May 21, 2024, marks the fifth “International Tea Day.” China, the birthplace of tea, is where the world's earliest tea trees originated. Leaves from the same tea tree can be processed into teas with different flavors. The ancient Silk Road opened up trade between China and Eurasian countries, and tea, as a major commodity along this route, has had a profound impact on the economic, social, and cultural values of the world.

Vast seas of clouds envelop a forest of millennium-old tea trees.

About 1,300 years ago, the ancestors of the Bulang ethnic group discovered primitive old tea trees in the Jingmai Mountain region (Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Pu'er City, in the southwestern border province of Yunnan) and settled there, becoming one of the earliest tea-growing ethnic groups.

Today, Jingmai Mountain is known as a “Pu'er Tea Natural Museum” and is the only ancient tea mountain globally listed as a World Cultural Heritage site. The climate here is warm and humid all year round, and the soil is rich. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for picking tea, when Bulang tea farmers traverse the tea mountains. After carefully picking the leaves, they undergo a series of intricate processes including fixation, rolling, drying, and pressing, ultimately producing the well-known Pu'er tea.

The Bulang people are a tea-loving ethnic group that has created a unique tea called “sour tea.” Typically, in May and June, the fresh leaves of mature old tea trees are boiled, cooled, and placed in bamboo tubes until they are fully packed. The bamboo tubes are then sealed with banana leaves and buried in the ground for fermentation. After about two months, the sour tea is ready.

Sour tea can be brewed for drinking or used in cooking, and some people chew it like a snack. It has the effects of relieving heat and aiding digestion. The Bulang people use it to entertain guests and as gifts for each other.

The Bulang people have lived with and from tea for generations. Their Tea culture includes bamboo tube roasted tea, earthenware pot tea, boiled young bamboo tea, and eating raw tea. Here, tea is not just a beverage but also a way of life and a symbol of their culture.