During YIN CHA’s sourcing journey through Yunnan, China, we stepped inside a traditional Pu’er tea storage room on Jingmai Mountain.
A narrow passage stretched between wooden shelves filled from floor to ceiling with tea cakes, compressed bricks and bamboo-wrapped bundles. Some were marked with years such as 2019, 2022 and spring 2025, each resting at a different stage of its journey.
The room was dim and quiet, carrying the distinct, layered aroma of stored tea. Walking between the shelves felt less like entering a warehouse and more like stepping into a living library, with every tea holding its own origin, vintage and relationship with time.
Most people think tea is finished once it has been picked and made.
For Pu’er, production is often only the beginning.

