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This tea offering is our bastard child out of the bunch. It is our only tea not originating from our tea master. Rather, it comes from a tea sommelier and good friend in England. Also a Taiwanese tea, this oolong tea is roasted as oolongs traditionally were as opposed to the greener oolongs from Taiwan more widely preferred and available on the market today.
This is a limited time tea offering, as we love our British friend but will be dealing with teas provided solely by our tea master from here on out. Once this tea is gone, it’s gone.
Artisan Tea
Made with love.
Guaranteed Organic
Simply pure, clean tea.
Small Batch
These teas are very limited in supply.
A decade of tea research
18 Provinces, 31 Chinese cities explored in search of tea
Based in Taiwan, Yunnan, and Shandong
120+ years generational tea producing experience
Our Offering
Whether or not any of this is true, drinking the tea we found it to have a notable centering effect above and beyond our other teas. We were told that this specific batch had a flavor profile like no other, and it’s true. Very pleasurable but very hard to put a finger on as to what exactly we’re tasting. Along with being an enjoyably unique tasting tea, we hope that this tea offering brings a meditative state to your day. What better to complete the projects on hand than an elixir that focuses and calms the mind while centering and grounding the body. It has become our go-to tea when there are a million tasks to be done and we need a little boost of energy but also a detached deep breath of assurance as we dive in, and we hope that you’ll find the same.
Background of the tea
Gaba teas go through a special step in their processing where they are put into a chamber in which the oxygen is removed leaving a nitrogen rich environment. A technique originating in Japan, it is believed that this causes a natural reaction within the leaf that makes the presence of gaba more prevalent within the leaf. There has been research done on this since its discovery in 1984, but results are far from conclusive. Our tea master is wary of this and so does not choose to supply such teas. But we have found this to be a very nice tea experience and so offer what we have on hand until it runs out.
GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter of the nervous system. In laymen terms, it regulates emotion. The presence of which in tea is believed to add to the settling, calming effects of the drink.
Brewing Guide
Brewing a traditionally heavy roasted Taiwanese oolong is all about breaking into what lies within the balled creation. We want to heat those little suckers up to wake them up so that they can open and release their goodness.
Start with water heated to just under boiling at around 200–210°F (94–99°C) to get things moving.
Western Brewing: Use a healthy-sized palmful of balled leaves per 8-ounce cup. Steep for 2-3 minutes.
Gongfu Brewing: Use a healthy-sized palm full of tea per 100ml pot, and just a bit more for a 250ml pot. Steep 345 seconds to a minute for first brew, and 1-2 minutes for subsequent brews. Adjust parameters per your preferences accordingly.
Tasting; Look for: A deep roasted flavor with dark coffee notes, fleeting spices, an antique wood aroma with notes of nuttiness.
Additional Information
A story: One Saturday summer afternoon I was working with a Native American in my front yard. He was coming off another one of his drug and alcohol benders and I was giving him some loving company and gentle guidance. Out of the blue the two Mormon missionaries in town saw us and decided to stop by. My Native American friend, being quite the anti-social type and in a highly anxious state did not want to stick around, but I encouraged him otherwise and he stayed. Having just sold tea that morning at the market where I’d given out samples, I had a tea infusers already loaded and water ready in the kettle. I grabbed an infuser for him which happened to be loaded with our gaba tea and set him up.
So there we were, the tea guy, two teenage Mormon missionaries, and a somewhat sober 50+ year old Native American gangster siting in a circle in my front yard on main street. It must have been quite the sight! The Native American ended up enjoying the tea and helped himself to 4 infusers full before the meeting ended. And the most amazing thing happened right in front of my eyes. A man who had been in utter distress, then to be put in a situation with some kids from a religion he didn’t like, became light-hearted and openly social. We ended up having a wonderfully intriguing conversation about God and the deeper things of life in which our Native American friend was both engaged and non-confrontational. It was such a wholesome experience and a great example of what a couple of cups of good tea can do to the mind and spirit!
