From Yiwu to the Baikal cellar
This cake was picked by a small family collective in the Gaoshan area of Yiwu in early April 2014. The maocha was sun-dried and stone-pressed in the village, then first aged in a Jinghong warehouse before crossing into Amgalan Chin’s hands the following spring.
Amgalan moved the cake to his cellar in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, in May 2015. The cellar sits at a crisp 4–8 °C for six months of the year, with wildly fluctuating humidity tied to the Siberian steppe. This extreme, slow-drying continental rhythm strips away the exuberant floral top notes of young Yiwu and carves out a spine of minerals and clean smoke.
Over the years, Amgalan opened samples from the same tong every twelve months, keeping a tasting journal. At year five, the tea still felt sleepy — honey muted, structure masked by dry air. At year eight, the first real break came: the liquor turned golden, and a lasting apricot-kernel huigan emerged. Now, at ten years, it has reached his definition of crossover maturity — enough spark to show its Yiwu roots, yet with a meditative quietude that belongs entirely to the Buryat cellar.