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Man Zhuan Shan Mountain is one of the historical “Six Tea Mountains” – these are the original ones that are located north of Lancang River in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, China. This mountain plus its five companions (You Le, Ge Deng, Yi Bang, Mang Zhi, and Man Sa) were key areas for growing tea since the mid-1700s. The area has perfect natural conditions (what some call terroir) for growing the leaves needed to make the finest pu-erh and produce unique flavor profiles. (Over time as populations shifted and the market for these teas changed, tea growing and production shifted to six tea mountains south of Lancang River: Nannuo, Menghai, Bada, and Nanqiao near Menghai town, Jingmai in Hui Min County, and Mengsong.) Man Zhuan Shan Mountain is beside Ye Xiang Mountain and the Mo Zhe River. At its peak, the mountain yielded over 500 metric tons of tea per year. Unlike massive tea gardens covering hundreds of hectares and comprised of neatly cultivated rows of tea bushes kept trimmed to about waist height, the tea from Man Zhuan Shan Mountain and the other five of those famous tea mountains comes from tea plants that have grown to natural tree height. They are usually tended by people living in nearby villages, who also harvest and process the leaves. Man Lin Village and Man Zhuan Village (very small with less than 30 families living there) are on Man Zhuan Mountain. The people doing this today could be descendants of those who did it for over 270 years of tea-growing history on those mountains. Man Zhuan Shan area teas are known for their special thick aroma and a taste that with age becomes stronger and more textured. This tea comes from wild arbor trees between 300 and 400 years old growing on a sunny south facing slope. When being brewed, you will notice the tea soup is a bright yellow-gold and clear, the aroma is penetrating and the tea is full in the mouth. The flavor is textured and thick with a strong and lingering after-taste.

There is a widespread misunderstanding that raw Pu Erh can only be drunk after at least 5-10 years aging. In fact, raw Pu Erh of good quality esepcially the ones made of tealeaves harvested from old or ancient arbor tea trees such as the Man Zhuan Loose raw Pu Erh is declious even being enjoyed in current year. Of course, amazing changes can be found every several years if properly stored.

Place tea leaves up to 40-60% of the capacity of Gaiwan. If the Gaiwan is 100ml, we need about 5g of Pu Erh tea leaves. Fill the Gaiwan with boiling water, and then place the lid and immediately pour out the water from Gaiwan. It is to warm and open up tea leaves. This action can be repeated once more. That means you can rinse tea leaves twice with boiling water.

For the actual brewing, it does not require long infusion time like preparing other kinds of teas. Instead, you have to brew it in the "touch and go" style. As soon as you pour the Gaiwan full, place the lid on Gaiwan and then immediately pour out the tea liquor. It is recommended to accumulate the 1st and 2nd infusion into a pitcher in order to even out the flavor and taste. For each subsequent brewing, no more than 5 second is recommended. By brewing in such "touch and go" style, you can brew up to nearly 20 times.