Meet the Producer

Mr. Ji

In Baoshan, there is a small village of all-white houses on cobbled streets, set in the valley among the landscape of rolling hills. Here you will find Mr. Ji, his family, and his village—all of whom are behind the inimitable Crescent Green. Ji is Hui minority Muslim, and we met him by chance on one of our first trips to the region. He does all the tea processing at his family’s compound, replete with a mountain spring aquifer. Much of the equipment on the farm is at least fifty years old but remarkably well-maintained, making the taste of his tea a flavor time capsule. Some of the trees on his land are centuries-old and many were cut down during the Cultural Revolution, only to have new tea grafted back onto the storied roostock. Mr. Ji is kind, gracious and, above all, a good friend.