CASSIS RIDGE ANCIENT WILD TREE HANDMADE BLACK TEA

High in Yunnan’s southwest, where clouds graze the ridgelines and roots seek the cool of stone, wild tea trees stand with the patience of a century. Each spring, gatherers move quietly among them, lifting tender leaves from branches that have weathered monsoon and sun. Their roots run deep through mineral soils; their crowns drink mountain light. In that union of altitude and age, the leaf learns a language of sweetness and shadow.

When the dark curls meet water, the liquor shines clear, warm brown, and the steam carries a floral date fragrance. The first sip is a path into the thicket: blackberry and cassis, pickled plum and honeyed depth, a brightness that lingers like rain in the air. The body is silk with a mountain steadiness—the kind of cha-qi that widens the breath and lengthens the finish. With time the cup turns darker-fruited, a drift of violet and stone, a memory of forest cool. This is wild tea as the hills intended: generous, untamed, and resonant.

Notes: Many lots of “wild ancient tree” black in Yunnan are crafted from wild purple (‘Ye Sheng’) trees around ~2,000 m, lending berry-plum depth and an alpine clarity to the cup.