Verdant Tea

The Wu Family’s Shou Mei is deep, rich and bold - a flavorful expression of white tea, picked from later season larger leaves that are packed with the complexity that a wild, biodiverse landscape brings to the Wu Family’s old-growth Da Bai varietal bushes. The Shou Mei grows even deeper, sweeter and darker with age like pu’er, and this year, the Wu Family pressed their Shou Mei in individual single session dragon pearls to protect them for transit and long term aging.

The years-long search is over! With help from Wang Yanxin, we've finally found a blooming tea flower that tastes as beautiful as it looks. These pearls are made from traditionally-scented Fuding Silver Needle White tea buds, spread in bamboo baskets with fresh-picked spring jasmine to slowly absorb the rich aromatics. After scenting, the buds are carefully gathered with colorful aromatic flower blossoms and tied together in a way that allows them to unfold dramatically in a teapot like peonies blooming in early summer.

Shou Mei is the biggest, boldest, most flavorful expression of White Tea, picked from late season larger leaves that are packed with the flavor and complexity that a wild, biodiverse landscape brings to the Wu Family’s old-growth Da Bai varietal bushes. The Shou Mei grows even deeper, sweeter and darker with age like pu’er, and this year, the Wu Family pressed their Shou Mei in mini wafer cakes to protect them for transit and long term aging.

Available loose leaf (25g) and in 100g pressings, this is the Dongsa Cooperative's third year finishing thier wild-picked ancient tree tea as a white tea! Inspired by the famous Yunnan Yue Guang Bai or Moonlight White style white tea, this mix of buds and leaves is dried without heat in bamboo baskets outdoors on breezy days fro quickly lock in teh deep complexity of the tea as it tastes picked fresh from the tree. This year's Yue Guang Bai was rested for a half year before gentle steaming and pressing into 100g cakes.

This is the Dongsa Cooperative's second year finishing thier wild-picked ancient tree tea as a white tea, adn their first season pressing it into single serving dragon pearls! Inspired by the famous Yunnan Yue Guang Bai or Moonlight White style white tea, this mix of buds and leaves is dried without heat in bamboo baskets outdoors on breezy days fro quickly lock in the deep complexity of the tea as it tastes picked fresh from the tree. This year's Yue Guang Bai was rested for a half year before gentle steaming and pressing into 5g single session dragon pearls.

This tea was picked, finished, blended and pressed by Mr. Wu at his family farm using pristine high mountain leaves and buds, specially balanced for long term aging. While technically a Shou Mei, this cake benefits from an unusually amount of downy buds and tender leaves more in the style of Bai Mudan for the best of all worlds- getting 4th depth and juiciness of Shou Mei leaf but etc creamy dessert flavor of Bai Mudan.

When it comes to white tea cakes, Mr. Wu’s approach is critical to creating teas that will age and get better and better over time. The key is his high airflow low heat technique. Without applying high heat to stop oxidative and enzymatic reactions by fixing the tea, Mr Wu leaves the tea open to slow steady change and growth.

This tea is wild-foraged by the Li Family of the Dongsa Cooperative within the Mt Ailao National Forest Preserve. The silvery buds and twisting golden leaves are picked from ancient tea trees between one hundred and eight hundred years old scattered between other evergreens, and wildflowers on the rocky mountainside. This incredibly labor-intensive tea to harvest is actually allowed to sun-roast and oxidize without applying heat in a wok. Because more moisture is retained in the leaf, this black tea is a fantastic candidate for aging like traditional sheng pu’er. Only a high-elevation remote place like Qianjiazhai can count on enough sunlight in the spring for this old but rare finishing technique. The result is a tea with the sweet malt of a black tea but the staggering complexity and herbaceous undertones of a sheng pu’er. The loose Maocha is lightly steamed and then meticulously rolled and shaped one pearl at a time by Master Zhou without the use of molds or machinery to preserve the delicate complexity of the tea.

This unique black tea is picked from the early spring leaves and tender buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna tree, a close relative of the tea plant native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and high in antioxidants. Since Crassicolumna is native to the Qianjiazhai region, there are many examples of staggeringly old Crassicolumna trees. Mr. Li of the cooperative is actually employed by the local government as an environmental protection officer to make sure these ancient trees are protected from poaching, where outsiders would sneak in in the cover of darkness to cut the tall trees and quickly harvest their precious leaves. Mr. Li has found that the best way to protect the trees is to allow sustainable wild foraging by the people living in the protected region in exchange for their help watching over remote Crassicolumna groves. This extremely rare and labor-intensive to harvest offering is allowed to slowly sun-roast to oxidize and finished as a unique black tea with a rich fruity but wild flavor, all without the caffeine you’d see in camellia sinensis. 

