Floating Leaves Tea: Recent Episodes
Floating Leaves Tea
Shiuwen, the owner of Floating Leaves, invites guests to her tea table for good discussion and a pot of gongfu cha.
This episode we get deep into 'reading' tea leaves, or watching very carefully to know what the leaves want from us as brewers.
This episode we carry on from the previous stopping point : As we experiment with brewing new teas, how do we know if a flaw in the tea is coming from the tea or the brewing technique? So we took out some bowls to just soak the tea and let it brew itself!
In this episode we carry out an experiment comparing two brews that are exactly the same in all parameters except for the focus of our intention. We were absolutely floored by the results!
Shiuwen, John and Noah compare grades of porcelain in gongfu tea cups, and investigate what each cup does to a tea.
We're back! First episode in the new Tea Studio! We're starting with an easy experiment, but also a very useful one : tasting tea out of different materials like glass, mass produced ceramic mugs and porcelain etc. Join us and give it a try at home!
This is a little interim episode with no video component while John is away. We've been wanting to record a session with this tea for about a year now, and although we're very close to sold out of it now, we thought it would be fun to share our experience for those that have the tea already. It's the Nightshade White Tea. Harvested in 2020 it's already mellowed nicely with age. If we get another chance to buy a tea like this we'll jump on it, because this was an awesome session. If you got this one, let us know in the comments if you had similar or different impressions when you tasted it.
In this episode we explore how we go about setting our intention and adjusting for the tea in this ever changing moment.
This episode we explore ways to build understanding and express our vision of what a tea can be.
There's finally a tea in our lineup that we're using lower than boiling temperature water! Special Reserve Oriental Beauty. In this episode we talk about how we approach this tea and tell stories about our first encounters with it.
This episode was inspired by (1) John's question about how to make adjustments for different teas and (2) our experience of how to get the most out of our batch of Charcoal Dong Ding that was roasted in December of 2022.
Also, Noah is very excited to be back on the podcast again!
We find aged tea is one of the more difficult styles to brew well. In this episode we explore some techniques that help to show the best side of an aged tea.
We're back!! In the first episode of season three, Johnny and Shiuwen will be experimenting with the harnessing of intention to brew a better (or worse) pot of tea.
This episode we just sit back and drink an epic puer tea harvested from 1000 year old tea tree.
John's second time to switch places with Shiuwen and show off all his tea brewing techniques that we've been working on this whole season!
The long awaited follow up to 'Techniques for Identifying Stale Tea', this episode is all about the tools and techniques we use to push staleness out of an older tea.
Recently we've been talking a lot about the 'opening movement' of tea brewing: Pouring water into the pot and the many details contained therein that effect the final brew. This episode we delve into the less obvious 'middle movement', or waiting for the tea to be brewed. This may seem straightforward, and is easily overlooked because the brewer is not doing any active process to the tea. BUT, as our tea classes keep repeating ad nauseum, there are infinite details in every aspect of tea brewing.
This episode we compare two high mountain oolongs, one grown with agrochemicals and one from an organic tea garden. Shiuwen teaches John, and the listeners, the tricks for picking up on agrochemicals in your cup.
More on water flow. We learned last time on the Waterfall vs Whirlpool episode that the way you choose to pour water into a pot of tea changes the outcome. This time we are exploring more fine details on how to improve the quality of your water flow.
Today we talk about a tea tool that goes by many names : sharing pitcher, fairness cup, gongdao bei, cha hai. It is used with the best intentions, to make sure everyone is drinking the same taste at the same time. But is it necessary to brew a good pot of tea?
When we talk about the parameters of tea brewing, it's not uncommon to think of water temperature, amount of tea and timing. But there is a hidden parameter that we all must execute to pull out a good cup of tea from the leaves, and that's the way we pour water into the pot.
Most teas undergo an acclimation period after shipping, especially long distances (like when we get new products in from farmers and roasters in Taiwan). This quick episode John and Shiuwen taste a roasted oolong that is in jet lag mode.
In this episode, Noah shares some of his own charcoal roasted oolongs with John, and they compare the raw version with the finished product.
Shiuwen tells the story of how a new tea took some getting used to, and how she approaches unknown variables in tea brewing.
We don’t have any sample available for this episode, but we hope you’ll practice these ideas when you next run into a new tea that doesn’t make sense at first brew.
This episode John brewed a pot of tea for us! This is the first in a series of John brewing, on the other side of the table.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can brew this tea (Dong Ding Traditional A, available on our website) and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience.
