Lake and pile: Amgalan Chin’s study in controlled decay
Amgalan Chin brings the patience of a cellar master to every pu-erh he touches. For this 2024 mini-batch, he returned to Menghai — the humid cradle of shu — and worked with the Haiwan factory to refine their wǒ duī protocol. The starting material is a mid-grade Da Ye Zhong from Bulang, known for its structural tannins. Rather than rely on the factory’s standard 10-ton pile, Amgalan requested a puny, 800 kg batch in a dedicated clay-lined room. He monitored the pile temperature daily, keeping the core at a steady 58 °C — cooler than the norm, a technique he’d tested on a 2018 producer run. The result is a pu-erh with the deep caramel backbone of Menghai fermentation but none of the marine murkiness that can cling to heavily moistened piles.
After 45 days the maocha was dried, graded, and stone-pressed into this 357 g bing. Amgalan then rested the cakes in his own Kunming cellar for four seasons, letting the residual enzymatic activity soften the compression. The cake opens cleanly, and its aroma already carries the hallmark of a young shu that will age gracefully. Coming from a cross-regional specialist who’s also studied Mongolian milk tea and the Russian samovar tradition, this tea is a quiet study in how cross-cultural sensitivity can manifest in a pile of leaves — deliberate, minimal, and full of intent.