Searching for Tea in the Deep Mountains, A Century of Wild Charm | Lumen Naturae’s Tea-Making Journey to Enshi
On 1 April 2026, we — the three founders of Lumen Naturae — travelled to Maliuxi Village, Xianfeng County, Enshi, Hubei Province, and stepped into this Tujia settlement hidden deep in the Wuling Mountains. Our purpose was to visit a master of traditional craftsmanship: Mr. Liu Mingjian, a provincial-level inheritor of Hubei’s intangible cultural heritage — the art of black tea production — and to document his process of making spring tea by hand.
Mr. Liu led us uphill, through forests and thickets, ever upward. Beneath our feet lay soft fallen leaves; our ears were filled with birdsong and the whisper of the wind. Deep in the remote mountain forest, we suddenly came upon a grove of century-old wild tea trees — dense, untended, growing with unbridled abandon, wild and beautiful. Tender buds were just emerging — each leaf fresh and lively, still glistening with morning dew. Bringing our faces close, we breathed in the pure, crisp and gentle fragrance of the tea trees.
After gathering the leaves, we returned to the village and entered a stilt house — a century-old tea workshop, its wooden beams and grey tiles holding time quietly in every grain of the wood.
The tea leaves were first left to wither. Then came the rolling. Mr. Liu’s hands moved like a tai chi master — firm yet soft, strong yet gentle — as the leaves slowly released their rich aroma between his palms. The smoke from the charcoal fire mingled with the warm mist rising from bamboo baskets — the roasting had begun. This is the daily rhythm of the tea maker, day after day, year after year.
We sat down with the master, brewed a cup of fresh tea, and talked of tea and of life, as we waited patiently for the leaves to finish roasting. Through the whole evening, slowly, we waited for a cup of fully fired, fine tea.
Here, time flows on, yet the craftsman’s art is passed down from generation to generation, never broken. Their perseverance fills us with admiration. And in this pure and remote mountain sanctuary, we found a long-lost stillness — a chance to slow down and truly savour life.
Lumen Naturae – reflecting the world through objects. We gladly share with you this cup of wild charm from the deep mountains.