This episode is all about using smelling cups to explore more deeply into the scent. We also identify the meaning of Cha Qi, and how Cha Qi manifests in the scent.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink this exact tea and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the teas on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39731915817167%5D=1&updates%5B39651322429647%5D=1
Oolong tea does not go bad, but it does go stale if stored improperly, or for a very long time.
In this episode, we taste the same Tie Guanyin oolong tea, one stored properly and one improperly. John and Shiuwen identify the staleness of tea through drinking.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, please place an order and leave a comment to let us know you'd like some stale tea to practice with. Otherwise, if you have a bag of tea you've left open for quite some time you can also practice these techniques and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions.
Oolong tea does not go bad, but it does go stale if stored improperly or for a very long time. In this episode, Shiuwen offers John a few techniques to smell from the dry leaf if a tea is stale.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, please place an order and leave a comment to let us know you'd like some stale tea to practice with. Otherwise, if you have a bag of tea you've left open for quite some time you can us that to practice these techniques and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions.
With higher grade teas, we are looking for more complexity in the scent. Not only how flavorful or how many notes it has, but also where the scent is felt in the body. This episode Shiuwen and John compare two oolongs to isolate the sensation of scent reaching deeper inside of the nostrils.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink this exact tea and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the teas on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39651321872591%5D=1&updates%5B40287149392079%5D=1
The Tea : Nantou Four Seasons, Smooth Water Baozhong
This episode Shiuwen and John explore the third main parameter of tea brewing : timing. How long does the water need to sit on the leaves? #NoFear #MakeMistakes
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink this exact tea and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the teas on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39651320299727%5D=1
(Note : For this episode, any Taiwanese tea from our shop will get the point across.)
The Tea : Ruby 18
This episode we soak four black teas to see if they 'break' or not. A good tea will still show a sense of structure and movement, even if it's brewed to the point of unpleasantness. We are using two of our own black teas and two tea bag teas.
To join the class and learn from these videos, you can drink these exact teas and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. If you buy these two teas, leave us a message in your order notes and we'll send the teabags for free ;) Find the teas on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39651320201423%5D=1&updates%5B39651320299727%5D=1
The Teas : Ruby 18, House Black, 2x Tea Bag from Grocery Store
This class we will be exploring different leaf-to-water ratios to see if there is really such a thing as proper recipes.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink these exact teas and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the tea on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39651321970895%5D=1
The Tea :
Charcoal Dong Ding
In this tea class, Shiuwen guides John to notice the various places in the mouth and body where roasted oolong can produce unique sensations and textures.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink these exact teas and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. These teas will be used in the next episode as well. Find the teas on our website here => https://floatingleaves.us/cart/update?updates%5B39651321970895%5D=1&updates%5B40528029647055%5D=1
The Teas :
House Oolong
Charcoal Dong Ding
Shiuwen offers a tea class on the ‘correct' brewing temperature for oolong tea. Is it ok to boil green oolong?
To join the class and learn from these videos, you can drink these exact teas and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the teas on our website here https://floatingleaves.us/products/secret-garden-alishan-high-mountain
The Tea : Secret Garden Alishan High Mountain Oolong
Shiuwen of Floating Leaves offers a tea class on the defining characteristics that make green oolong more basic or more premium. Focus is on experiential learning.
To join the class and learn from these episodes, you can drink these exact teas and answer Shiuwen's guiding questions from your own experience. Find the teas on our website here =>
https://floatingleaves.us/cart/39651321807055:1,41098440343759:1
The Teas :
Jin Xuan
Secret Garden Alishan High Mountain Oolong
Shiuwen invites special guests, some "random middle school boys", for a holiday special episode! T his is also the last episode of our retroactively named Season 1. We will be taking a short break, and will see you again in 2022! Find our teas : https://floatingleaves.com
Tea blogger Oolong Owl visits the shop for some strong pots of epic oolong.
Check Out Oolong Owl's Blog : https://oolongowl.com/
Tea Teas :
Eight Roast Dong Ding
Lala Shan Hong Shui
Taman Shan 'Empress Dowager'
Long time tea friend of Floating Leaves, the infamous Steve, joins Shiuwen and Noah to drink some teas that struck us by surprise!
