KILNWELL / ZENGWU · YINGDE
Tea grows among the stones.
On a small hillside in Zengwu, Yingde, stone breaks through the soil and tea trees follow the contours of the land. Morning mist rises from the valley as growers make their way into the garden. This is where the Kilnwell story begins.
01 / A place of our own
A hillside in the family.
Our small hillside is in Zengwu, Liyu Village Committee, Shigutang Town, Yingde, Guangdong. We lease the tea land to local growers, who cultivate and care for it. Kilnwell brings you Yingde black tea grown on this hillside, shaped by the people who tend it each day.
Shigutang Town · Liyu Village · Zengwu One small family hillside
From the Zengwu tea landscape · Trees, growers and the cup
02 / Into the garden
Come closer to a leaf.
First the tender shoots, then the trunk of a tea tree. Growers gather fresh leaves among the rows. In the cup, the liquor slowly opens. Up close, the hillside becomes a story of people as well as place.
03 / Life on the hillside
Good tea takes patient care.
There is soil among the stones and water in the hills. Local growers tend the tea trees along the slope, weed by hand, irrigate with spring water and do not use pesticides. Spring picking and everyday care keep the garden alive through the seasons.
04 / From leaf to cup
From fresh leaf to Yingde black tea.
After picking, fresh leaves are withered, rolled, fermented and dried to become Yinghong No. 9. Each step has its own pace. Time and craft transform the leaf, which finally reveals its colour and aroma in hot water.
05 / A tea region through time
A new cup, an old story.
The Lingnan tea region around Yingde appears in records from ancient times. Modern Yingde black tea emerged in the mid-twentieth century. Today, the garden at Zengwu carries on the region's daily relationship with tea and gives this cup of Yinghong No. 9 a place to begin.
The Classic of Tea recorded tea from Shaozhou, a historical region that included today's Yingde.
A Kangxi-period county gazetteer recorded leaf tea and bud tea presented as tribute.
Modern Yingde black tea began production and was exported in the same year.
Yingde tea history: Guangdong Provincial CPPCC cultural history archive