Bana Tea Company owner Linda Louie has traveled extensively throughout the Pu-erh growing regions in search of the finest teas and the culture around it. We'd like to share some photos of her travels and the scenic tea regions.

After more than three hours riding on a narrow bumpy dirt road, I arrived at BanZhang Old Village situated at the heart of a tea mountain, home to about 120 tea farming Aini families.  While roaming through this pristine ancient tea region, I ran into an 80-year-old tea picker.  On her back, she carried a large straw basket that was supported by a wooden brace around her neck and a strap over her head. After picking the tea leaves, this still spry tea octogenarian would delicately place the new harvest into her basket.

For easier transport, Pu-erh tea has traditionally been packed in a stack of seven tea cakes wrapped in dried bamboo leaves. This ancient practice is still in use today. The bamboo leaf is a natural, breathable material which is conducive to the aging of the tea cake.  It possesses a natural sweet grassy fragrance, which blends very well with the tea cake.  This method of packaging requires great craftsmanship as can be seen in this picture.

After the tea has been lightly steamed to make it pliable, it is molded into round cakes.  The newly formed cakes are left to dry naturally on a rack for a couple of days.  The person in the picture is my teamaster, Vesper Chan, a renowned Pu-erh expert in Hong Kong and China and the owner of The Best Tea House in Hong Kong.  He and his staff personally monitored the procurement and production of these tea cakes, the Limited Edition Bana Early Spring Harvest. Photo is courtesy of Vesper Chan.

The packaging process of the Bana Tea Cakes is done manually by skilled artisans. Wrapping the tea cakes requires accurately matching the cake to the design on the wrapping and folding the paper in delicate pleats in the back.  If you own a tea cake, you will come to appreciate how difficult it is to re-wrap the wrapper in its original form after you open it. Photo is courtesy of Vesper Chan.

Pictured are the small tea bushes propagated by cuttings or breeding.  These bushes are planted densely in lower altitude areas or plateaus.  The bushes are frequently trimmed back to keep them small.  This picture was taken in Lan Cang Lahu Tribe Autonomous County and the tea pickers seen in the picture are women of the Lahu tribe, one of the many ethnic minorities living in Yunnan.  The picture is compliments of Dr. Jianshong Ma, Professor of South China Research Center at Hong Kong University.

The ancient tea trees are much taller and tree-like.  They have a large main trunk with branches that start higher up and grow upward. Tea trees grow rather slowly.  Trees of the size you see in the picture are at least 700 years old.  As you can imagine, harvesting leaves from these trees presents a bit of a challenge.

Most of the ancient tea trees are tended and harvested by local tea farmers whose methods are best described as family-style. After picking, sorting, hand rolling or kneading, and wok-firing the fresh leaves, they are spread over large bamboo trays to be sun-dried.  After sun-drying, the leaves are called "Mao Cha," meaning "raw materials."  The "Mao Cha" is then ready to be processed further and handcrafted into tea cakes.  One probably cannot appreciate the amount of work put into tea manufacturing until he or she actually visits the tea farmers and witnesses the labor-intensive processing of the tea leaves.  Since I am a strong proponent of not wasting our resources, I believe we should fully enjoy the wonderful flavors Pu-erh tea brings us.