Verdant Tea

This unusual tea is based on Master Zhang's ongoing research into early Anxi oolong teas with a half-rolled / half strip-style shape, and a very meticulous turning and fluffing process that goes further than most modern tea would. In this experimental offering, he applies this research to the Tieguanyin varietal and provides enough roast for a deep, rich aroma. The result is a very well-balanced tea full of toasted sweetness, rich plum, and an lilac floral complemented by lingering minerality.

"Ming Hua Xiang" literally describes tea flower aroma – the scent of camellia sinensis in bloom! The tea flowers blossoming around Daping village are an incredible and potent aroma, perfuming the fields in early autumn. Tieguanyin varietal has a unique marigold and honey aroma, and a dark floral quality. Master Zhang’s careful processing brings out a soothing savory sweetness, accented with rich lingering spice and warm florals.

Master Zhang has worked for over four decades continuing his family's craft growing true Tieguanyin varietal tea high above Daping village in Anxi. He is working to bring back the original habitat of the region by clearing mountainsides and planting trees, bringing back wildlife and biodiversity, for better tea and a better future. He has won awards across China and has been recognized as one of the leading teachers and craftsman in Anxi for his unique approach to grading teas and processing for flavor. Instead of grading solely by elevation or tree age, Master Zhang holds the "Reserve" designation for the few teas that meet his strict criteria of lingering intensive aftertaste, pervasive sweetness, and thick creamy body. This means that only the leaves whose weather, position in the field and processing come together perfectly can be offered as Master Zhang's reserve. This reserve grade Tieguanyin was hand-picked and hand finished with an exhaustive fluffing and turning process to bring out deep intense aromatics and creamy texture.

This is Master Zhang's absolute highest designation competition-level Tieguanyin, a rare allocation that we are pleased to offer for the first time ever. Most years Master Zhang is unable to set aside a traditional-finish Special Grade, as it requires a perfect alignment of weather, deep-rooted old-growth tea bushes, and perfect craft. Any special Grade designation from Master Zhang must meet his serious standards in terms of having the longest aftertaste, tingling, electrical after-sensation, juicy, mouth-watering sweetness and enveloping aromatics. When a picking is a candidate for meeting these standards it is set aside for full traditional hand-finishing, and even when completed, is only called Special Grade if the result warrants this rare label.

Qilan is a luscious, floral varietal most famous for its cultivation in Wuyishan as a roasted oolong. This expression of Qilan from Anxi brings out all the sweet florals that make Qilan varietal unique, strengthening them with traditional processing and the floral mineral-heavy terroir of Master Zhang's land above Daping. Honey florals are accentuated with a spice and juiciness for a beautiful satisfying counterpoint to Wuyi Qilan.

Ruan Zhi or "Soft Stem" is sometimes better known as "Qing Xin" varietal, used in Taiwan to produce Dong Ding and Baozhong and in Thailand for Doi Mai Salong. The traditional processing truly emphasizes the connection between Anxi and Taiwan tea craft. Any Taiwanese tea afficionado will be impressed by the intense bready sweet notes and deep florals this Anxi Ruan Zhi offers.

Mao Xie, or Hairy Crab, is the native cultivar to Daping. The village is extremely proud to be a birthplace of Maoxie varietal, and Master Zhang is excited to share this tea. Grown without pesticides and nourished with natural canola flowers for fertilizer, this tea is uniquely savory and creamy in a way that Tieguanyin cannot be. By growing Mao Xie alongside Tieguanyin, Qilan, Rou Gui and other varietals, Master Zhang can achieve a more biodiverse tea garden yielding healthier plants and better flavor quality. 

Mao Xie, or Hairy Crab, is a native varietal to Daping. The village is extremely proud to be a birthplace of Maoxie varietal, and Master Zhang is excited to share this tea. Grown without pesticides and nourished with natural canola flowers for fertilizer, this tea is uniquely savory and creamy in a way that Tieguanyin cannot be. By growing Mao Xie alongside Tieguanyin, Qilan, Rou Gui and other varietals, Master Zhang can achieve a more biodiverse tea garden yielding healthier plants and more complex flavor. Master Zhang finishes this Mao Xie with a meticulous fifteen hour turning and fluffing process which brings out the buttery flavors of the varietal with very light, "modern" green finish.

