Komaen Tea Gardens

Above the village of Komaen near Phongsali stand tea trees that are genuinely trees rather than the clipped bushes of a plantation, grown tall over a long time and picked from ladders or by climbing. Local accounts put the oldest at around four hundred years, which is repeated widely and has not been independently established, though the size of the trunks makes considerable age obvious. The leaf is processed in the villages and much of it goes north into China, where old-growth Yunnan-style tea has a market.

What you actually see

• The old trees - tea grown as trees rather than bushes, thick-trunked and picked from ladders.
• The gardens - scattered stands on the ridge rather than planted rows.
• The processing - withering, rolling and drying done in the village houses.
• The tasting - green and aged teas offered where the leaf is processed.

When to go

March to May is the spring picking, which is the best time to see the gardens working. October to April is drier and easier for the road up. The ridge is often in cloud in the early morning, which lifts by mid-morning.

Honest expectations

The four-hundred-year figure is village tradition rather than a dated measurement, and should be treated that way. The gardens are working ground, not laid out for visitors, and a local guide is needed to find them and to arrange anything. The road up is rough.

Nearby

Phongsali town is fifteen kilometres away, and Phu Fa is the hill above it.