Xishuangbanna, August 9th

We welcome our guests in Xishuangbanna, the heart of the ancient Dai kingdom and one of China’s most biodiverse regions, where premium pu’er tea is both produced and celebrated. The landscape, a mosaic of subtropical forests, sets the stage for a deep immersion into tea culture.

After checking in, we share a quiet lunch and dedicate the afternoon to acclimatising ourselves to the lush atmosphere of the valley of Xishuangbanna, the cradle of a vast variety of teas and fragrances.

We prepare selected leaves from our curated collection, exploring the region’s unique teas and learning how movement, timing, water, and heat collectively shape the subtle dimensions of flavour and fragrance. This first session allows us to calibrate our senses, beginning to build a shared language that will guide our studies in the days ahead.

Photo gallery: Xishuangbanna

Xishuangbanna, August 10th

Our first full day of study unfolds between our classroom and a local Buddhist temple, in respect of the profound Dai culture that shapes this region.

We dedicate ourselves to the art of Gongfucha, sitting for an in-depth seminar on its practice and ceremony. With precision and clarity, we guide you through the essential gestures of brewing, refining our technique to serve each tea at its best.

We begin with the theoretical foundations of tea preparation in Chinese culture, learning technique and etiquette, and gradually observing how different teas require different forms of attention — according to their nature, and to the sensibility of those who receive them.

Photo gallery: Xishuangbanna

Xishuangbanna, August 11th

We dedicate the day to thorough study of the soul of this terroir: the tea plant, and its most representative treasure.

In the morning we hold a class on the tea plant. We explore its ancestral origins — geographically so close to the very place where we are sitting — the first attempts at cultivation, and its gradual evolution across Asia.

Every corner of Xishuangbanna is surrounded by pu’er tea, and it is natural to engage ourselves in its history — our most reliable way to understand its present. We study its early development among cultural minorities, its rise within the great trade routes towards the imperial court, and the transformations of the last century, including branding and modern production.

We describe and explore its supply chain, identifying its main actors and reflecting on its immediate future evolution.

Today we trace the route from which we will physically begin to journey from the next day onwards: climbing the mountains, meeting the cultural minorities, and breathing the fragrant leaves in their forest environment.

Photo gallery: Xishuangbanna

Nannuo mtn., August 12th

Nannuo Mountain has a thousand-year history with tea and, due to its wilder past of lush landscape and difficult accessibility, preserves an incomparable richness of tea forests. Our journey into pu’er begins here, walking to pay homage to the 800-year-old tree considered the “king” of Nannuo Mountain, whose location and story hold deep meaning for our exploration of pu’er tea.

After a typical Hani lunch on the mountain, prepared with locally grown ingredients, herbs, and spices, we slowly return towards Xishuangbanna, stopping along the Nannuo hills to deepen our understanding of its history.

Throughout the day we encounter, in living form, many of the themes studied in the previous days: the tea plant itself; the evolution of the forest and its cultivation by different cultural groups; and the way tea is brewed where it is farmed and consumed daily, as it has been for centuries.

Photo gallery: Nannuo mountain

Xishuangbanna, August 13th

We wake with the impressions of Nannuo Mountain still vivid. The morning is dedicated to precision and fragrance: we introduce the Chaozhou approach to Gongfucha, refining our gestures and focusing on aromatic structure through selected Dancong wulong teas — single trees chosen for clarity and expressive perfume.

By stepping outside Yunnan’s brewing traditions, we sharpen perception. The contrast clarifies structure, texture, and persistence in the cup.

In the afternoon, we turn to ceramics and materiality. Through a vertical tasting of Nannuo Mountain teas — including sheng pu’er and Yueguangbai — we observe how flavour and structure evolve over time, and how different clays influence extraction. Comparing vessels and porosity, we draw practical conclusions about the relationship between leaf and clay.

Xishuangbanna, August 14th

After exploring the interaction between leaf and clay in our tasting sessions, today we step into the workshop of a living ceramic practice.

In the morning, we revisit our observations from the previous day, refining our understanding of how density, porosity, and firing influence extraction and texture. We have an extensive overview of the Yixing ceramic district, studying the clay, placing it in history, and analysing the actors of the supply chain, understanding the contemporary market. This brief review prepares us for a direct encounter with craftsmanship.

After lunch, we visit a lush tropical garden surrounded by forest, home to the ceramic workshop of Qiu Laoshi. His work is deeply rooted in his territory: he uses local sands and plant-based ashes for his glazes, and each production season carries a distinct hue shaped by material and climate.

Here we observe process rather than product. Clay preparation, forming, glazing, firing — each phase reflects decisions that ultimately affect the cup. By meeting the maker and understanding his material choices, we close the circle between theory, tasting, and craft.

Photo gallery: Qiu Laoshi

Bulang mtn., August 15th

We travel across the Menghai plateau towards the hills of the Bulang Mountains, one of the most ancient centres of pu’er tea. This region hosts a remarkable diversity of subcultures and preserves an extraordinary range of aromas and expressions within its forests.

Today we stop in Hekai and Laobanzhang, villages associated respectively with Lahu and Hani communities. The latter has become emblematic of the dramatic rise in pu’er prices: its unique coexistence of cultivars, maintained across centuries in ancient trees, stands as evidence of long processes of domestication and as a contemporary treasure protected by careful local policies.

In the late afternoon we reach the more remote village of Laoman’e, a historical landmark between China and Myanmar. We will stay near its ancient Buddhist temple, immersed in the rhythms of mountain life.

Photo gallery: Xishuangbanna

Bulang Mtn, August 16th

We wake in Laoman’e, a historical religious and political centre of the region, still home to an important Buddhist community that attracts monks and students from the surrounding areas, beyond contemporary borders.

The temple preserves several ancient tea trees that surround the main structures where the monks live and study. We taste this distinctive tea — known for its notes of bitter herbs, balanced by the depth and smoothness of the forest — and have the opportunity for quiet conversations with members of the community.

In the afternoon, before returning to the valley, we encounter another traditional craft, visiting the area of Manzhao village, known for its artisanal paper production.

Photo gallery: Laobanzhang and Laoman'e

Xishuangbanna,  August 17th

After our days in the mountains, we return to Xishuangbanna for a more analytical focus on pu’er and its contemporary evolution.

The morning is dedicated to factory production and fermentation. Through a horizontal tasting, we compare blending strategies and large-scale production styles with single-origin teas, examining how standardisation, branding, and market dynamics have shaped perception in recent decades. Within this framework, we conduct a focused study of shou pu’er — its wet-piling technique, controlled fermentation, and structural differences from aged sheng. Guided tasting sharpens our ability to evaluate texture, balance, and clarity.

In the afternoon, we explore transformation from another perspective. We taste Yunnan teas processed as white, red, and wulong, observing how technique applied to the same plant reshapes structure and aromatic profile. The day concludes with an introduction to core theoretical concepts from Traditional Chinese Medicine, approached as cultural context rather than medical instruction.

Photo gallery: Xishuangbanna