The Teas :
Sun Solstice Oolong
Charcoal Roast Ruby 18
Lalashan Hong Shui
Find our teas at https://floatingleaves.com
Shiuwen sits down to answer some of John's questions about tea tasting: What it means for a tea to be 'open' or, conversely, 'bound up'. The Tea 1998 Iron Cask Aged Dong Ding (brewed 3X's) Find our teas at https://floatingleaves.com
Founder of Embrace the Moon School for Taichi and Qigong, Kim Ivy, joins Shiuwen for some potent teas.
Learn more about Kim's Taichi and Qigong dojo at https://embracethemoon.com/
Shiuwen chooses and shares two teas that represent her two friends Timothy and Lewis, Floating Leafers from the early days.
Find Timothy's work at https://timothysiciliano.com/
The Teas
Wild Pinglin Baozhong
Laughing Buddha (Yunnan High Mountain Oolong)
Fellow tea podcasters of Tea Talks join us for their first dive into Dong Ding plus other roasted oolong.
Check out Chris' podcast on Instagram @ckylum and find Caitlin @dishwench
The Teas :
House Oolong
Charcoal Dong Ding
1998 Ripe Tuocha
Shiuwen invites our friend and budding tea connoisseur Matt for an oolong introduction.
Link to full video episode : https://youtu.be/3QabhFyAPsY
The Teas
- Competition Style Baozhong
- Dong Ding Traditional A
A great tea! This is an upcoming release, an oolong tea grown in the high mountain region of Wuliang Shan in Yunnan province (home of puer tea). We had a great session capped off with a brief conversation about tea brewing.
Excellent session with Milk and Honey oolong. Plus a conversation on water temperature and tea brewing.
Welcome to Floating Leaves, your local loofah emporium! Buy a loofah for your teapot, for your friends' teapots and even for your enemy's teapot. It's good for you!!
*Also, Shiuwen wanted to make sure we made this correction : She did not give a liter of blood, but rather a PINT of blood.
We drank a delicious Eight Roast Dong Ding for the 16th anniversary of Floating Leaves which occurred on 8/8.
Last week we went back to visit an 'old friend', a tea that we've tasted many times and are just finding out new things about it. This time we visited a 'new friend', also a Furry Crab, and from the same farmer. This one is also fantastic! And we're looking forward to many more sessions with this tea. It is only available on the dot com site.
This session we tasted Furry Crab, an oolong we've been drinking for a while now, but one that is showing a new face in the last month or so.
This episode we tried out some of our new Yixing and Taiwanese Wood Fired teapots. We use Dong Ding Traditional A as a base and branch out depending on how the Dong Ding tastes.
This session we drank a new batch of Charcoal Dong Ding that I brought back from Taiwan. It was roasted in a special way to produce a very unique feel for Dong Ding tea. WE LOVE IT! We're going to be keeping aside some for ourselves to age. And after this session Shiuwen wants to keep even more!!
When I got back to the states Shiuwen told me I was brewing tea really strong! During my time in Taiwan I really changed up my brewing, and I think it tastes great. Today we drank the King of Teas, Charcoal Dong Ding, and it was strong enough to stand a spoon up in it.
Drinking Mr Chen's Baozhong, one of our long time standards on the menu. It was an excellent season for Baozhong, and we had a great time drinking it and reminiscing about farmer Chen and his family this session.
This was a laid back session. Shiuwen got a chance to brew the new Homestyle Red Oolong for the first time. We are both really excited about this tea! As the name indicates, it's not a fancy tea per se, but it's a satisfying whole body experience. Now available on the dot com site only!
Yes, we're talking about Dong Ding again; the region that gave us Milk & Honey Oolong. Which we are drinking in the episode today. We went back to talk more about Mrs. Su and living up on the mountain.
Also, we'll be drinking high mountain oolongs live on YouTube (Tuesday June 8th, 5pm PT). Hope you can join us! Link Here
This episode was basically my first impressions after spending a week up on Dong Ding mountain. The taste of the place is still fresh in my mind! I had such an amazing time, learned a lot and worked hard.
Shiuwen received her Lala Shan in the mail, so this session we decided to drink that tea! New crop of Lala Shan Hong Shui.
We took some time to explore three of the four high mountain oolongs I've chosen for the website, since Shiuwen's Big Box of Goodies arrived in Seattle recently. We drank Alishan, Shan Lin Xi and the Traditional High Mountain, a tea that I was able to see be processed start to finish. We are both really happy with this season's high mountains! All very fragrant, balanced and comfortable in the body. Looking forward to the Lishan arriving in Seattle so we can drink that one together, too!
