“In Wulliang Shan flows the Lancang Jiang River; the best tea in the world is made there…” — words from an Yi folk song. The chief of the local Yi Zu tribe, Yang San, greatly loves this tea and believes it gives him mental strength, spirit vitality, and a good mood. This sheng puerh from century-old tea trees (Da Shu) is light, bright, and very positive. It is filled with the energy and love of life characteristic of the local Yi Zu, Yi, Dai, Lahu, and Hani peoples. After the morning harvest, the tea leaves are spread on bamboo mats for withering (Wei Diao). This procedure is very important because the even removal of excess moisture from the leaves determines the subsequent processes — heating and drying. That is why the master carefully controls this stage, feeling the necessary condition by hand.

After withering, roasting begins on a hot wok — Sha Qing. However, to be precise, Master Yuan uses a very complex and multi-stage variation of Sha Qing called Chao Cha. It consists of three roasting stages with different temperature regimes and the use of various additional tools. After that, the future sheng puerh is removed from the wok and spread out again on bamboo mats or trays to cool for a few minutes before immediately starting the rolling process (Rou Nian). Rolling must be done quickly so the leaves do not lose the necessary condition.

The next stage is drying. If the sheng is prepared for pressing, it is dried under a shelter or briefly exposed to sunlight, then further dried under a shelter. In this case, the drying process is moderate. If the sheng is prepared for storage in loose form (Mao Cha), it is dried only under the sun for a sufficient amount of time. In our case, the sheng was pressed. After that, the pressed cakes are placed in the shade to dry for an additional 12 days.