Secluded bamboo paths, cascading waterfalls, and lush Tea shoots… If you ask me which season is the most beautiful in Wuyi Mountain, it's definitely May!
The willow breeze is gentle on the face, and the apricot flower rain is fine and smooth as lard. From Guyu to Li Xia, it's the season of fresh green, and the most beautiful tea-picking season starts at this time. All of Wuyi Mountain's memories related to seasonal changes are hidden in the mountainside tea fragrance.
Let's set off together in May! Follow the tea fragrance deep into Wuyi Mountain for a date with “Tea Scenery and Fragrance.”
Recommended Routes
Core Wuyi Rock Tea Production Area Experience Tour
Day 1: Imperial Tea Garden – Tea Cave – Tianyou Peak – Dahongpao – Rock Bone and Flower Fragrance Trail – Impression Dahongpao Performance
Day 2: Xiaomei Folk Culture Village – Tea Museum – Dahongpao Tea Study Club – Tea Processing Observation Factory – New Force in Crosstalk
Wuyi Rock Tea Tea-Picking and Processing Deep Experience Tour
Day 1: Shouting at the Mountain Tea Sacrifice – Tea Processing Experience – Impression Dahongpao Performance Venue
Day 2: Knowledge Lecture – Tea Ceremony Learning – Tea Competition Judging – New Force in Crosstalk
National Park No.1 Scenic Route Tea-Picking and Processing Deep Experience Tour
Day 1: Tea Estate Experience – Ecological Tea Garden Sightseeing – Xingcun Tea Footpath Stroll
Day 2: Tea Village Exploration
Day 3: Tongmuguan Black Tea Mystery
Shouting at the Mountain, Walking the Mountain: The Dahongpao of the Scholar Has Sprouted
The spring mountains are visible, and April marks the beginning of all good things.
On the cliff walls of Jiulongkeng, the mother Dahongpao trees have been waiting for millennia. When nature once again becomes gentle with the spring breeze, it's the perfect time for these tea plants to meet you.
The Rock Bone and Flower Fragrance Trail in Wuyi Mountain connects Water Curtain Cave and Dahongpao Scenic Area, and the scenery along the way is stunning. With a few good friends, walk slowly along the serene path lined with tea plants, passing through Perfumed Stream Gorge, Huizuan Temple, Eagle Beak Rock, Ancient Cliff Dwellings, and Zhangtang Stream. Sometimes stepping over gurgling streams, sometimes catching a glimpse of distant peaks, each rock wall, waterfall, and ravine has its own charm. Take a deep breath of the misty, water-like fragrance of the rock bones and flowers, and your eyes are filled with a tide of green that grows and spreads in shades of light and dark.
The Tea Quest Path
Walking to the side of Wuyu Stream, you'll find the remains of the Yuan Dynasty Imperial Tea Garden. Nowadays, there are more than 200 representative precious varieties of tea bushes planted here, including the first batch of cuttings from the mother Dahongpao trees propagated asexually. In the middle of the mountain slope's tea garden, there is an ancient sacrificial altar. Standing here, one can faintly hear the echoes of people beating drums and shouting at the mountain in sacrifice to the tea from centuries ago.
Tea is a gift from nature, a sedimentation of history, and a continuation of culture. It is like an ancient poem, telling stories of thousands of years, flowing with the fragrance of time. Each mountain field has a unique micro-environment; some excel with their rocky bones, others dominate with their water depth, and still, others are famous for their aroma. The different mountain fields each have their own characteristics, and the rock teas produced here are always strong contenders in various tea competitions.
Walking the mountain, brewing tea, exploring shops, and visiting historical sites… Wandering in the wilderness, a pool of spring water reflects the world, and a drop of rain creates ripples, refreshing the mind. Turning through one winding path after another, suddenly the shade of lush trees appears – summer is already brewing. The stone path covered in moss and dappled with tree shadows, the cool shade of the summer trees, and the body perfumed with tea scent.
Year after year in May, the evening breeze continues to blow, stars continue to fall, cicadas sing, insects chirp, and tea fragrances awaken. From Dahongpao to Water Curtain Cave, from Imperial Tea Garden to Swallow Nest, from Nine-Bend Stream to Wuyi Academy, a sudden rain and mist, a long trek in the tea village, the only distance between poetry and life is this soul-healing journey.
Swallow Nest Tea Garden
Tea Picking and Processing: Wuyi Mountain Lies in a Cup of Tea
In the human world of May, the entire mountain is fragrant, and everything can be turned into poetry.
If drinking at home means having a cup of tea, then in Wuyi Mountain, we drink the whole mountain. Nature is the setting, the mountains are the tea, the stream is the cup, and breathing is the act of drinking.
Wuyi Mountain is not only a dual UNESCO World Heritage Site for both culture and nature and one of the first national parks, but it is also the birthplace of black tea and oolong tea, the starting point of the “Ten Thousand Li Tea Road,” and the hometown of Chinese Tea culture and art. Following tea masters into the mountains for a deep experience of the hardships and joys of tea picking and processing is a sincere baptism and a true representation of harmony between humans and nature.
Tea Garden Scenery
The tea gardens are only palm-sized, with waterfalls and rocks nearby, wild lilies hanging on the mountain walls, and red brambles growing among the grass. Rain and clouds intertwine. Tea farmers traverse the mountainside, and the city is filled with the scent of tea. The Spring Tea season, which lasts day and night, continues until mid-May.
During the tea-picking season in Wuyi Mountain, experiencing the entire process of tea making from start to finish is something every tea lover and student of tea yearns for. Many tea estates and tea processing observation factories are excellent choices, integrating tea processing, production, experience, and sightseeing. They provide visitors with the opportunity to observe and understand the complete process of Wuyi Rock Tea, from picking to finished product, up close.
Tea Quest
Wuyi Rock Tea is a semi-fermented tea, and the word “semi” fully expresses the art of fire. Light roast, medium-light roast, medium roast, medium-heavy roast, heavy roast… The flavor components of the tea gradually transform during roasting, producing a lingering or rich aroma, such as orchid, reed leaf, cassia bark, or peach blossom, presenting a unique taste that cannot be replicated.
From sun-withering to shaking, from stir-frying to rolling, touching the tea leaves by hand and feeling their changes gives one a special connection to this tea mountain. Watching the tea-making process, personally experiencing the joy of tea making, and listening to professional tea masters explain tea tasting and brewing knowledge, one unconsciously returns to the natural world, perceiving the charming aspects of Wuyi tea culture in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.