Verdant Tea

Laoshan Roasted Oolong is the most technically-demanding and labor-intensive tea that the He Family produces. As one of the first people in Northern China to take on oolong craft, Mr. He is defining the flavor and value of this new tea for the entire region. He starts with tender hand-picked leaves from his mountain-spring fed ocean-facing plot, and allows them a full two days to oxidize before beginning the critical kneading and shaking stage that brings out deep rich fruit and florals not normally present. These flavors are locked in with a heavy roast for a tea with the satisfying body of Laoshan Black but with the subtlety of the fine oolong.

Hand-Twisted Craft Black Tea. First flat-pressed, then hand twisted, Laoshan Gongfu Black is a difficult finish favored by the He Family to bring out sparkling minerality in their tea. This spring tea has notes of rose, caramel flan and tropical citrus.

For the fifth year in a row, Li Xiaoping is sharing her new Dragonwell Black Tea! She uses the same delicate early buds as her famous green tea, hand-picked from the slopes of Shi Feng, raised on sweet mountain spring water and covered in high elevation mist to protect against sunlight. After light twisting and rolling, this sweet, rich and distinctly mineral-laden tea is then set out in bamboo baskets and loosely covered for ten to fifteen hours and allowed to oxidize in the afternoon heat. This oxidation process brings out savory malty flavors in Li Xiaoping’s Dragonwell that show the unique texture of the region in a completely different light.

For the second year, Li Xiaoping has set aside her beautifully-crisp textural masterpiece that is Shi Feng Dragonwell and scents it with fresh osmanthus blossoms. Her incredible plot sits on a quartz-laden rocky hillside in the tiny Shi Feng microclimate, where sweet mountain spring water, designated national treasure protection from development, and misty mornings yield sweet clean nuanced green tea that sets the standard for all green tea in China. With such famous and in demand tea, it is remarkable that Li Xiaoping is still incentivized to do such bold experiments like this osmanthus scenting, but we're so happy she did! The results are spectacular, and perfectly balanced. The osmanthus notes are light, accentuating the natural sweet juicy qualities of the Dragonwell.

For the sixth year in a row, Li Xiaoping is sharing her new Dragonwell Black Tea! She uses the same delicate early buds as her famous green tea, hand-picked from the slopes of Shi Feng, raised on sweet mountain spring water and covered in high elevation mist to protect against sunlight. After light twisting and rolling, this sweet, rich and distinctly mineral-laden tea is then set out in bamboo baskets and loosely covered for ten to fifteen hours and allowed to oxidize in the afternoon heat. This oxidation process brings out savory malty flavors in Li Xiaoping’s Dragonwell that show the unique texture of the region in a completely different light.

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.

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.

Laoshan Roasted Oolong is the most technically-demanding and labor-intensive tea that the He Family produces. As one of the first people in Northern China to take on oolong craft, Mr. He is defining the flavor and value of this new tea for the entire region. He starts with tender hand-picked leaves from his mountain-spring fed ocean-facing plot, and allows them a full two days to oxidize before beginning the critical kneading and shaking stage that brings out deep rich fruit and florals not normally present. These flavors are locked in with a heavy roast for a tea with the satisfying body of Laoshan Black but with the subtlety of the fine oolong.

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.

The green tea loose leaf classic from Laoshan, hand-picked in the He Family’s organic mist-shaded fields and packed with creamy green bean flavor. The He family's signature green tea is fed by mountain spring water, picked by hand, and cultivated sustainably using traditional chemical-free farming techniques including growing rows of soybean between rows of tea to restore nitrates to the soil. The extreme northern climate means cold winters and short growing seasons, but the He Family perseveres, protecting their tea in greenhouses over the winter. The result is a deeply sweet and delicate green tea unlike any other in the world.

This bright pink herbal tisane is blended with hibiscus, schisandra berry, goji berry, licorice, coriander, strawberry and rose.

Rocking out to your favorite song with the windows down and nobody around to hear. Dressing up in your finest just for fun.

Ultra Pink - ultra bright. This is a no-holds-barred full on berry blend packed with juicy goodness, and a color to match. 

Craft and terroir have come together beautifully for this 2021 early autumn harvest from Qianjiazhai's wild tea trees. The Dongsa Cooperative wild-forages buds and tender leaves from tea trees between one hundred and three hundred years of age for this loose sheng pu'er blend. Every hand-picked leaf is withered and sun-dried in bamboo baskets, with little or no heat exposure to lock in the most wild and natural flavor of one of the most remote growing regions in the world.

This spiced chai herbal tisane is a blend of cinnamon, ginger, black peppercorn, tulsi, dandelion root, cardamom, goji berry, fennel, elderberry, cacao nibs, burdock, galangal, clove, saffron, vanilla, and hinoki cypress oil.

This is chai spice after a fifth voyage around the world, having picked up inspiration at every stop along the way - finally world-weary and ready to set up as a hermit deep in a Hinoki Cypress forest and enjoy the balance it could only pick up with sixteen ingredients acting together in just the right way.

Brew this on its own, or add your favorite tea - a roasted oolong, like a rich Wuyi oolong, or Laoshan black tea. Give the blend even fuller texture with a touch of honey.