Ms. Qiong's Heritage White

We can attribute this tea's unique character to it being crafted from a very old, indigenous varietal of tea tree, handled with great care and respect by Ms. Qiong.

The trees in the deserted tea garden she inherited from her father are rare: an heirloom varietal in the region, the majority of which were cut down in the 1980's in favour of the higher yield varietals with uniform leaves. These trees are farmed regeneratively by Ms. Qiong, as part of her greater practice of rebalancing and listening to the land.

Every Spring she harvests during the daytime and crafts the tea by hand at night. It is extremely labour intensive, as she performs every step on her own. Working this way, and following traditional methods, Ms. Qiong produces a very small amount of tea each year. This practice is truly a labour of love.

Once picked, the tea leaves are dried on bamboo trays, laid out in a bamboo forest under dappled sun. This softens their taste and results in the beautiful variation we see in the finished tea — some leaves oxidize, while others maintain their sharp, verdant green.

This tea is such an unmediated expression of the trees from which it comes; delicious and satisfying, with a body that reminds us of softer oolongs. It is floral, dense, and contains so much minerality, it's like drinking the sweet milk of a stone.