This fun, experimental black tea is pressed after finishing into single-serving 7g mini-cakes. Like the Liu Family's loose leaf Tieguanyin XIao Zhong, the inspiration for this tea is Wuyi Xiao Zhong, a traditional and full-bodied black tea from Wuyishan (sometimes smoked with special pine wood). You might expect a bracing and full bodied tea, but when you taste this Tieguanyin varietal processed as a pressed black tea, you find something different. The Liu Family has created a tea that is full of juicy fruity notes, rich spice and savory undertones. The mini-cake format of this tea makes for convenient brewing, aging and transportation.

The Li Family and other members of the Dongsa Cooperative sustainably forage from towering crassicolumna trees to harvest the early spring woody buds that make this brand new black tea. Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) is a wild near-relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai; because this plant currently a protected species. one of the cooperative's responsibilities is to protect these trees from poaching. The incredibly-sweet. flavor-packed buds are traditionally piled and allowed to oxidize fully in the Mt. Ailao sun without heat treatment, locking in the natural flavor and aroma of the region. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants.

This unique black tea is picked from the early spring leaves and tender buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna tree, a close relative of the tea plant native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and high in antioxidants. Since Crassicolumna is native to the Qianjiazhai region, there are many examples of staggeringly old Crassicolumna trees. Mr. Li of the cooperative is actually employed by the local government as an environmental protection officer to make sure these ancient trees are protected from poaching, where outsiders would sneak in in the cover of darkness to cut the tall trees and quickly harvest their precious leaves. Mr. Li has found that the best way to protect the trees is to allow sustainable wild foraging by the people living in the protected region in exchange for their help watching over remote Crassicolumna groves. This extremely rare and labor-intensive to harvest offering is allowed to slowly sun-roast to oxidize and finished as a unique black tea with a rich fruity but wild flavor, all without the caffeine you’d see in camellia sinensis. 

This masterful blend from Shun Chang Hao workshop embodies their He Xie Run label. He Xie Run roughly translated to “harmonious bounty,” a fitting name for a cake that perfectly balances notes of ginger molasses cake, sticky rice, blackberry and chrysanthemum for a stunning and contemplative profile. Fifteen years of aging give this cake a sparkling, clean expansive texture and aftertaste.

This special buds-only blend from the small Gu Yun Workshop is already over a decade old, showing off deep complexity from slow careful aging. Picked exclusively from the giant buds of old tea trees, this pu’er has notes of nutmeg, vanilla, birthday cake and blood orange with a sweet, smooth juicy texture and aftertaste.

This single origin cake from Gu Yun Workshop highlights the unique flavor and texture of the Wei Zhu mountain range. Gu Yun spared no expense, pressing this cake from luxurious golden buds for a velvety gong ting shu with notes of custard cream, cinnamon, redwood, vanilla, and a perfectly smooth soft beautiful texture.

This special rare release is one of Wang Yanxin’s favorite cakes that she has aged in the last twenty years. She managed to acquire this 2005 cake just a few years after it was pressed, and kept it protected and climate-controlled for twenty years because she loved it so much when it was made that she wanted to be sure to see it build up the depth and power it deserved. Now in 2025, she has decided to keep just a few cakes for herself and send us the rest to share. While it is hard not to keep it all ourselves, this tea is too good not to share. The wild arbor old tree foraged leaves and buds have taken on a mouth-watering, electrifying cooling sweet aftertaste and texture with notes of sandalwood, spearmint, pine, apricot blossoms and almond brittle

This huge 500g pressing from the small Kai Gu Workshop is an under-the-radar treasure - stone pressed for light compression and even, well-rounded aging. Blended from wild arbor tea tree foraged leaves and buds, this cake was made with respect for the environment. Nearly twenty years of aging show off the way Kai Gu Workshop’s thoughtful agriculture and craft yields stunning flavor and texture. Notes of fennel, rye bread, cardamom, lingonberry, apricot and jasmine with an expansive juicy aftertaste. 