The night before we recorded this episode, I went to go visit our teacher for the first time since arriving in Taiwan. That's the real fuel for why I'm here, to study tea roasting. It's the guiding principle that has kept us on track through lots of craziness. It was a great session, and I got a chance to unpack it a bit with Shiuwen on this podcast. Enjoy!
This episode was recorded shortly after I came down from the mountain, where I saw my first full oolong processing, start to finish! It was amazing, and during the recording I was still full of all that good energy. The style of the episode was more of an interview style. I got a chance to relay lots of information I learned up in the mountains! We will be selling this tea on our website in the next few days. Shipping direct from Taiwan!! If I wasn't here I never would have found something like this!
Hello again! This marks our first episode recorded remotely in both Seattle and Taipei! We toasted the near end of my quarantine period with a pot of Charcoal Dong Ding.
Thank you all so much for your support! We love you :) We're getting ready for Noah to head out in a couple of days, and we're so excited!!
The next episode will be recorded long distance, with Shiuwen in Seattle and Noah in Taiwan. We've got to figure out how to do that, so expect some glitches. But it will happen.
This episode we drank a 30 year old tea for the grounding energy, and announced a big upcoming change for Floating Leaves!
Good session today, but no direct focus. It's the show about nothing! So Shiuwen wanted to name this episode Out of Focus. We decided to drink Four Roast Dong Ding again, for three reasons. You'll have to listen to find out why!!!
Revisiting an oolong that we got three or more years ago in this session. It's not been an easy tea to brew, but Shiuwen was ready for the challenge! Yunnan grown high mountain oolong, harvested from Tie Guanyin cultivar bushes, and charcoal roasted by a master in Taiwan.
This episode we compared the current batch of Loshan Hongshui (which is running low) with the batch that's coming up next. Very fun session, and got us into some good conversations about focus, attention and joy!
This was a powerful session. After listening, we want to invite you to check out this video from the Plum Village Zen Community https://youtu.be/AxsCainXGMQ
After watching, if you want to try Shiuwen's challenge from the end of the episode, please feel free to reach out to let us know how it goes for you. We always love to hear from you! Enjoy!
This episode we are drinking Dong Ding A again! A new batch is always a great excuse to drink this tea. This time it lead us in all kinds of directions, and we ended up having a great conversation about structure, connection and rhythm.
Year of the Ox is upon us! (And Valentine's Day, and it's snowing in Seattle. Pretty cool.) We decided to start the first podcast of the Lunar New Year with an aged Alishan from 1985. First time we ever brewed it!
Lunar New Year is coming up, the Year of the Ox, and we're taking some time to nourish ourselves with a joyful tea. This episode we spent some time talking about what it really means to nourish ourselves, with tea or otherwise, in order to go deeper in the practice. Wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous Spring!
This was more of a 'slightly veiled' tasting that a blind tasting, but we came back to taste Alishan and Lishan side by side without knowing which one came first. Really REALLY good session. Both of these teas are fantastic. After the blind tasting in early January we were intrigued by the fact that we couldn't choose a clear MVP of these two.
Once more! we are working with two unknown oolongs for a little blind tasting challenge to see if we can get out of our own preconceptions. This time Shiuwen picked the teas, and it was a blind session for me! (Noah) This was a really fun session to see what we know and what we don't know.
Just two roasted teas! This session we tasted two roasted oolongs which I chose and placed on the table without telling Shiuwen what they are. We wanted to have a grounded session focused on the sensations of these teas in our mouths and noses. Flavor, texture and aroma. Also, I'm a little obsessed with chili at the moment ;)
We dedicated this episode to brewing Special Reserve Alishan again since the first time we recorded it there were two other teas involved. It deserves it's own session! This pot of tea really guided Shiuwen to explore more deeply her intentions for tea and other things in 2021. The idea : Be softer to generate more energy.
For the first session of 2021 we are revisiting a Yunnan grown high mountain oolong that we've been working on for the past week or two. In the spirit of the practice process, and because 2021 is an Ox year, we drank this Furry Crab while discussing our goals, struggles and successes we've had while trying to fine tune the way we brew this oolong. May 2021 be full of good practice and hard work!
The last podcast of 2020! We drank an excellent high mountain oolong to celebrate, and pretty much all we could say was how excellent it is. I hope you enjoy the episode anyway, because it was a lot of fun to record. We're lucky, as it seems like teas show up particularly well when we're recording.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your support throughout 2020. This tea will be up on the site fairly soon, and that's not something I would have thought possible even a year ago. We're so grateful to be able to share teas like this, and have such a wonderful support system throughout the US! Cheers to you all, and cheers to tea!
