It is in the subtropical rainforests of Southwest China that our journey to the land of tea begins. We witness the harvest of wild tea, from the original and gigantic tea trees (camellia sinensis) but also the collecting of cultivated tea, the famous Pu'er Tea which is still cultivated here in the olden ways, by traditional tea planter families who have been here for centuries. The cultivation of tea, the harvest and sorting of the tea leaves, its fermentation and conditioning into cake and brick-like units to facilitate transportation on horseback is handled here to this day according to rituals thousands of years old. In each valley, within each ethnical group, sometimes even within a tribe or extended family, the tea producers have their very own secrets in the process of tea making, carried forward generation by generation.
It is in the subtropical rainforests of Southwest China that our journey to the land of tea begins. We witness the harvest of wild tea, from the original and gigantic tea trees (camellia sinensis) but also the collecting of cultivated tea, the famous Pu'er Tea which is still cultivated here in the olden ways, by traditional tea planter families who have been here for centuries. The cultivation of tea, the harvest and sorting of the tea leaves, its fermentation and conditioning into cake and brick-like units to facilitate transportation on horseback is handled here to this day according to rituals thousands of years old. In each valley, within each ethnical group, sometimes even within a tribe or extended family, the tea producers have their very own secrets in the process of tea making, carried forward generation by generation.
General Note
Originally released by Film Ideas, 2013.
Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on March 15, 2019.
Content Note
Southern Yunnan Region (2:35); --Tea Origins and Traditions (4:55); -- High Quality Tea (2:46); -- Pu'er Tea Culture (2:24); -- Township Tea Production (3:28); -- Village Wedding (2:56); -- Tea Caravan Departure (6:08); -- Caravanserai (4:52); -- Specialty Products (2:02); -- Tea Road Stopover Places (8:32); -- Mountain Trails (4:55); -- Caring for the Caravan (5:09); -- Credits: In The Kingdom Of Green Gold (0:39); .