Longyuanhao Workshop only pressed a few thousand of these 100g Tuochas, a special collaboration with the Menghai Tea Research Institute back in 2006 in the heyday of the pu’er boom market. Wang Yanxin was able to secure a few dozen Tuochas back in 2008 thanks to her relationship with Longyuanhao Workshop, and is pleased to release them from her cellar after nearly 20 years of climate-controlled aging. This tea has beautiful notes of nutmeg, cardamom, cooling camphor, citron and passionfruit, with a sweet ginger molasses cookie aftertaste.

Yuan Zhang Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This pressing is called Shen Xin, which loosely translates to “profound spirit,” an inspiration for this elegant and well balanced flavor profile. Notes of cardamom, brown sugar, dried apple, and rye with a juicy aftertaste.

De Hou Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This cake shows that a talented small workshop can achieve that perfect ideal flavor profile that made bigger brands like Mengku so famous, even without access to a huge cache of leaf material from across Yunnan. Through careful harvesting, and slow clean fermentation, De Hou has put together a cake picked in 2016 and pressed in 2018, brewing up beautifully with iconic notes of molasses, chocolate,cherry, cinnamon, and vanilla with a smooth silky texture.

Gong Ting or “Palace” designation is a nod to the old tea tribute system and describes the tiny golden bud pressings once offered to the imperial palace as a form of tax payment. This grade of shu pu’er is famously silky, sweet and smooth. Jing Ze Workshop’s 2016 harvest gong ting cake is no exception. This is a stunning and iconic pressing with notes of ginger cookies, spice cake, pear, and vanilla with a clean sparkling texture.

Yang Ji Tian Yuan Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. Their access to wild arbor old tree leaf material means they can put together truly unique blends. This 250g mini-cake is such a stunning, elegant example of their work, given over fifteen years to age. Notes of licorice, cinnamon, cherry, toasted rye, sandalwood incense, and a velvety cooling aftertaste.

“Deep Green mountains and crystal clear water bears forth sweet mountain herbs, a tea unlike any other.”  This line is the inspiration for Wan Yuan Workshop’s premium Ma Dui Zhang label’s 2018 "Lan Xiang" blend - a mix of buds and delicate leaves that come together for a deep, toasty, rich and complex cake.  Notes of baked apple, toasted oats, cedar, and vanilla with a rich honeyed aftertaste

Wang Yanxin has been working with Longyuanhao for twenty years. She first met them when they were still a newer brand, but they’ve picked up awards and respect over the years for their steadfast focus on quality. This tea was picked back in the golden era of sheng pu’er before the pu’er bubble collapsed, meaning that they could focus on the absolute highest quality leaf material and craft possible. Pressings from 2006 across the board have a beautiful quality, but this is something really special. Notes of dried apple, osmanthus, redwood, and sticky rice with a cooling sparkling texture.

Yun Cha Ke Zhi Ze Ren Handmade Tea Company is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This Tuocha has no age statement. It has been in Wang Yanxin’s personal cellar for years. Based on the flavor profile, we estimate between 2006 and 2008. The flavor has a deep “old pu’er” quality with notes of incense, chocolate, plantain and cooling spearmint.

Wang Yanxin has been working with small producer Wan Yuan Workshop for years. She loves the unexpected complexity of their teas and the fact that they aren’t one of the over-represented brands out there. As a smaller producer, they are able to put out much higher quality work and deliver that value in tea, not marketing budget. This old tree shu pu’er harvest has a deep, aged quality with notes of cardamom, dried fig, lotus, cucumber and brown sugar with a sparkling texture.

This is a unique offering from the Banzhang Laoshu Workshop. As their name suggests, they are based in famous Banzhang, not Bingdao, but their work in Banzhang gives them connections to stunning producers in Bingdao. This is their unique blend, balanced from a “Banzhang” perspective but with famously cooling (and sought-after) Bingdao leaf material. Over a decade of age gives this shu pu’er a rich, sweet cooling aftertaste. Notes of sticky rice, caramel, cinnamon, elderberry and vanilla.

This tea is sustainably wild-foraged from ancient Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) tree, a close relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai. This year's tea is available both loose and in 100g cake pressings. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants. The giant leaves and buds picked from this wild-growing tree stock are allowed to gently sun dry without any heat processing to keep the most natural flavor. Wild crassicolumna trees can be anywhere between several hundred and over a thousand years old, and are incredibly tall and difficult to climb to harvest these precious leaves, but the rich nuanced flavor and lingering aftertaste is worth the effort.