This episode was so much fun to record! It's the debut of a new line-up of high mountain oolongs that we're SUPER excited to share. Enjoy :)
Also, it's Shiuwen's birthday on the day this comes out. Happy Birthday Shiuwen!!
There are so many new teas in the shop that we can barely walk around!! So we decided to drink THREE teas on the podcast this week. Two Charcoal Dong Ding Oolongs (comparing the last batch with this new batch) and one Hehuan Shan High Mountain Oolong harvested in November.
We're back after a brief hiatus to pack tea. Last week's sale went really well! Thank you to everyone who bought tea!!
This week we are full of both gratitude and the desire to take a long nap. So we decided to have a laid back session with this comforting puer for the podcast this week. We call this cake of 2011 Menghai puer the "Big Sister Cake". It is a cake from our teacher Mr Zhan. Very grateful to have teas like this :)
The first fresh picked oolong from this year's Winter harvest at Floating Leaves IS... Smooth Water Baozhong! The weather was not especially favorable to tea production in Taiwan this year, but this farmer from Nangang pulled it off to produce something really special! We both loved it! After I pressed stop recording, our hands simultaneously raised in a 'thumbs up' motion and we gave each other a stern nod, to say "That's a solid tea!"
It's time for new Hong Shui! But this time we don't know if it's from Lala Shan or Lo-Shan (yet). For this episode we drank the new crop of Hong Shui and tried to figure out where it's from, and really focused on looking at the tea based on our objective experience. Really awesome tea! We'll have it up on the site sometime next week, and by that time we will be able to say definitely where it's from ;)
There's a new GABA oolong in the shop, and it's awesome! High elevation tea from Shan Lin Xi, and processed by the GABA master that taught the Lalashan farmer to make GABA tea.
This episode we compared this new Shan Lin Xi GABA Oolong with the previous crop, AKA Nantou GABA Oolong. It was a fun, light session with two really solid teas!
Another Dong Ding session! We said a couple of weeks ago that we would come back to this new batch of Charcoal Dong Ding, and we did!
Also, this is our faux Halloween episode! Happy (belated) Halloween!!!
I've been wanting to do this session for a few weeks now, and the weather was perfect for it today! Aged oolong is great for gently warming up the body as the seasons are changing. This time we drank an especially clean aged Baozhong from the 1970's, and talked a bit about how to spot potential in a tea for aging.
This episode we drank from two batches of Charcoal Dong Ding. And within the session, Shiuwen noticed the tea was taking us somewhere. The name of the episode is an homage to Red Pine, local author and translator of the Pacific Northwest, who asked Shiuwen the same question. This episode felt like we were sharing tea with him. Which prompts me to ask again... Who says you can't travel?
A new tea from Charcoal Master Lai arrived recently. Every time we've tasted it since it arrived, there's been more and more layers showing up. In the same fashion, the session that became this week's episode brought up some new things for us to chew on. This is a BIG TEA!
This episode was full of GABA in epic proportions. We drank TWO Lo-Shan Hongshui oolongs, the last of the previous crop and the first of this new crop. Both are excellent for different reasons, and by the end Shiuwen was giggling like a crazy tea lady! So much fun!
We've got two new high mountain oolongs in the shop: Alishan and Lishan. This episode we did a side-by-side tasting of the previous batch of each tea with the current batch of each tea. So that's TWO side-by-sides in ONE podcast. Wow! We got pretty lifted off of so many high mountain oolongs!
Dong Ding! AGAIN!!! This week we are comparing a fresh, new batch of Dong Ding A with the previous batch that we described as Dong Ding A Deluxe. We brewed them bowl style and drank with a ceramic soup spoon. The teas both showed up really clearly, which helped us easily pinpoint their differences and enjoy them! It's a really fun practice to get to know teas as they change over the seasons.
This episode we revisited an excellent batch of Charcoal Dong Ding just before it's sold out. The combination of roasting and aging over time have produced a wonderfully complex Dong Ding tea!
This episode we compared three different batches of our only tea we roast ourselves, House Oolong!
We got into the topic of roasting a lot more than I thought we would. There's some good information in here if you want to try your hand at tea roasting at home, which I highly encourage you to try!
We had a light session with two easygoing tea, Oriental Beauty (or OB One) and Honey Beauty. The comparison was really fun, and we ended up getting onto the topic of cold brew... just, by chance ;) Both of these teas are new arrivals, and we wanted to feature them because they are sweet, yummy and refreshing!