Rou Gui is better known as a roasted oolong from Wuyi, famous in Wuyi for its intense and aromatic cinnamon flavor. Master Zhang's Rou Gui varietal bushes grow among Tieguanyin fields and wildflowers, and benefit from sweet mountain spring water. Master Zhang's careful finish on this unique rolled Anxi Rou Gui brings out not just rich cinnamon spice, but also dessert-like complexity and aftertaste.

Dan Gui is an intensely floral and deeply aromatic oolong. This relatively new varietal is named after osmanthus, since sipping this tea is like walking through an osmanthus garden. Of course, varietal alone never makes a fine tea. It is the rocky soil, and cool misty weather of Daping, and meticulous finishing techniques of Master Zhang that make this an elevated tea. Master Zhang manages an incredibly biodiverse tea garden, encouraging native wildlife for the health of the land and to bring more complexity to the tea. He uses an intense turning and fluffing process in finishing that needs to be adapted on the spot depending on the weather and the aroma, requiring deep experience to bring out the big florals that Dan Gui promises.

This tea originally premiered in the Tea of the Month Club! Master Zhang cultivates this little-seen Cai Cong (菜聪) varietal to encourage biodiversity on his high elevation plot in Daping, Anxi. His careful processing has brought out a surprisingly floral-fruit flavor in this tea along with deep osmanthus florals and a sweet, long aftertaste. The light oxidation of this tea's traditional finish complements the dessert-like flavors of Cai Cong with a buttery, creamy finish.

Daping is the birthplace of the Maoxie (Hairy Crab) varietal, and the village is proud of its heritage. Master Zhang is one of Daping's foremost craftsman of traditional Anxi oolong processing, and as it is his favorite way to finish his oolong teas, it only makes sense to show off the subtle and more savory finish of traditional roasting on this varietal. The darker traditional finish brings out unique sweetness that are hidden in a greener finish.

Ben Shan is one of Master Zhang's oldest varietals, with tea bushes growing on the sides of his high elevation mountain plot originally planted by his grandparents nearly one hundred years ago. Over the years, Master Zhang has used Ben Shan varietal as the center of his research on ancient finishing methods, as a more traditional old-school choice than modern Tieguanyin. This Ben Shan oolong shows the plants age and provenance with incredible complexity, deep creamy texture and encompassing aromatics. 

Master Zhang cultivates this almost unheard-of varietal as part of his commitment to achieving the rich biodiversity in his tea fields, all while maintaining zero-impact agriculture for his Original Ecological Preserve designation. Liao Mian Ji is a unique cultivar, full of deep dessert-like undertones and spice. Master Zhang’s slow, careful roast brings out even more sweetness in the aftertaste.

Original Wulong Revival is the result of years of research by Master Zhang on ancient oolong finishing techniques, a style between rolled Tieguanyin and fluffier Wuyi oolong. The unique finish gives this 2003 harvest aged tea a striking deep foresty flavor and sweet sparkling texture. While this tea was roasted every year for many years to control moisture and dial in the aging process, the tea is not deeply toasty. instead it expresses natural complexity in the same way an aged pu'er does.

Master Zhang cultivates this almost unheard-of varietal as part of his commitment to achieving the rich biodiversity in his tea fields, all while maintaining zero-impact agriculture for his Original Ecological Preserve designation. Liao Mian Ji is a unique cultivar, full of deep dessert-like caramel undertones and rich nutmeg and spice. Master Zhang’s slow, full roast brings out even more sweetness in the aftertaste.

Zi Mudan, or Purple Peony, is a very new tea varietal developed for its intense aromatics. Finished as a modern, green Anxi oolong, this tea is even more floral than Tieguanyin! The tea benefits from growing on Master Zhang's terraced high mountain fields between patches of wildflowers. Zi Mudan is an example of the growing, changing industry and an exciting look at the future of Fujianese tea.

