Yekaterinburg Chinese-tea festival 2026

Two days of continental tea

The festival opens Saturday morning with a session hosted by Amgalan Chin, whose work bridging Russian and Mongolian tea communities has deepened our understanding of how pu-erh ages outside Yunnan. He begins by tasting three Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱) cakes: one stored in Kūnmíng (昆明), one aged in Moscow, and one kept in a Yekaterinburg cellar for over a decade. The differences — light, dry, almost crystalline — speak to the Urals’ cold, low-humidity continental climate. These aren’t the heavy, humid notes of tropical storage; instead, the tea reveals clean wood, autumn leaves, and a taut minerality that Amgalan calls ‘a whisper of the Siberian wind’.

In the afternoon, the festival floor opens to eight vendors. Stalls offer Shú Pǔ’ěr (熟普洱), Liù Bǎo (六堡), Fú Zhuān (茯砖), and a small selection of aged white teas. Each vendor has arranged at least one vertical flight — same material, different storage arcs — turning the hall into a living atlas of aging. Members of tea.community can apply with a discount, and early arrivals receive a tasting booklet mapping each tea to its storage coordinates.

Sunday shifts to dark teas and the craft of dry storage at home. Amgalan guides a hands-on workshop, comparing pumidor setups with natural cellar conditions and explaining how to monitor humidity in a continental apartment. A second master class dissects a 1990s Shēng cake that spent fifteen years in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia — a vivid example of how extreme temperature swings compress and stretch the leaves’ aromatic profile. For those inspired to deepen their practice, tea.school offers a dedicated course on aging pu-erh at home, filmed across several Russian kitchens.

Throughout both days, tea flows continuously: small-group tastings of dancong, Lapsang, and a rare Jīn Jùn Méi (金骏眉) run in a quieter room. As dusk settles on Sunday, a final roundtable brings all four masters together to discuss what continental storage means for the future of collector culture. The festival closes with a handshake and a cup of 2006 Shēng — mellow, crisp, unmistakably cold-country.

What you get

• Two full days of guided tastings with Amgalan Chin and invited masters

• Access to all master classes and the concluding roundtable

• Printed tasting booklet with continental-storage tasting notes

• Three 10 g samples of aged pu-erh to take home

• 15% discount on future purchases at shop.puerh.app for festival attendees

• Early entry and preferred seating for tea.community members

• Complimentary ceramic tasting cup from local Yekaterinburg potters

Where, when & how

• Venue — Ulitsa Lenina, 50, Yekaterinburg, Russia — main hall and two tasting rooms

• Dress — Warm layers and comfortable shoes; November temperatures average -5 °C

• Food — On‑site tea snacks, local Russian pastries, and a light lunch both days

• Accessibility — Fully wheelchair‑accessible ground‑floor venue with accessible restrooms

• Language — Russian host; all master classes have English‑language translation

• Kit included — Tasting cup, spoon, notebook, and a canvas tote for samples

• Weather note — Early winter conditions — snow possible, please plan for icy streets