Wild Tongmu Jin Jun Mei is an experience unlike any other black tea. This is a very quiet and very contemplative tasting experience. Li Xiangxi and her family normally only pick this tea by commission because it is so difficult to produce. We were lucky enough to  commission a half kilo of this tea. Li Xiangxi wanted to share this tea because it is the clearest, most perfect expression of the flavor of her family’s mountain plot in Tongmu. It is an unmatched textural experience that evokes the mountain spring water, dramatic rocks, and bamboo forest.

It takes thousands of buds to make an ounce of this tea, hand-picked near Li Xiangxi’s old family home in Tongmu, in a protected ravine with wild bamboo, orange trees and native flowers growing around old growth wild tea bushes. Once a year in the early spring, Li Xiangxi and her family pick the tiny golden buds off the cultivated tea bushes growing below her family home. The beautiful golden color and flavor of this carefully cultivated Jin Jun Mei (Golden Eyebrows) makes it one of the most prized teas in China.

Mei Zhan varietal is famous for its rich and focused fruit-forward oolong made from long skinny spring leaves. Recently, Mr. Li has been experimenting with a stand of his family’s iconic Mei Zhan in early spring when the plant puts out huge buds that are too delicate to withstand oolong processing. He personally leads the hand-picking of the Li Family Mei Zhan buds and brings them to the family home and workshop in Tongmu for Jin Jun Mei meticulous black tea hand-finishing. The slow oxidation in bamboo baskets brings out big savory notes and sweet rich honey and cream.

Only a dozen kilos of this unusual tea were picked this year. The entire batch was hand picked and processed solely by Li Xiangxi's brother. Once again, we are excited to have the opportunity to share a large part of the harvest with you, and to try it for ourselves! The name Purple Buds refers to the color of the buds after picking but before processing. They are actually a light purple green on the tea bush and have a uniquely tropical flavor that sets them apart as a rare and intriguing black tea.

Wild Tongmu Jin Jun Mei is an experience unlike any other black tea. This is a very quiet and very contemplative tasting experience. Li Xiangxi and her family normally only pick this tea by commission because it is so difficult to produce. We were lucky enough to  commission a half kilo of this tea. Li Xiangxi wanted to share this tea because it is the clearest, most perfect expression of the flavor of her family’s mountain plot in Tongmu. It is an unmatched textural experience that evokes the mountain spring water, dramatic rocks, and bamboo forest.

Gan Zao Ye (Wild Jujube) is a naturally caffeine-free herbal tea that grows unmanaged and wild on the slopes of Laoshan. The He family forages a limited quantity each spring and hand-processes it just like a traditional green tea with withering, firing and curling. The final result is packed with just as much flavor complexity (and antioxidants) as a traditional tea with a striking barley and walnut flavor. 

The Wu Family's oldest prized tea bushes growing among wild trees, flowers and bamboo are picked once in the extreme early spring for a bud-only harvest, and then allowed to build up nutrients until they are picked a second time when delicate leaves begin to unfurl. This second harvest of buds and leaves is what makes their fine Bai Mudan- full of the complexity that later season sunlight brings but the sweetness and texture of the early cold-weather buds.

This bundle includes four 25g bags of Qianjiazhai tea and one full 100g cakes for 200g total. The Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative of Qianjiazhai is a loose-knit coalition of families across the remote mountaintops of China’s oldest tea forests dedicated to sustainable stewardship of the wild tea plants, and careful foraging from trees that can be over a thousand years old.

Master Zhou founded the cooperative to refine the finishing craft and picking techniques across Qianjiazhai and bring more well-deserved respect to one of China’s most important but also most unknown tea regions. This tasting kit is an introduction to the incredible diversity of flavor, texture, aroma and aftertaste that wild-foraging in an ancient tea forest can bring.

This kit is an invitation into a little-seen side of tea and its ancient wild origins.

This 2023 Zun harvest is offered both dragon pearls (25g bags of 4-5 pearls) and in two pressings: 100g cakes and 357g cakes. This is the Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative's "Zun" harvest - a designation chosen by the cooperative that means ‘reverence’ of the ancient Qianjiazhai tea trees themselves. "Zun" also points to human collaboration with a living tree that has existed long before us and - hopefully - will continue to exist for generations to come. The Zun harvest uses the first early spring growth from only the old-growth (500-1000 year) wild trees above the Li Family’s home high in the mountains, and accessible only on foot. The wild nature of this tea’s provenance come through as a flavor texture and aroma experience that is both reverent of its source, and worthy of reverence for its commanding beauty, full of honey sweetness and dried fruit with the support of wild mountain herbs and intense textural depth.