Jing Mai has become one of the most famous and sought after pu’er microclimates in Yunnan, thanks to the velvety, rich, luxurious teas that come out of Jingmai, home to some truly ancient wild tea trees. This particular cake was pressed in 2020, but Wang Yanxin remembers the leaf material as picking closer to 2014, which would explain the deep spiced rich complexity this Jingmai cake shows off with notes of ginger, sandalwood, dried currants, barley and honey. The tea for this cake was picked and cellared by Hua Cheng Jia Mu Workshop, but blended and pressed in partnership with De Hou Workshop.

Wang Yanxin has been collecting pu’er for almost twenty years, and has built her reputation around scouting out the smallest workshops doing the best work regardless of brand name. This cake from her personal cellar lacks all the trappings of a fancy label and nei fei. Indeed, Wang Yanxin has lost track of exactly what year she acquired this offering, but we are thinking around 2018 at the latest. Of course this cake is priced to reflect the lack of collector’s clarity, but having opened a few cakes to taste for ourselves, we are pretty excited about the flavor profile. This is classic Nannuo Shan with that lovely sticky rice quality that we look for in great shu pu’er, plus sweet goji fruit notes and a touch of cinnamon and mint.

Banzhang tea is already nearly impossible to get ahold of thanks to the huge demand and tiny output, so we were particularly excited to see Wang Yanxin release this well-aged, stone-pressed 2013 cake from one of our favorite regions. Banzhang teas tend towards deep, multi-layered and toasty. This cake is a perfect exemplar with notes of hazelnut, granite minerality, rosewood and dried dates.

Jing Mai has become one of the more famous and sought after pu’er microclimates in Yunnan, thanks to the velvety, rich, luxurious teas that come out of Jingmai. This particular pressing comes from the smaller Wan Yuan Workshop released this shu pu’er as part of their Ma Dui Zhang or caravan collection, commemorating the tea horse trail. The buds-only gong ting blend is packed with butterscotch, and sweet cranberry aromatics, with a complexity that comes from over a decade of aging.

This cake from Wang Yanxin’s personal collection comes from her decades-long relationship with Yongming, one of her very favorite workshops for highlighting single-origin provenance in their pressings. This particular cake comes from high elevation Bulang Shan, a region known for deep complex teas that age into powerful spiced flavor profiles over time. This particular shu pu’er is a generous mix of buds and leaves with a focus on the classic brown sugar and elderberry profile and touch of cinnamon and vanilla.

The smaller Wan Yuan Workshop released this sheng pu’er as part of their Ma Dui Zhang or caravan collection, commemorating the tea horse trail. This unique single origin sheng pu’er from Bingdao is incredibly packed with fruit-forward flavor. Thick wild raspberry and guava, with a touch of honey. Tulsi blossoms and licorice come through in the aftertaste, along with a ringing mineral-laden textural experience.

This fully hand-made, stone-pressed sheng cake is a careful blend of Yiwu and Bingdao leaf material to achieve that cedar forest aftertaste of Yiwu with the juicy cooling tingling quality of Bingdao. The silvery buds and leaves yield rich apricot and peach notes with a touch of cinnamon and maple in the aftertaste. 

The Cooperative's first-ever shu pu’er dragon pearl pressing, this tea is made with beautiful little 2014 buds, allowed to ferment slowly under natural moisture conditions for a sweet and clean flavor profile that shows off the herbaceous side of Qianjaizhai. The loosely pressed. dragon pearls are compact enough for long-term aging and small enough to allow for single brew sessions without having to break apart a bigger cake of tea. The loose hand-twisted compression allows for better and more even aging than anything a machine could achieve.

This unique black tea is picked from the early spring leaves and tender buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna tree, a close relative of the tea plant native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and high in antioxidants. Since Crassicolumna is native to the Qianjiazhai region, there are many examples of staggeringly old Crassicolumna trees. Mr. Li of the cooperative is actually employed by the local government as an environmental protection officer to make sure these ancient trees are protected from poaching, where outsiders would sneak in in the cover of darkness to cut the tall trees and quickly harvest their precious leaves. Mr. Li has found that the best way to protect the trees is to allow sustainable wild foraging by the people living in the protected region in exchange for their help watching over remote Crassicolumna groves. This extremely rare and labor-intensive to harvest offering is allowed to slowly sun-roast to oxidize and finished as a unique black tea with a rich fruity but wild flavor, all without the caffeine you’d see in camellia sinensis. 