This session we drank Taiji Hongshui (AKA Gongfu Hongshui) from Shi Ding. This is a really fun tea, and we enjoyed its relaxing effect. Especially after a long couple of weeks!
We dug into some of the 'fundamental structures' as they show up in this tea. We'll keep revisiting these over and over because they build the foundation for clear observation of a good tea. Check out those original 'fundamental structures of tea' episodes from earlier this year if you haven't yet!
We're back!! We've been so busy packing tea, that we've mostly been drinking grandpa style in the shop. So to honor that, we recorded a light session of us drinking grandpa style tea. Enjoy! And if you're really busy, drink some grandpa style yourself. It's a great way to let the tea brew itself.
It's Floating Leaves 15 year anniversary! We're celebrating with a noon picked, charcoal roasted oolong from Taiwan. If you haven't had a chance yet, please consider entering our photo contest by August 5th to help us celebrate. We're giving away teapots! And the annual Anniversary Sale will start on August 7th.
A week ago, we did a session that ended in me (Noah) drinking two mystery teas in order to get out of my own head while drinking the tea. This week, I chose a tea for Shiuwen to brew, but she was not privy to the name of the tea. It was really fun! So mind opening to taste tea like this. It helps us get closer to the tea and see what it is objectively doing!
In this episode we started off with a delightful Baozhong, but halfway through I realized I was 'drinking' what wasn't actually there in the tea. Drinking with my mind. So we did a little experiment and it was really fun! The message was this : Know what you know, and know what you don't know.
After last week's episode, we have been doing a lot of thinking. This episode we drank a special batch of Charcoal Dong Ding, and Shiuwen reflected on some of the ideas that have been going through her head.
We had a very illuminating session the day before recording this episode, and this episode became very emotional very quickly. We drank Lala Shan for its calming and comforting properties, and ended up having some deep discussions.
We really felt like having another session with this beautiful tea. And by the end of the session we were both grateful we drank this tea, because it had a lot to say!
We have been enjoying and learning a lot from blind tasting high mountains, so we took a thwack at Dong Ding with the same method. This episode we 'cereal bowl' brewed three Dong Ding oolongs that are currently in the shop : Traditional A, Traditional B and Charcoal. It was illuminating, and we're looking forward to more sessions like this!
We drank FOUR TEAS this episode. FOUR! And Shiuwen brewed them all gongfu style in an yixing pot, one by one. Needless to say, we did get a little silly by the end.
This was a seriously fun episode to record. This is the second time (out of potentially three) that we recorded drinking the Spring High Mountains blind. Enjoy, and we sincerely recommend trying it for yourself!
This was our first session blind tasting all four of your new Spring High Mountain oolongs! We had a lot of fun, and we both agreed after the session that it was REALLY DIFFICULT to get the names out of our heads, even when we didn't know the names. This was a great exercise in seeing tea as it really is!
We drank the teas cereal bowl style, ie with ceramic bowls and ceramic spoons, ever soaking in water, as we drink them and watch the changes over time.
The blind tasting sampler are available for purchase on the site now. We are keeping the price down so more people can join. The 'big reveal' will be done in a Live Session on July 7th.
New Spring Baozhongs are all here! This episode we had a fun time tasting all three new Baozhongs. That's Farmer's Choice and Competition Style from Mr Chen in Pinglin, and Smooth Water from Nangang.
I hope this episode can give you an idea of what it's like for us to taste new teas and predict how they will open up over time. Enjoy!
We just got new Spring Alishan and Shan Lin Xi high mountain oolongs in! The teas are tasting good and we're looking forward to how they will open up.
We drank a LOT of new teas today. By the end of the episode, Shiuwen was listing her favorite flavor of baked goods XD
This episode we broke out the new Charcoal Dong Ding! Shiuwen took the tea and used our 'fundamentals of tea' practice to section up and analyze the parts like mouthfeel, spreading, throat sensation, scent and so forth. Then we talked a little bit on the name, Singing Brook, that the roaster gave to the tea and explained how it feels to us.
This is a strong tea! Soft tea, but strong tea. We got a little crazy by the end. Enjoy!!
New Lalashan Hongshui! We got new tea from Mr Zhan, and Shiuwen is considering it her mother's day gift!! This was a fun session with a beautiful tea.
