As a result, their tea quality has significantly improved, and the price they get has gone up to around 5,000-10,000 yuan a kilogram, according to Zhang.

After the fresh tea leaves are picked, a series of treatments follow, including standardized drying and washing, before they are sent to the King-Shine tea company's processing plant in the provincial capital Kunming for further processing.

Speaking about the processing, Tian Jun, general manager of the tea company, says: "We've developed machines of our own to satisfy customer needs,"

This has greatly increased the efficiency of the process. And all tea products have to go through more than 130 quality control processes, according to Tian.

However, certain traditional teamaking methods have been maintained.

For example, Longzhu tea requires workers to ball tea leaves up without crushing them.

"It takes time to grasp how to apply the right amount of pressure to do this," Tian explains.