Being a remote area, where had even no road connected until 1962, Tongmu Guan is world famous for being the birthplace of Lapsang Souchong. However, there are still more facts that are less known about this mysterious area. Tongmu Guan is the first nature reserve in China, approved in 1979 and elevated to a national forest park in 2017. It is a completely wild and natural area, where tourists are not allowed to enter, with 96% forest cover, providing an excellent environment for tea trees to grow, no fertilizers, no pesticides. On the both sides of the valley of more than 40km, the 12 villages of Tongmu Guan are located, and Gua Dun is one of them. Due to the primitive ecological environment and great biological diversity, western missionaries and biologists came to Tongmu Guan to collect specimens since the 19th century. The most famous event incident might be that Robert Fortune, the Scottish botanist, collected information on tea cultivation and processing in the 1840s, and the tea plants that Robert introduced to India was from Gua Dun.
 
We have selected a series of Chi Gan black teas from the village Gua Dun, to provide our beloved tea drinkers with the most authentic flavors. All of these selections are from the same tea garden and made by the same tea farmer.
 
Chi Gan is a high-end variety of the Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, it is made in traditional method, using basically the harvest of one bud with two leaves, but unsmoked. Chi Gan tea is further divided into Xiao Chi Gan (small Chi Gan, with unopened bud) and Da Chi Gan (large Chi Gan, with opened bud), according to the degree of opening of the leaves. Due to the maturity of the buds, the two types are easily distinguished both from the appearance of the dry and steeped leaves, as well as from their flavors. As for the Floral Chi Gan, it follows the same technique and harvesting standard of the Xiao Chi Gan, but uses other cultivars, thus highlighting its floral scent. In our Gua Dun series, you can play some entertaining games, making comparison between 2017 Xiao Chi Gan and 2017 Da Chi Gan to see the influence given by the harvest standard, between 2017 Xiao Chi Gan and 2021 Xiao Chi Gan to see how the same tea ages over time, also, between 2021 Floral Chi Gan and the others to see the differentia of the cultivars. Chi Gan Tasting Set is also available, with 5g of each of the 4 teas mentioned above.