This also marks the end of our Fundamental Structures episodes. We will reference the ideas from those episodes, of course, pretty much every time we drink a tea. We are still systematically covering the structures of tea on our live sessions, so join us there if you want to study them! Happy Tea Drinking!
As far as we've planned, this is the last installment of the Fundamentals Structures episodes. If you haven't yet, I recommend you start from the 'nose and mouth' episodes and follow along chronologically to get the most out of it.
This episode we compared the scent structure of two heavily roasted oolongs; Da Hong Pao and Charcoal Alishan. Shiuwen got into the subject of how to go deeper with your tea practice if you have a very busy schedule.
May the Fourth be with you!
This week our Old Growth Anxi Tie Guan Yin arrived from Taiwan, so we decided to take a one episode interlude in the midst of our Fundamental Structures episodes, and explore this tea more deeply. The tea showed up beautifully, and I don't know if it was because our brewing was especially good, or because the tea wanted to show us something. Whichever case it was, we had a relaxing session with an old friend of a tea, and ended up seeing it in a new way.
This episode we went back to examine the structure of scent! We compared two lighter oolongs, both Tie Guan Yin from Anxi, China. One is a more standard production, with an accenuated floral fragrance, and the other is harvested from old growth tea bushes and charcoal roasted by a master in Taiwan. I love exploring the texture, shape and movement of a tea's scent, and I learned a lot through this exercise. Enjoy!
This episode was really fun; we drank an excellent puer :^D
To really get into the body sensations that a tea can provide, we compared our Charcoal Dong Ding oolong with a 1998 Aged Puer from Yiwu. The session was really fun, and I think there's lots of good information in there, too.
Also, we have a new slogan. "Floating Leaves Tea : He's Hallucinating, Like Me!"
This episode we talk about the sensation of tea broth stimulating the body as it slides down the throat and into the stomach. We compare two Dong Ding oolongs, our old reliable Traditional A and more nuanced Charcoal roasted version.
On top of the tea learning, we also want to open the door for those in need. If you are struggling to buy groceries in the interim of federal aid, or if you are a healthcare worker and you feel a gift of good tea could help your team's morale, please contact us. Together we can help each other overcome these difficult times.
So enjoy some tea with us! May this recording provide some moments of mindfulness in which you can just be aware of your body. Tea is a powerful teacher!
This episode we compared the throat sensation of old, reliable Dong Ding Traditional with the soft, complex spreading sensation of the Loshan Hong Shui. This part of tea tasting is endlessly fascinating. To use Shiuwen's words, "I hope you get to see a whole universe of movement in your throat, with your tea".
This episode we compared Lishan High Mountain Oolong to Dong Ding Traditional A with a focus on how the tea feels in the throat. The 'throat sensation' or houyun is the gateway to a deeper understanding of what tea can do!
This is the second installment in the aftertaste series. We drank and compared two aged oolongs this session. One Dong Ding and one export oolong from Beipu. We focused a lot on different styles of salivation. The aftertaste on the Dong Ding was really leading me to get deeper into the throat feeling, so next week will probably be a 'throat sensation' episode. Enjoy, and let us know how your practice is going!
This week we compared Dong Ding Traditional and Hehuan Shan High Mountain Oolong in 'cereal bowl style' to compare aftertaste. We're still hitting small details, starting from scent and mouthfeel, and now moving on to explore the ways in which aftertaste shows up in different teas. We're having some serious fun with this style of episode right now!
We're having a lot of fun with this format! This episode we compared our heavily roasted House Oolong with a Da Hong Pao grown in Dong Ding, Taiwan and roasted heavily with charcoal. Also, Shiuwen was a little tea drunk after we did a High Mountain blind tasting the same day, so there's lots of good, crazy laughter to cheer you up!
This is the second in a series of episodes where we want to focus on structure and texture in the nose and mouth. This time we compared our Traditional A Dong Ding against a light fragrant Alishan High Mouhtain Oolong (Noon Picked). This series is all about the details, and we are having a lot of fun fine-tuning our senses in the aroma, spreading, weight, dimension and angle of these teas. I'm already looking forward to the next few sessions!
We hope you can learn a lot about what we are looking for in a tea by listening to this series! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that it will be best to start from Part one.
We are trying something new in this episode. We've had a lot of fun recording some epic teas and really getting into the bodily sensations and feelings that they produce. But I wanted to get back to basics.
