dynasty, Xi Gui tea was chosen as official tea of the local government, serving visiting ranking officials from the central Beijing court and local generals. At that time, there were already 6,000 to 7,000 tea planting families, giving us a glimpse of the amount of Xi Gui teas produced and consumed then. Today, the number of families are much lesser, and tea corporations control a lot of the tea lands there. Initially, teas from that area are simply known as Mang Lu Mountain tea. As Xi Gui tea’s quality start to stand out from the rest, it was sold individually unblended since 2006.

Our tea today is a red tea of the autumn harvest. The increased exposure to sunlight since springtime allows the tea tree to develop more polyphenol suitable for making red teas. The tea is oven-dried which gives it higher aromas. This compares with sun-dried teas which is usually sweeter but less aromatic. Oven-dried teas are flavourful from the first year of production, while sun-dried teas are usually better enjoyed the subsequent year onward. Our tea today has been rested for a few years and should overall be more rounded and sweeter. Teas from Bangdong area are assamica variety and are usually aggressive and bitter (but less so than from Ban Zhang (班章) area at its south). This tea is loosely shaped and has a good amount of tea buds and stems. The aromas of honey, candy sweetness and flowers are its main highlight.

Knowing the characteristics of the tea, we are brewing this tea using the Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, at 100 ml to 3 gm of tea, with 85°C, and we pour out the tea once we reach 100 ml. We are using distilled water for clarity of flavour. The tea colour is reddish golden. We chose the gaiwan because the tea is unshaped and would be most suited to brew using a vessel with a big opening. The glassware retains heat relatively well, explaining why we choose to pour out the tea fast lest its aggressiveness shows quickly and masks the delicate floral sweetness. Using this brew method, we could get up to eight brews. We picked up the fragrance of honey, candy, chrysanthemum, sugared apricot, sweet ripe plums and hints of kyoho grapes from the dry tea leaves. We enjoyed a matching flavour in the brewed tea. The brewed leaves give off aromas of longan and plums.


The second tea is at the east of Lincang, and the third tea is a pu'er tea from the southwest of Lincang. In discussing pu'er tea, there are generally three board areas - Mengla (勐腊县), Menghai (勐海县) and Lincang (临沧). Tribute teas were produced at the six historical tea mountains (古六大茶山) on the east of Lancang River (澜沧江), also known as Inner Tea Mountains (of the Lancang River, 江内六大茶山). These mountains are generally in Mengla. Since 1980s, Hong Kong and Taiwan merchants returned to Yunnan and rediscovered ancient villages from these six historical regions. Their exploration also took them to tea villages on the west of Lancang River which were producing teas in the historical manner. These newfound mountains on the west of Lancang River are adjacent to the Inner Tea Mountains, hence are known as New Tea Mountains (新六大茶山) or Outer Tea Mountains (江外六大茶山) and are generally in Menghai. Further north about 350 km from Menghai is Lincang, which is named for its proximity to Lancang River on its east, with 'lin' denoting proximity and 'cang' referring to Lancang River. 

At 4,900 km, Lancang River flows out of Qinghai and empties into the South China Sea at Vietnam as the famous Mekong River. Northwest of Lincang City is another river – 3,300 km Nu River (怒江), which flows out of Tibet. West of Lincang City is Bangma region (邦马) where the Great Snow Mountain (邦马大雪山) is the watershed between Lancang River and Nu River. 

The tea villages on the west of Lancang River are located along mountain ranges and villages that have gained international fame recently for producing teas of astronomical value - Bang Dong (邦东) which includes Xi Gui (昔归) on the east of Lincang, and Bang Ma Da Xue Shan (邦马大雪山) which includes Bing Dao (冰岛/丙岛/扁岛) on the southwest of Lincang, along Mengku river (勐库大河). As a case in point, in 2018, one kilogram of Bing Dao unsorted tea from young trees are selling at SGD 600, one kilogram of Bing Dao unsorted tea from older trees of at least 50 years old are selling at SGD 1,400 and one kilogram of Bing Dao unsorted tea from ancient trees (usually 100 years) are selling at SGD 8,000. Such prices would have matched the prices of royal tribute teas of all times, if not very much overmatch.

Not all hopes are lost that commoners do not have access to these good teas. It is interesting how the Bing Dao tea region expands for the purpose of riding on the bandwagon. The tea region extends radially outward from Bingdao village (冰岛老寨), it being authentic Bingdao or Bingdao 1st ring (冰岛一环). From here, Bingdao 2nd ring includes Di Jie (地界), Nan Po (南迫), Bai Wai (坝歪), Nuo Wu (糯伍); Bingdao 3rd ring includes Xiao Hu Village (小户赛) and Mo Lie (磨烈); Bingdao 4th ring includes Zheng Qi Tang (大忠山正气塘), Bao Mao Di (包麦地), etc. Today's raw tea is from Mo Lie of the 3rd ring, and the ripe pure is from Bingdao village itself, made before the explosion in prices.

The Bingdao region is generally 1,700 m with stable and cool temperature of 20°C throughout the year with high rainfall slightly lesser than Singapore. It has a good amount of ancient trees above 300 years old, thus producing a tea that has strength and energy, termed as Cha Qi (茶气). 

We are brewing it in a Compass zisha teapot, at 5g to 100ml, at 95°C and we dispense immediately after filling up to 100ml. We realised that by avoiding the usual 100°C for brewing ripe pu'er and by immediate dispensing the tea, more sweetness and fruitiness can be coaxed out of the tea. First, the dry leaves are short, slightly curly, and with many orange tips such that it gives an overall orangey tone to the tea. It smells of dried mushrooms, with a hint of savouriness. After brewing, the tea leaves give an impression of dried fruits. The brewed flavour presents red dates, on a smooth and sweet base, with a hint of China root (茯苓) just like Golden Flowers. We brewed up to 8 times before flavours start to water out.