<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA cup of Shan snow tea does not begin with hot water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It begins with altitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With morning dew settling on the leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the feet of tea pickers climbing the mountain while it is still cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With hands that know which buds to pick and which to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And with patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not everything slow is inefficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some things, if pushed, lose the very value they hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ancient tea trees are one of those things.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTea does not begin in the cup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/span>A tea picker does more than pick tea<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA skilled tea picker does not only know how to take buds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They know the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know the tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know the path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know whether today the mist is still heavy or has lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know that after rain, which path is slippery, which tree is hard to climb, which stretch should not be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Know that a tea tree needs its strength saved for seasons still to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking tea is not about taking as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking tea correctly means knowing how much is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the difference between extraction and living alongside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Not every ancient tree should receive visitors<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSome tea trees are very beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Old trunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White lichen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wide canopy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing alone on a mountain slope as if it has witnessed many human generations pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we took visitors there, people would certainly love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we do not think every ancient tea tree should become an attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some trees grow in areas with sensitive paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some tea gardens belong to the private livelihood of individual families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some areas are not suitable for groups of visitors coming and going repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A tea tree may withstand wind and weather for hundreds of years, but it may not withstand uncontrolled human curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So there are places we will describe, but not take visitors to.<\/p>\n\n\n\nShan snow tea is not only a drink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Shan snow tea does not need to be romanticized<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIt is very easy to write about tea in beautiful sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High peaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White buds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dao people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roasting fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of that is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if we only write like that, we diminish the labor of the people who make tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making tea is work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aching hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A wrong roasting temperature ruins a whole batch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One bad season can reduce the harvest significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A selling price sometimes does not match the effort put in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good cup of tea does not only have poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also has sweat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if we do not see that, we have only tasted the flavor \u2014 not the story behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nShan snow tea does not need to be romanticized<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/span>What TVPalm Can Do<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWe can tell the story of tea with respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not calling everything \u00ab\u00a0ancient\u00a0\u00bb if we are not sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not turning tea gardens into photo backdrops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not taking visitors to places people do not want or where movement could cause damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not pushing tea-makers to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not turning real work into a tourism show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we can do is help visitors understand that behind a cup of tea is a whole connection between forest, soil, water, climate and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If they understand that, they will drink more slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps, with more respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>What We Will Not Do<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWe will not sell Shan snow tea as an empty legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will not use images of tea workers to decorate our brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will not open trekking routes simply because there are a few beautiful tea trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will not forget that tea trees belong first to the life of the people here \u2014 not to the curiosity of visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we will not let a cup of tea become something cut off from the forest that nurtured it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>A cup of tea can hold the memory of an entire mountain<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nA cup of tea can hold the memory of an entire mountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPerhaps after the trip, you will not remember all the village names you passed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps you will forget which path led up to that slope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But perhaps you will remember an afternoon, sitting down at the edge of a house, holding a warm cup of tea, watching mist drift past in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing very large happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just a cup of tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A person pouring it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A mountain in quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the feeling that some things in life should not be rushed into products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An ancient tea tree did not grow to become a destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It grew because this place once had enough forest, enough water, enough mist, enough time \u2014 and enough people who knew how to live slowly alongside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If that is still kept, perhaps we keep more than just a good cup of tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We keep part of the memory of Tay Con Linh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n 5\/5 - (171 votes) <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are tea trees on Tay Con Linh that have stood there longer than many people in the village. They were not planted for tourism. Not born to become a promotional story. They do not know they are called \u00ab\u00a0ancient Shan snow tea trees\u00a0\u00bb. They do not know that people in the lowlands call them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":25762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvpalm.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}