This holiday season, we visited our partner tea farmer Master Zhang at his family home and tea fields above Daping, Anxi.  His beautiful fields and established tea bushes are wonderful to behold, and reveal that for Master Zhang, sustainability is not a buzzword – it is the obvious and only way of life.

Read about our experience, then try Master Zhang’s Anxi Tieguanyin for yourself.

daping_masterzhang-2740daping_teafield-9823 daping_teafield-2742daping_tealeaf-2757daping_teafield-9822daping_teafield-2745daping_teafield-2761 daping_teafield-9817

Wild flowers grow freely among natural flora and established tea hedges.  The constant flowering works double duty – attracting insects away from the growing tea leaves while infusing the growing plants with their complex aroma.

daping_tealeaf-9899daping_teafield-9873 daping_tealeaf-9917 daping_teaseed-2730daping_tearoot-9824daping_tealeaf-9895 daping_teafield_diversity-9910daping_teafield_diversity-9911

The beauty of Master Zhang’s tieguanyin tea fields cannot be understated.  We wandered his fields for hours, taking the smells, the sounds, the clean air and the sunshine.  The precious micro-climate created by the peaks is an invaluable resource – in the face of such incredible natural beauty, Master Zhang’s firm dedication to preserving the quality of his fields and of his home is easy to understand.

daping_masterzhang-9810daping_david-9853 daping_lily-9875daping_teafield-2768daping_teafield-2767 daping_teafield-2720daping_tealeaf-9809

On the top floor of his family home and workshop, Master Zhang opened up the glass doors to let in the clean mountain air and the sounds of birds before the sun set.  Over conversation, he prepared his favorite tea: Traditional Tieguanyin.

daping_masterzhang_gongfu_hands-9951daping_masterzhang_gongfu_hands-9957daping_masterzhang_gongfu_hands-9964 daping_masterzhang_gongfu_hands-9968daping_masterzhang_gongfu_hands-9959