Understory Tea and the Management of Ancient Tea Gardens

In the old gardens of Jingmai Mountain or Yiwu, what you see when you look up isn't a flat table of tea bushes but tall camphor, banyan, and Chinese toon trees, with tea trees growing beneath them among ferns, orchids, and vines. This is "understory tea" (林下茶).

What Is Understory Tea?

Understory tea means tea trees grown beneath the forest canopy. Ancestors kept the existing big trees on the mountain and cleared only part of the space beneath them to plant tea, letting tea trees grow in partial shade. Compared with terrace gardens where the forest is cleared and the tea dwarfed and densely planted across the whole slope, an understory garden is more like a forest that happens to contain tea trees.

The most famous example is Jingmai Mountain in Lancang County, Pu'er City. The ancestors of the Blang and Dai here began planting tea under the forest around the 10th century, forming contiguous ancient tea forests; in September 2023, the "Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er" was inscribed on the World Heritage List, the world's first tea-themed World Cultural Heritage site. The property has 5 old tea forests separated by 3 protective forest belts; further reading: Jingmai Mountain: A Thousand-Year Tea Garden Under the Forest.

Why Are There Other Trees Above the Tea?

Forest trees play several roles in a tea garden:

• Shade: Large-leaf tea is originally an understory plant; diffused light makes young leaves grow a bit more slowly with a finer taste, and reduces scorching from strong sun.
• Moderating temperature and humidity: The canopy blocks fierce sun and frost, so temperature swings under the trees are smaller and the air more humid.
• Leaf litter returning to the soil: Fallen branches and leaves decompose on the forest floor and become a source of nutrients for the tea trees, with no need for extra fertilizer.
• Balancing pests: Diverse plants coexist with birds and insects, so no single pest easily explodes in number.
• Soil and water conservation: Deep-rooted big trees hold slope soil in place and reduce erosion.

The tea world often says understory tea carries a "forest note" or a distinctive wild-mountain fragrance; that's an experiential description, but a diverse environment and slow growth really do give tea a different style from open terrace gardens.

Are Ancient Gardens Fertilized and Sprayed?

Traditional management of ancient gardens is simple: weeding, trimming dead branches, and leaving some buds and leaves when picking so the trees can recover. Basically no chemical fertilizer or pesticide is applied; the garden relies on leaf litter and the forest floor's own cycle. This is one reason ancient-tree tea is so valued.

Since Yunnan began promoting ancient tea tree protection, localities have widely encouraged managing ancient gardens with manual weeding, biological control, and similar methods, minimizing chemical inputs. Actual conditions still vary from place to place, and some old gardens near villages have had chemical fertilizer applied, so it's worth asking when buying tea.

What Happens with Overpicking?

An ancient tea tree can only give so many buds and leaves a year. After some gardens became famous and expensive, practices like "picking several rounds a year" and "stripping even summer and autumn tea" appeared. A tea tree's leaves are its factory for photosynthesis; pick too many and the tree can't get enough nourishment, with the result that:

• New buds become fewer and thinner, and yields decline year by year;
• The tree weakens, dead branches increase, and it becomes vulnerable to pests and diseases;
• In serious cases, the whole tree dies.

That's why many villages have their own rules: pick one round of spring tea, let the trees rest in summer, pick a little in autumn, or always leave the fish leaf and a few mature leaves when picking. Overpicking is also a common cause in cases of tea king trees dying; see Tea King Trees and Famous Trees.

How Are Ancient Gardens Protected?

Since the Yunnan Province Regulations on the Protection of Ancient Tea Trees took effect on March 1, 2023, ancient tea trees must be surveyed, registered, and tagged, and ancient gardens marked with steles stating their boundaries and the person responsible for their care. Common protective measures include:

• Banning the felling, trunk-cutting, and transplanting of ancient tea trees;
• Restricting the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides in ancient gardens;
• Controlling picking intensity to avoid exploitative picking;
• Keeping and replanting shade trees to maintain the forest environment;
• Putting fences and paths around famous trees to keep visitors from trampling their roots.

Drinking Understory Tea

Understory tea is low-yielding and laborious to pick, so a high price is only natural. When you drink it, think about this: each leaf grew in a forest, taking longer than terrace tea to come into being. For a comparison of ancient trees, large trees, and terrace tea, read Ancient Trees, Large Trees, and Terrace Tea.

FAQ

What is understory tea? Tea from trees grown beneath the forest canopy, living alongside other forest trees; the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain are the most famous example.

Are ancient gardens fertilized and sprayed? Traditionally, no chemical fertilizer or pesticide is used, relying on leaf litter and the forest floor's cycle; localities now also encourage minimizing chemical inputs.

Why can't ancient tea trees be picked constantly? Leaves are where the tree makes its nourishment; picking too many weakens the tree and reduces new buds, and in serious cases the whole tree dies.

When did Jingmai Mountain become a World Heritage site? It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in September 2023, the first tea-themed World Cultural Heritage site.