Master Zhang’s reserve designation is an almost impossible standard, requiring the perfect combination of high elevation rocky soil, cool stand-out weather during the growing season and on the picking and finishing days. Some years Master Zhang doesn’t designate a reserve or special grade for certain teas. It all depends on the final tea, which needs to satisfy a certain level of sweetness, a long lingering aftertaste, and thick balanced texture and evocative aroma. This reserve designation Rou Gui was hand finished using a very old, traditional technique that Master Zhang has been researching that involves three times the usual turning and fluffing and a difficult half-rolled half-twisted shape. The result is a textural sensation with a deep intensity.

Rou Gui is better known as a roasted oolong from Wuyi, famous in Wuyi for its intense and aromatic cinnamon flavor. Master Zhang's Rou Gui varietal bushes grow among Tieguanyin fields and wildflowers, and benefit from sweet mountain spring water. Master Zhang's dark roast on this autumn harvest rolled Anxi Rou Gui brings out not just rich cinnamon spice, but also dessert-like complexity and a beautifully floral lingering aftertaste.

This Jin Guanyin is an unique varietal made by grafting Huang Jin Gui onto Tieguanyin root stock, combining the fruit and floral aromatics of Huang Jin Gui with the creamy and grassy flavor of Tieguanyin for a rich and well balanced oolong. Master Zhang loves working with teas like Jin Guanyin that give him room to affect flavor and aftertaste through not just finishing craft but also the actual craft involved in agriculture and cultivation itself. 

Master Zhang brings a new perspective to this beloved varietal with his meticulous and delicate multi-day dark roast process. Ruan Zhi or “Soft Stem” is sometimes better known as "Qing Xin" varietal, used in Taiwan to produce Dong Ding and Baozhong and in Thailand for Doi Mai Salong. While Taiwanese Ruan Zhi tends towards creamy or nutty, Master Zhang’s Daping Village Ruan Zhi is taut and almost crystalline with deep cooling yun sensation, smoldering spice in the aftertaste and beautiful Anxi florals. The dark roast keeps every element in perfect balance.

This bundle includes 4 25g bags of aged oolong tea for 100g total (20 sessions). Master Zhang Rongde has been making oolongs for over fifty years. Over the course of his career he has championed sustainable farming, taught finishing techniques to all of Daping Village, and researched ancient and nearly lost fishing techniques. He has also set aside some of his favorite harvests over the years for long term aging- taking out these precious Tieguanyin reserves and re-roasting them yearly to meticulously control for moisture.

This tasting kit is a chance to truly taste Zhang Rongde’s life work- Tieguanyin aged from the early 90's all the way through the 2000’s. His oldest teas have picked up deep complex cooling herbaceous complexity and deep sweet aftertaste. Taste them back to back to see how extra years transform Tieguanyin- and to see how Master Zhang has preserved their deep aromatic floral core through over 30 years. Thanks to a long friendship and partnership with Master Zhang Rongde, he continues to open his precious reserves to us so that he can share true Tieguanyin with the world.

Expect deep, complex, evocative oolongs that are profoundly settling, with long aftertastes and powerful aromas.

Original Wulong Revival is the result of years of research by Master Zhang on ancient oolong finishing techniques, a style between rolled Tieguanyin and fluffier Wuyi oolong. The unique finish gives this 2003 harvest aged tea a striking deep foresty flavor and sweet sparkling texture. While this tea was roasted every year for many years to control moisture and dial in the aging process, the tea is not deeply toasty. instead it expresses natural complexity in the same way an aged pu'er does.

Many of Master Zhang's oldest tea plants are 'se zhong' varietals, teas other than Tieguanyin that flourish in Anxi. Master Zhang's grandparents and forebears planted Ben Shan, Mao Xie, and other sezhong varietals on their high mountain peak above Daping decades ago. Master Zhang picked these leaves in 1985, carefully re-roasting this mixed se zhong harvest every year for almost ten years. The tea was allowed the tea to rest for another twenty years before this beautiful cache was released The deep, dark mineral notes and fruity sweetness of se zhong oolong become alluringly foresty, a great example of "yun" - the physical sensation of the tea in the throat and the lingering cooling electric aftertaste and texture that fine teas create. The longer this tea steeps, the more intense woody and cooling qualities it reveals.