From the ancient gardens of Mangjing, selected by Amgalan Chin
In early April 2025, Amgalan Chin walked the mist‑soaked paths of Jingmai’s Mangjing village. The old‑growth arbors — some over two hundred years — were just pushing out their first tender buds. Drawing on years of cross‑regional experience, from the Mongolian steppe to the tea forests of Yunnan, Amgalan worked directly with a fourth‑generation Bulang family to select leaves from a single five‑acre grove. The altitude, around 1,300 metres, and the ancient red earth gave the leaf a pronounced floral backbone.
The family processed the leaves in the traditional way: sun‑withered on bamboo mats, wok‑fixed over a wood fire, rolled by hand, and sun‑dried for three days before stone‑compression into 357‑gram cakes. The pressing was intentionally light to allow the leaves to open quickly during steeping and to facilitate mid‑term aging. Amgalan notes that Jingmai teas, stored in dry, warm conditions, develop a deeper honey character after three to five years.
This pressing was intimate — only twenty kilograms were made. Half the cakes were reserved for Amgalan’s students in the “Mastering Puerh Aging” course on tea.school; the rest are offered here. Each cake carries the quiet, deliberate spirit of Mangjing — a tea that invites slow brewing and patient cellaring.