From Bulang Mountain to Buryatia — a decade in Amgalan Chin’s cellar
In spring 2012, Amgalan Chin traveled to the heart of Bulang Mountain, one of the most revered areas for raw pu’er. He hand-selected maocha from old arbor trees growing at around 1,650 meters — leaves known for their intense bitterness and explosive energy when young. Instead of pressing and selling quickly, he had the leaves stone-pressed into traditional 357g cakes and transported them to his cellar in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, Russia.
Ulan-Ude lies at the junction of Mongolian steppe and Siberian taiga, with extreme continental seasons: dry, biting winters down to -40°C and short, warm summers. In this unique climate, the cakes aged much more slowly than in humid Kunming or steamy Guangdong warehouses. Over twelve years, the tea lost its youthful fire and gained a deep, meditative character without ever picking up wet-storage notes. The cellar’s low humidity and stable temperatures preserved the tea’s structural integrity while allowing a gentle, oxidative transformation. The result is a Bulang sheng that speaks with a voice both ancient and distinctly cross-cultural — a bridge between the tea mountains of Yunnan and the tea roads that crossed Russia and Mongolia. This cake is one of only a handful released from Amgalan’s private stock, making it a rare snapshot of continental aging mastery.