Pickers in traditional dress among old-arbor tea trees in Xishuangbanna

从茶园到茶饼How our pu-erh is made

From Leaf to Cake

Fifteen steps between the tea tree and your shelf — and through all fifteen, one rule holds: the tea never touches the ground.

15 steps · 2 places · 1 rule

Never touches the ground · 不落地

Leaves are picked into baskets, withered in troughs, fired, rolled and dried on raised racks, sorted on clean tables and wrapped by hand. It is our basic standard of hygiene and care — follow it step by step below.

Part I · Steps 1–5

On the Mountain

山上初制

The first five steps happen at our primary-processing bases on the tea mountains, close to the gardens, while the leaves are fresh.

Step 1: Hand-picking fresh pu-erh tea leaves, one bud and two leaves

Step 01: Picking采茶

One bud and two leaves, picked by hand from old-arbor trees in the gardens of our partner villages.

Step 2: Fresh leaves withering on raised racks

Step 02: Withering摊晾

Fresh leaves rest in withering troughs, softening as moisture evens out and the first aromas form.

Step 3: Kill-green — wok-firing fresh leaves by hand

Step 03: Kill-Green杀青

The leaves are wok-fired by hand. Heat, timing and touch decide when each batch is done — this is where much of a tea’s character is set.

Step 04: Rolling揉捻

Fired leaves are rolled by hand into tight, even strips, ready for drying.

Step 5: Sun-drying the maocha under the Yunnan sun

Step 05: Sun-Drying晒青

The rolled leaves dry under the Yunnan sun on raised racks, becoming maocha — the raw material of pu-erh.

Part II · Steps 6–15

In Menghai

勐海精制

The maocha then travels to our factory in Menghai, where it is tested, tasted, cleaned, pressed and packed.

Step 6: Raw material testing in the Chen Sheng Hao laboratory

Step 06: Lab Testing原料检测

Every lot of maocha is tested in our in-house laboratory before it is allowed to move on.

Step 7: Sensory evaluation of the tea by our tasters

Step 07: Sensory Evaluation评审

Our tasters assess each lot — appearance, liquor, aroma, taste and spent leaf — before any blending or pressing.

Step 8: Electrostatic cleaning and wind sifting of the leaves

Step 08: Electrostatic Cleaning静电除杂

Electrostatic separation and wind sifting remove dust and stray matter from the leaves.

Step 9: Hand-sorting leaves to remove impurities

Step 09: Hand Sorting人工拣剔

A final pass by hand picks out anything the machines missed.

Step 10: Machine Pressing机器压制

Steamed leaves are pressed into cakes. Machine pressing gives even, consistent cakes for everyday lines.

Step 11: Pressing tea cakes with the traditional stone press

Step 11: Stone Pressing石磨压制

For our classic cakes we still use the traditional stone press — slower, and prized by collectors for how the cakes age.

Step 12: Drying the pressed cakes to standard moisture

Step 12: Drying烘干

Pressed cakes rest in the drying room until their moisture meets our standard.

Step 13: Wrapping tea cakes in cotton paper by hand

Step 13: Cotton-Paper Wrapping包棉纸

Each cake is wrapped in cotton paper by hand, using the brand’s traditional 18-fold wrap.

Step 14: Bundling seven cakes into a tong with natural bamboo sheath

Step 14: Bundling扎筒

Seven cakes are bound into a tong with natural bamboo sheath — breathable packaging made for long aging.

Step 15: Warehousing and aging pu-erh tea in Menghai

Step 15: Warehousing仓储

Finished tea rests in our Menghai warehouses, where warm air and steady humidity let pu-erh keep maturing.

Our four core bases

Where the Leaves Come From

Our leaves come from four core bases, built since 2008 under our “company + base + farmers” model, and from partner gardens across Xishuangbanna’s twelve famous tea mountains — some 9,900 acres of tea gardens in all.

Long-term partnerships with the villages, our own processing bases on the mountains, and one standard for buying and processing fresh leaf.