This special sampler includes eight 25g pu'er samples, from larger cakes normally unavailable in smaller sizes for 200g total (40 brewing sessions). Get to know a variety of sheng and shu pu'er from workshops all across Yunnan. It's hard to know where to begin with pu'er, but this kit offers a wide survey of workshops across Yunnan for a huge variety of taste, texture and aroma. From cooling, tingling foresty sheng pu'er to cozy rich caramel-spice shu, you'll get to see how much variety there is in pu'er. The cakes sampled are all 'best of their class' examples, some with substantial aging, generally from smaller workshops dedicated to direct farmer partnerships. If you've been looking for a way to get a deep dive into pu'er, this is it!

Available both as a pressed 250g Xiao Jin gua, this tea is picked from the early spring buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) tree, a close relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants. Yabao buds are extremely sweet and packed with flavor since they are the early shoots of the plant that would otherwise become new branches. The giant buds picked from this wild-growing tree stock are allowed to gently sun dry without any heat processing to keep the most natural flavor. Wild crassicolumna trees can be anywhere between several hundred and over a thousand years old, and are incredibly tall and difficult to climb to harvest these precious buds, but the rich nuanced flavor and lingering aftertaste is worthwhile.

This blended sheng pu’er from Wang Yanxin’s personal collection was chosen for its lilac florals and tropical pineapple juicy qualities, a uniquely sweet tinging sheng pu’er with deep brown sugar notes and a touch of spice already building up after only several years of aging.

This 2019 harvest was allowed to age loose for three years to kickstart deep complexity before being pressing into cakes for long term aging in 2022. Picked near Banpo Village in Nannuoshan, this single-origin cake from Yongming Workshop shows off Nannuoshan’s deep complexity with notes of chestnut, marshmallow and nutmeg, with a soft rich velvety texture. Notes from Yongming’s blender: Growing in a beautiful wild environment of Banpo Village, this is a special cake worthy of long term aging, with a deep nuanced brew and vibrant color, honeyed and aromatic on the first sip and a rich satisfying texture and pure classical aromatic profile

This tea is sustainably wild-foraged from ancient Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) tree, a close relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai. This year's tea is available both loose and in 100g cake pressings. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants. The giant leaves and buds picked from this wild-growing tree stock are allowed to gently sun dry without any heat processing to keep the most natural flavor. Wild crassicolumna trees can be anywhere between several hundred and over a thousand years old, and are incredibly tall and difficult to climb to harvest these precious leaves, but the rich nuanced flavor and lingering aftertaste is worth the effort. Master Zhou pressed the leaf material from part of this years harvest into 100g cakes and 205g Xiao Jin Gua perfect for aging and long term storage.

This aged pu'er cake from Langhe Workshop is an iconic example of one of our favorite shu pu'er flavor profiles - packed with notes of blackberry, red velvet cake and allspice. Such a clean and dessert-like profile takes skillful slow aging and a balance of fine buddy leaf material, growing even deeper and more spiced with age.

Zun, or ‘revered’ is the name the Li Family of the Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative gives to the tea picked from their tea trees aged between 300 and 800 years old. This name is a reminder to them of the value of these old trees and of the respect that humans should pay to a living thing that has persisted for so long. Their sustainable foraging lets the trees continue to grow for future genertations to enjoy. The Dragon Pearl pressing of their 2021 Zun sheng pu’er is full of spice and cooling camphor, and steeps out consistently as the ball unfurls over time.

Master Zhou works with his students in the Qianjiazhai Dongsa Cooperative to start introducing shu pu’er fermentation and crafting techniques more widely across the mountain. This stunningly clean, rich and foresty example is crafted from pre-Qingming harvest maocha picked from one hundred to five hundred year trees. Master Zhou set aside a cache of this precious pu'er over a decade ago and agreed to release a small amount to show off the incredible complexity and depth that over ten years of aging brings to pu'er made from leaf and bud material picked in the oldest tea forest in the world.

