old tea forest
'ancient tea forest'
Definition#
Old tea trees growing within forest cover, managed by villagers over centuries. UNESCO inscribed the 'Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er' (Russian: «Культурный ландшафт древних чайных лесов горы Цзинмай в Пуэре»; property 1665, 2023) and describes it as 'a tea production area of old tea groves, tea plantations, forests, and traditional villages'. Chinese Wikipedia calls the site 'a typical representative of artificially cultivated ancient tea forests' (人工栽培古茶林的典型代表) and 'the best preserved, oldest and largest artificially cultivated ancient tea garden in the world' (人工栽培型古茶园), so the trees are cultivated, not wild. The UNESCO English text does not give tree ages. 古茶林 is a place or land-use label; it does not by itself prove the age of the tea in a given product.
Translation and usage#
| Language | Use | Alternatives & cautions |
|---|---|---|
| English | old tea forest cultivated old tea trees within forest cover, as at Jingmai Mountain translation |
Also acceptable
Avoid wild forest tea 古茶林 at Jingmai are cultivated; wild tea is 野生茶 |
| Deutsch | alter Teewald kultivierte alte Teebäume im Wald, wie am Jingmai-Berg translation |
Also acceptable
|
| Русский | древний чайный лес культивируемые древние чайные деревья в лесу |
Also acceptable
|
| 简体字繁體字 | 古茶林 | |
| 日本語 | 古茶林 森の中に残る古い栽培茶樹 |
Also acceptable
|
Common confusions#
- Cultivated, not wild.
- A heritage-landscape term; product ages and purity are separate seller claims.