Every spring, local villagers help Master Wang harvest tea from ancient 150-year-old trees growing in his personal garden. It is located at an altitude of about 2500 meters on Ailao Mountain. Only an experienced eye can recognize it as a tea garden. Moist, cool, and mossy, it looks like a primeval mountain slope covered with trees and shrubs.

This red tea is made using a special technique where the main difference is that fixation (fermentation halt) occurs not in an oven (the usual method) but in the sun (Shai Qing). Such red teas are called shaihongs (Shai Hong). After the traditional harvesting, withering, shaking, and fermentation, the leaves are spread in a thin layer on woven round trays under the sun. This way, solar radiation partially halts the fermentation process. Shaihong teas are usually more “alive” and dynamic, with greater aging potential than red teas fixed in an oven.