The Bulang People's Tea: Sour Tea, Green Bamboo Tea, and the Tea Ancestor Pa Aileng

When people talk about the origins of pu'er, many think of ancient tea trees and the Tea Horse Road, but fewer mention the people who planted and tended the tea in the mountains. The Bulang are one of the most important of these peoples. For generations they've lived on the tea mountains of southwestern Yunnan, regarding tea as property left by their ancestors, and they still keep many distinctive tea customs today.

The Bulang People and Pu'er

The Bulang live mainly in Menghai County in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna, as well as in Lincang, Pu'er, Baoshan, and elsewhere. Bulang Mountain in Menghai is named after the Bulang people, and it's home to famous tea mountains such as Lao Banzhang and Laomane; see Bulang Mountain.

Scholars generally believe the Bulang people's ancestors were related to an ancient group called the "Pu people," and that they were among the earliest peoples in Yunnan to cultivate and use tea trees. Jingmai Mountain in Lancang County, Pu'er City, is an ancient tea forest managed for generations by the Bulang and Dai peoples. On September 17, 2023, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List as the "Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er," and the World Heritage description notes that the tradition of growing tea under the forest canopy here can be traced back to around the 10th century. Mangjing Village on Jingmai Mountain is a Bulang settlement that, together with the Dai village of Jingmai, safeguards these tea forests; see Jingmai Mountain and The Pu People and the Origins of Tea Cultivation in Yunnan.

Who Is the Tea Ancestor Pa Aileng?

Pa Aileng (帕岩冷, also written 帕哎冷) is a legendary Bulang leader revered by his people as the "tea ancestor." According to legend, he led his people to settle in the Jingmai Mountain area, discovered the uses of the tea tree, and taught them to grow and use tea.

The Bulang pass down his parting words, which go roughly like this: leave your descendants gold and silver, and one day it will run out; leave them cattle and horses, and they may be struck by disaster; only by leaving them tea trees will generation after generation have an inexhaustible source. These words are widely told around Mangjing and form the spiritual core of the Bulang view of tea trees as a family heirloom.

Mangjing Village has a site commemorating Pa Aileng, and each year during the spring tea season it holds the "Shankang Tea Ancestor Festival" to honor him. During this time, the villagers pay homage to the tea ancestor, give thanks to the tea trees, and welcome the new year. Festival details are in Tea Ancestors, Tea Rituals, and Tea Festivals.

How Do the Bulang Drink Tea?

The Bulang drink and eat tea in many ways; commonly mentioned ones include:

• Roasted tea: Leaves are roasted in a clay pot or by the fire pit until toasty, then boiled with water. This is the most common everyday method; see Roasted Tea and Guanguan Tea.
• Bamboo-tube tea: Leaves are packed into a bamboo tube and roasted, taking on the fresh fragrance of bamboo.
• Green bamboo tea: A fresh bamboo tube is used as a kettle to boil water for tea.
• Sour tea: Tea leaves are fermented and eaten as food.

What Is Sour Tea?

Sour tea is a distinctive Bulang way of "eating tea." The general method is:

1. In summer and autumn, pick fairly tender fresh leaves and boil or steam them until cooked.
2. Leave them in a cool, shady place to ferment slightly and soften.
3. Pack the leaves tightly into a bamboo tube and seal the opening.
4. Bury it in the ground for a period of time, commonly said to be several months.
5. Once dug up, the leaves have a sour taste; they can be chewed directly and are often given as gifts to relatives and friends.

Sour tea isn't for brewing; it's eaten as a kind of pickled food, sour with some astringency and a hint of tea aroma. Its method resembles the pickled-tea and eaten-tea traditions of some peoples in Yunnan and Southeast Asia, reflecting tea's earliest form as something "you can eat." Details vary from village to village; the above is a common ethnographic description.

What Is Green Bamboo Tea?

Green bamboo tea is the most convenient way to drink tea out in the mountains:

1. Cut a section of fresh, thick bamboo, keeping a node at one end as the bottom, to make a tube.
2. Fill it with mountain spring water and set it over a fire.
3. Once the water boils, add roasted or sun-dried tea leaves and simmer a little longer.
4. Drink the tea from small cups carved from bamboo.

Fresh bamboo releases a fresh fragrance when heated over a fire, giving the tea a clean bamboo note. This way of drinking tea is common when working in the mountains or resting outdoors, and it's also used to welcome guests.

Do These Customs Still Exist?

As lifestyles change, younger Bulang have also grown used to brewing tea in ordinary ways, and sour tea and green bamboo tea aren't as common in daily life as they once were. But they can still be seen at festivals, when hosting guests, and at cultural events on the tea mountains. Since Jingmai Mountain was inscribed as World Heritage, the area has placed more emphasis on preserving and showcasing these traditions.

If you have a chance to take part in local tea customs while traveling to the tea mountains, please respect the villages' customs and ritual sites; see Visiting Yunnan's Tea Mountains.

FAQ

How do the Bulang drink tea? Common methods are roasted tea, bamboo-tube tea, green bamboo tea, and sour tea, where the leaves are fermented and eaten as food.

What is sour tea? Fresh leaves are cooked, fermented slightly, packed into a bamboo tube, sealed, and buried for a time; once dug up, they taste sour and are chewed directly or given as gifts.

Who is Pa Aileng? A legendary Bulang leader and tea ancestor said to have led his people to settle around Jingmai Mountain and left them his teachings about growing tea.

What is the Bulang people's connection to pu'er? The Bulang are among the earliest peoples in Yunnan to grow and use tea, and they have tended tea mountains such as Jingmai and Bulang for generations.