Three seasonal itineraries — spring in Yiwu, summer in Wuyi, autumn on Phoenix Mountain — each following the leaf from bush to cup under the guidance of cross-regional expert Amgalan Chin. Small groups depart from major US gateways.
three regions, one thread
The itinerary follows Chinese tea’s own geography rather than a fixed route: the old-growth arbor gardens above Yìwǔ (易武) in Yunnan in spring, the cliff-face rock-tea gardens of Wǔyí Shān (武夷山) in Fujian in summer, and the dancong slopes of Fènghuáng Shān (凤凰山), Phoenix Mountain, in Guangdong come autumn. Each departure is a complete trip on its own — roughly two weeks, guided throughout by cross-regional expert Amgalan Chin, who has spent years working across Yunnan, the Wuyi mountains, and the trade routes north into Russia and Mongolia.
Groups gather at one of three US gateways — JFK, LAX, or SFO — and fly to Kunming, Xiamen, or Guangzhou depending on the season. In Yiwu, the days center on walking the old tea forests with growers, watching leaf processing firsthand, and tasting máochá (毛茶) at the point it is made rather than months later. In Wuyi, the focus shifts to the mineral character that gives rock tea its name — zhèng yán (正岩) tea grown inside the protected scenic core versus bàn yán (半岩) grown just outside it — with tastings of Shuǐ Xiān (水仙), Ròu Guì (肉桂), and rarer cultivars. In Phoenix Mountain, the group works through dancong’s aroma families — honey-orchid Mí Lán Xiāng (蜜兰香) among them — tasting across bushes from a single small area to hear how much a few hundred meters of elevation and soil can change a cup.
Evenings are for slower tasting and discussion — how wòduī (渥堆) fermentation works, how spring and autumn harvests differ, what separates a genuinely old tree from a marketing claim. Amgalan draws on his own cross-border trading background to connect what the group tastes in Yunnan or Fujian to the wider history of how compressed and fermented tea moved along trade routes into Russia and beyond. Participants who want deeper background before departing can read Amgalan’s writing on puerh.app or work through the relevant tea.school courses in advance.
how the tasting programme runs
Each day opens with a focused gongfu session tuned to that region and that morning’s plans — a grounding shóu pu-erh before a hike in Yiwu, a lighter dancong to sharpen the palate before an afternoon of farm visits in Fenghuang. Every participant keeps an evaluation journal to record dry-leaf appearance, aroma, liquor color, and finish across the trip; sessions are unhurried, and a single tea can hold the group’s attention for half an hour.
Sourcing is part of the itinerary, not an add-on. When the group identifies a lot worth buying — a parcel of exceptional Bái Háo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针), a specific rock-tea micro-plot — the trip includes help coordinating purchase and shipping back to a US address, so the tea a participant tastes on the mountain is the same tea that eventually reaches their own table. After the trip, a private space on tea.community keeps the conversation open as those shipments arrive and the tea continues to settle.