Why forcus in teas from remote areas in Lincang instead of famous production areas?

When it comes to the production areas of Pu-erh tea, it can be broadly divided into three major regions: Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, and Lincang in Yunnan Province.

Among these regions, the Pu-erh tea produced in Xishuangbanna is famous and traded at high prices.

Xishuangbanna is home to renowned production areas such as Lao Ban Zhang, Bulang Mountain, and Yiwu. In recent years, the roads to Xishuangbanna have been greatly improved, making it accessible to everyone.

It's a common joke among Pu-erh tea buyers to say, "When I went to buy tea in Xishuangbanna, I met someone driving a Porsche up the mountain to buy Pu-erh tea." In reality, the area is crowded with tourists, tea traders, and individual tea enthusiasts.

Fertilized old tea trees

The popularity of Xishuangbanna's tea has led to excessively high prices, especially for tea harvested from old trees. To increase yields and income, farmers often prune the branches and use a lot of fertilizers to promote faster growth and increase the number of leaves. Pruned tea trees produce more young branches, resulting in higher yields.

Leaves enlarged by fertilization

Higher yields mean more leaves, but the more leaves there are, the thinner the content. Such tea looks beautiful but has a light taste and lacks body.

This trend is also gradually emerging in Pu'er, particularly in famous production areas like Jinggu and Kunlu Mountain, where the high prices of tea have led to the rapid spread of fertilized cultivation.

Lincang Tea Grown in Natural Conditions

On the other hand, Lincang, which HOJO focuses on, still has many tea gardens that practice completely natural cultivation. The more we learn about Pu-erh tea, the more we are convinced of the excellence of Lincang tea. Lincang tea is superior for the following three reasons:

Located further north, the climate is cooler.
Many production areas are at altitudes close to 2000m.
Being remote, traditional natural cultivation methods are still preserved.

Lincang is located in the southwestern part of Yunnan Province, with an average altitude of 2000m, making it a very high-altitude area.

The Lincang region has areas where even roads to the villages do not exist. The tea trees are maintained in a very natural state, which sets them apart from other regions. Due to its obscurity, the demand is low, and the tea trees are often maintained in their natural state, without fertilizers or pesticides, allowing the leaves to grow slowly over time.

Compared to Xishuangbanna, Lincang is located further north, resulting in a cooler climate. Typically, tea is plucked once or, at most, twice a year, unlike some famous areas in Xishuangbanna, where tea is plucked up to 10 times a year.

As a result, nutrients, including minerals, accumulate in the leaves, providing a very long-lasting and rich aftertaste.

Even in Lincang, there are famous production areas such as Bingdao, Gushu, Mangfei, and Ma'anshan. However, due to the rising prices, conventional cultivation is becoming more common, and even if the tea is genuine, much of it lacks quality.