From Hekai’s ancient gardens to your cup
Amgalan Chin first encountered Hekai in 2018, when exploring Bulang’s remote villages. The altitude — 1,700 meters — and the ancient arbor trees, some over 300 years old, left a lasting impression. In spring 2025, he returned to the same garden he’d been nurturing a relationship with. The dry, warm weather during harvest concentrated the aromatic oils in the buds, delivering a remarkably fragrant crop.
He personally supervised the processing: hand-plucking one bud and two leaves at dawn, a short wilt under shade to soften the leaf, a vigorous wok-firing to lock in the bright character, and rolling to shape the leaves for steam compression. The maocha was transported to Menghai and stone-pressed into 357-gram cakes — the classic form for aging.
Having guided aging projects from Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk, Amgalan knows how a tea develops over time. This 2025 Hekai, with its bold structure and deep sweetness, is a cellar-worthy foundation. It offers immediate enjoyment — honeyed florals, a hint of smoke, and a quick-returning huigan — yet its dense energy promises graceful maturation over decades. The underlying minerality, typical of Bulang, speaks to the schist and sandstone soil.