The Immortal Mountain

That is how one feels at Phoenix Mountain, like an immortal, on a rainy, foggy, soggy day, squishy pathways up the mountain on the red clay soil, everywhere the scent of tree size gardenias, osmanthus flowers, giant bamboo groves and of course, extremely old tea groves full of white lichen. You feel that if you could but absorb some of this heavenly energy, you, too, can purge all the city living out of your lungs, and live to a thousand years alongside the tea. I think I would be perfectly happy having my ashes fed to the roots of the tea groves here. Wonder if my ashes are good enough fertilizer? Probably, have drank enough tea already by now. The trees here are typically 50 to 100 years old, and the best and oldest are well over 300 years. The young ones are about 10 years old and harvested for the first time. Most tea bushes in the world get harvested by the time they are 2-3 years, but not here. They have to be seasoned, sure, but the groves grow so very very slowly, and it takes so long for the roots to reach deep for nutrients. The roots are taller than the trees. Trees that grow on low lying areas never really grow well and usually don't survive, because the soil isn't rich enough. So high mountain it is; generally by 500 meters the fog rolls in, the soil is rich, and the trees thrive. Our Honey Fragrance Phoenix Oolongs are usually harvested at 800 -1000 meters, the Almond and Pommelo Fragrances are at the peak areas of 1300 meters or more. Wudong Mountain, the tea mountain of the Phoenix Mountain Range, is covered with new plantings at the bottom and full of the old trees at the top. The new trees are planted at the base for a couple of years, and if they survive, transplanted up the mountain for continuous growth, sort of like in a dojo, you can work your way up from white belt to black belt, that is if you survive the matches. Any poorer quality groves are grafted with better quality or more in style varietals. For example, this year, our favorites, the Almond and Pommelo, proved to be so wildly popular many younger trees were grafted with those two species.
I believe the energy of these mountains make the teas. I don't care what anyone says about teas grown at improper areas or mountains not meant for tea. There just isn't that heavenly energy. The soil, air, water, and the majestic quality of the mountain makes the tea plants grow to reflect that energy, and you can taste that in your cup of tea.

Taken from http://teapersonality.blogspot.com/