Blue Hat Tea got to know Yinji and Guniangzhai 42, visiting their plots and homes, and they care about quality as much as you would hope. As the first Blue Hat release, Yinji and Guniangzhai present six teas:
The six teas contrast in different ways: different producers, Menghai vs. Mengku, more prestigious vs. less prestigious teas, teas from nearby plots, mountains against one another.
The release has pairs of teas from three different mountains:
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Nannuoshan
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Bulangshan
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Dongbanshan
Nannuoshan, home of Guniangzhai 42, has two teas: 2026 Bama and 2026 Guniangzhai. Guniangzhai 42 sourced 2026 Bama from CJ’s cousin, who has plots on Bama Zhengshan, a prestigious region next to the Bama river in the southwest of Nannuoshan. The environment is excellent and the tea is big. It is fragrant (very floral, then alpine and even fruity) with an engaging mouthfeel.
Farther to the north, Guniangzhai is on central Nannuoshan next to the famous Banpo Laozhai. The two villages are intertwined, their plots are side-by-side and Banpo Laozhai even separates Guniangzhai from its plots. Like 2026 Bama, 2026 Guniangzhai also starts floral, but has an additional resinous element that can come across savory when pushed. It is more composed than the 2026 Bama and easy to drink through quickly.
Bulangshan, south of Nannuoshan, is known for burly and strong teas and Laoman’e is known for strength even among Bulangshan villages. While 2026 Laoman’e remains a big tea, it is also refined: it has the intensity folks know and love with a seedy underbelly that takes a backseat to a crisp and clear foreground.
Weidong (also called ‘Mengnoy’ in the Hani language) is a Hani village south of Laoman’e closer to the Myanmar border. It is a remote village with a murky history; long story short, folks from Laobanzhang migrated there, brought tea seeds with them, and planted trees a couple hundred years ago. These trees were later dwarfed (cut down to stumps) then later regrown. You can see this in the trees themselves (they have thick rootbases although they aren’t all that tall and their branches are not so long) and you can also taste it: the tea has some of the depth, aftertaste, and intensity of older trees mixed with the punchier fragrance of dashu/big trees.
Dongbanshan is an eight hour drive north of Menghai town in Lincang. It’s home to the Mengku tea region, where the prestigious Bingdao Laozhai is located (alongside the other four Bingdao villages), which cornered between Xibanshan to the west and Dongbanshan to the east.
Nuowu is not a new name to the Baohongyinji ultras, who may be familiar with the 2014 “Deer Cake”. Nuowu is one of the five Bingdao villages and, as such, receives a little second-hand prestige. Yinji are Nuowu specialists: they manage four plots with many hundreds of old trees across Nuowu (250 of which are processed as danzhu). 2026 Nuowu has a touch of the Bingdao sweetness with an added wildness: it has a distinct bite and good strength. Many blind tasters guessed the tea comes from Menghai.
Xiaohuangtian sits up the mountain from Nuowu and is the most remote tea village on Dongbanshan. It never got electricity and first got road access in 2018. It is currently unpopulated and is only used for tea production. Even though its trees are relatively close to Nuowu, 2026 Xiaohuangtian is quite different from 2026 Nuowu. Xiaohuangtian has the sweetness of some Bingdao teas with a clarity and complextiy closer to some Yiwu teas. This year’s harvest, however, was a bit late and the tea cakes were pressed with a bit too much huangpian. The tea is still delicious, however, so it is offered at cost.
Yinji and Guniangzhai 42 really put some work into these teas (as did the wrapping designer, Moriz from moriz.work). Reach out with any questions or comments (contact, instagram, or discord are all good options).