Qianjiazhai is home to some of the oldest tea trees in the world. Once again, we are extremely lucky this year to be able to offer a single-tree harvest from the oldest tree on the Li Family’s high elevation plot, estimated to 1300 years based on its trunk diameter. Located at 24°16'13.6"N and 101°12'19.6"E, this single tree needs to be carefully climbed to sustainably harvest about ten kilograms of leaf per year. Growing out of a rocky mountainside, and surrounded by a biodiverse wild growth of evergreens, tulsi plants and flowers, this tree benefits from cool misty air, and mineral-rich soil. It takes three people with linked arms to circle the trunk! The deep roots and thousand plus years of fighting for survival give this tea an incredible complexity full of yun cooling sensation and aloeswood incense undertones. The Li Family works with Master Zhou to dry this tea in bamboo baskets in the sun, and hand finish the maocha for traditional stone pressing. Even within a microclimate like Qianjiazhai, each mountaintop and valley has its own unique qualities, and the cooperative selected this tree as worthwhile to finish separate from their blended cakes to show off the stunning terroir and the complexity that is possible with ancient tree stock. Set aside a few cakes for aging and the yun cooling and tingling qualities continue to develop over the years. We’ve been following this tree for years now and have been blown away with the development we see in cellaring. 

Wang Yanxin is pleased to release this special cake from small producer Jing Yu Workshop after over a decade of aging in her climate-controlled pu’er cellar. This cake is special because it is blended from old wild tree tea for incredible depth and complexity. The workshop carefully stone-pressed the leaves after gentle steaming for a cake that will only continue to get deeper over time. This tea has already built up tingling cooling textural complexity, and incense spice, while staying juicy and sweet at the same time.

This small production pressing features tender young leaf material for a stunningly sweet brew packed with juicy apricot notes, nutmeg spice and a touch of floral aromatics. The nearly ten years of age give this cake a rich almost 'oaky' quality, thanks to Wang Yanxin's careful constant humidity cool temperature cellaring.

While Menghai workshop usually focuses on blended pu’ers, this unique pressing highlights the single-origin flavor of Yiwu. Yiwu is famous for its intense cooling foresty profile and this cake devivers with intense rich aromatics and pine forest cooling aftertaste. The silvery buds and long downy leaves already have nearly a decade of slow aging under cooler drier conditions to bring out the sweet florals and build deep nuance.

The Harmony Series debuted in 2016 as a collaboration between Master Zhou and the Li Family in Qianjiazhai to select tea from a wide range of trees to get a cross section of flavor texture and aroma that they feel most defines the region. These 2022 pressings exemplifies balance, full engagement of the pallet and beautifully creamy texture. Master Zhou blends Gu Hua harvest picking from trees between one hundred and three hundred years of age with older five hundred to a thousand year trees to get the thick powerful flavor and juicy quality of the younger leaf, bolstered by the woody texture, tingling mouthfeel and cooling sensation of the older trees. The result is singular, an opportunity to taste the best of everything Qianjiazhai has to offer.

Available both as a pressed 100g cake and loose leaf, this tea is picked from the early spring buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) tree, a close relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants. Yabao buds are extremely sweet and packed with flavor since they are the early shoots of the plant that would otherwise become new branches. The giant buds picked from this wild-growing tree stock are allowed to gently sun dry without any heat processing to keep the most natural flavor. Wild crassicolumna trees can be anywhere between several hundred and over a thousand years old, and are incredibly tall and difficult to climb to harvest these precious buds, but the rich nuanced flavor and lingering aftertaste is worthwhile.

This unique black tea is picked from the early spring leaves and tender buds of the Camellia Crassicolumna tree, a close relative of the tea plant native to Qianjiazhai. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and high in antioxidants. Since Crassicolumna is native to the Qianjiazhai region, there are many examples of staggeringly old Crassicolumna trees. Mr. Li of the cooperative is actually employed by the local government as an environmental protection officer to make sure these ancient trees are protected from poaching, where outsiders would sneak in in the cover of darkness to cut the tall trees and quickly harvest their precious leaves. Mr. Li has found that the best way to protect the trees is to allow sustainable wild foraging by the people living in the protected region in exchange for their help watching over remote Crassicolumna groves. This extremely rare and labor-intensive to harvest offering is allowed to slowly sun-roast to oxidize and finished as a unique black tea with a rich fruity but wild flavor, all without the caffeine you’d see in camellia sinensis.