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 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 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.

Crisp, fruity, floral, nuanced - the new 2021 harvest is here! This year's Zun harvest is offered both loose leaf (5g, 25g) and in two pressings: 100g cakes and 250g Xiao Jin Gua. Zun, a designation chosen by the cooperative, means ‘reverence’ of the ancient Qianjiazhai tea trees themselves, an awareness of the human collaboration with a living tree that has existed for generations before us and hopefully will continue to exist for generations after us. The Zun series cakes use the first early spring growth from only the old-growth (500-1000 year) wild trees above the Li Family’s home high in the mountains, and accessible only on foot. The wild nature of this tea’s provenance come through as a flavor texture and aroma experience that is both reverent of its source, and worthy of reverence for its commanding beauty, full of honey and dried apricot with a hint of wild mountain tulsi, and intense textural depth.

This loose leaf sheng pu'er is the Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative's "Zun" harvest - a designation chosen by the cooperative that means ‘reverence’ of the ancient Qianjiazhai tea trees themselves. "Zun" also points to human collaboration with a living tree that has existed long before us and - hopefully - will continue to exist for generations to come.

The Zun harvest uses the first early spring growth from only the old-growth (500-1000 year) wild trees above the Li Family’s home high in the mountains, and accessible only on foot. The wild nature of this tea’s provenance come through as a flavor texture and aroma experience that is both reverent of its source, and worthy of reverence for its commanding beauty, full of honey sweetness and dried fruit with the support of wild mountain herbs and intense textural depth.

This 2022 Zun harvest is offered both loose leaf (25g) and in two pressings: 100g cakes and 250g Xiao Jin Gua. Zun, a designation chosen by the cooperative, means ‘reverence’ of the ancient Qianjiazhai tea trees themselves, an awareness of the human collaboration with a living tree that has existed for generations before us and hopefully will continue to exist for generations after us. The Zun series cakes use the first early spring growth from only the old-growth (500-1000 year) wild trees above the Li Family’s home high in the mountains, and accessible only on foot. The wild nature of this tea’s provenance come through as a flavor texture and aroma experience that is both reverent of its source, and worthy of reverence for its commanding beauty, full of honey and dried apricot with a hint of wild mountain tulsi, and intense textural depth.

This loose leaf sheng pu'er is the Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative's "Zun" harvest - a designation chosen by the cooperative that means ‘reverence’ of the ancient Qianjiazhai tea trees themselves. "Zun" also points to human collaboration with a living tree that has existed long before us and - hopefully - will continue to exist for generations to come.

The Zun harvest uses the first early spring growth from only the old-growth (500-1000 year) wild trees above the Li Family’s home high in the mountains, and accessible only on foot. The wild nature of this tea’s provenance come through as a flavor texture and aroma experience that is both reverent of its source, and worthy of reverence for its commanding beauty, full of honey sweetness and dried fruit with the support of wild mountain herbs and intense textural depth.

This is just the second year this tea has been made. The Gu Hua harvest is an early autumn picking possible only in the cool high elevation mountaintops of Qianjiazhai, favored by Master Zhou for its fruity, rich flavor. In years past, this has been used exclusively for sheng pu’er. This year, a small portion was set aside to sun-oxidize as a black tea. The results are stunning! It has all the juicy flavor of the sheng pu’er but with creamy nutty depth only possible in a black tea.

Powerful, cooling, and textural - the new 2021 harvest is here! Available in 100g tea cakes and 250g pressings. Qianjiazhai is home to some of the oldest tea trees in the world. Once again, we are extremely lucky in 2020 that we will 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 zeven years now and have been blown away with the development we see in cellaring. 

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 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.

Qianjiazhai is home to some of the oldest tea trees in the world. Once again, we are extremely lucky in 2020 that we will 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 six years now and have been blown away with the development we see in cellaring. available in 2020 year in 100g tea cakes and 250g pressings

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 2022 Zun sheng pu’er is full of fruit and cooling camphor, and steeps out consistently as the ball unfurls over time.

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 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.

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.