This holiday season, we visited our partner tea farmer Li Xiangxi and her family in Wuyishan. The entire experience was inspiring beyond belief. The pristine beauty of Wuyi, the biodiversity of the valleys, the sweetness of the water, the deep devotion of the farmers like Li Xiangxi and her family – for us, tea has always been about connecting with places, people, and history, but Wuyi is a life affirming confirmation of everything there is to love about the humble camellia sinensis plant.
Ultimately, there is only so much that can be conveyed in text. The best way to understand is to taste the tea, and do so with the photos, videos and sounds of the place in mind, which is why we created this photo journal of some of our favorite moments on the journey.
Read about our experience, then try Li Xiangxi’s Wuyi Mountain tea for yourself.
Outside the Li’s family workshop above the Longchuan Gorge, wild tea bushes grow together with citrus trees and forests of bamboo and pine.
Wild tea bushes grow right out of the rocks, fed by deep natural springs higher up in the mountains. Simple bamboo aqueducts bring the water downhill, providing good fresh water to the bushes, the Li’s vegetable gardens, and the workshop below.
A little farther down, we explored the Li Family’s cultivated fields of Shui Xian Wuyi Oolong tea and Rou Gui. The camelia sinensis bushes were flowering, and their beautiful fragrance filled the air.
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I just tried Ji Jun Mei from the 5 for $5 sampler pack, and I think I'm in love. It's simply divine. I'm a tea snob, and it is the best tea I've ever had! It's the first tea that I've been able to drink without having to add anything--such as sugar or honey--to enhance the flavor. I will definitely be ordering some to fill some of the tea tins I recently purchased.