This episode we took some time to compare two oolongs, Dong Ding Fragrant and Dong Ding Traditional A. We brewed them "Cereal Bowl" style, soaking the leaves in small bowls and drinking the broth with a spoon. We are really focusing on the nose and mouthfeel differences, and I'm planning to do a little series of episodes continuing in this direction. I hope this is informative for you all; it was super helpful for me. Practice some of this stuff if you have the time, and let us know how it goes!
Sorry for the late upload! Shout-out to Eric for letting me know I forgot to upload on Monday morning.
This episode we drank a new GABA Hongshui; we are calling it Lo-Shan Hongshui. It is a beautiful charcoal roasted tea from Shi-Ding, harvested in 2016. It's got a very different feeling than the Lalashan. Anyway, I think you'll be able to tell how much we are crazy about it!
Not very long ago, but relatively far away... Charcoal Master Zhan found a bag of Lalashan Hongshui in his shop and re-roasted it for us! We acquired what was left and had an awesome session with the tea this week. Also, we've got a couple tea classes happening in California and Las Vegas, plus two online blind tastings coming up. Check out our website for more info.
Our Cousin Jake just finished setting up his new shop, ninedragonstea.com
This episode Jake came down to Seattle to share some of his new teas. We drank two Rou Gui oolongs from the Zheng Yan area of Wuyi Shan. This episode is rich in information about Wuyi Cliff Tea.
This week we pulled out another tea we almost forgot we had. Our Charcoal Roasting Master sent us this tea without us knowing it, and we LOVE IT! This session will give you a decent idea of the tea. We had a lot of fun recording this one. It's up on the site now in very limited supply, so if you want to try it get it sooner rather than later.
It had been awhile since we last tried this tea, what we call modern style Muzha Tie Guanyin, so we recorded a session with it! It's a strong and warming tea. We got into a little bit of tea brewing and how to deal with a difficult session.
This episode we sat down with the new winter crop of Shan Lin Xi high mountain oolong. This session we focused on the balance of the broth, texture and development in the mouth. Shiuwen then brewed the Spring season's version to compare. Also, we'll be in California (Los Angeles and San Diego) and Las Vegas to teach some oolong appreciating classes in February. More details coming as we nail down dates in the next week. Hope to see some of you there!
We recorded this episode a week before Christmas and there was a bit of confusion as to when it was coming out. We figured it out by the end though. Regardless, happy holidays! We drank an 'epicly good' charcoal roasted Alishan and had a lot of fun. Enjoy, and see you in the New Year!
Once again, when we started we were already a little tea drunk! This episode we drink the new 2019 Winter crop of Farmer's Choice Baozhong, the day after it arrived in the shop. This one was recorded a couple weeks ago and we forgot to wish everyone a merry Christmas. But I hope you all are enjoying yourselves whatever you choose to do and/or celebrate. And as always, happy tea drinking!
This episode we drank a new GABA Hong Shui, this one from Shi Ding. It's made by a very skillful farmer and roasted by Mr Zhan. It got us really philosophical, and we dipped into the subject of plant-human relationships and the imprint we are making on tea when we brew it. It was a really fun episode to record, and we hope you enjoy it!
This was recorded shortly after the tea arrived in our shop. It's was our early Christmas present! This batch is pretty special, and we had a really fun time recording it. Enjoy!
A little tardy this week. Thanks for waiting! We drank Taman Shan Hong Shui for this episode. It's the spiritual successor to the Lala Shan Hong Shui. Both are GABA oolong and both are from the same farmer. Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving to all you USA people. I'm going to pick up my turkey today! This episode we drank a Lishan High Mountain Oolong two ways. One in glazed porcelain and one in clay. Shiuwen had noticed that in clay the broth feels more concentrated, so we thought it was a good opportunity to discuss the properties of a balanced tea broth and do a little experiment.
This is our second crack at the dark roasted Alishan from our teacher in Taiwan. This time we did a side by side comparison of the version we stored in a stoneware jar and the version that has been in a foil bag the whole time. You'll have to listen to see which one we like more!
This was a nice lighthearted episode with our tea colleague Char, who blogs under the name Oolong Owl. We drank the new crop of Red Peony, which we are very happy to say is an especially good crop. Enjoy!
This was a really fun episode to record. We drank an excellent heavy roasted Alishan oolong from our teacher Mr Zhan. It's been resting for a year or so, and although it has mellowed out we are looking forward to how it develops further. It has a lot of potential. This got us on the topic of how to watch for and experience your tea as it 'rests' and develops over time.
We started out brewing "Mystery Dong Ding #A" from our blind sampler this month. Then the conversation took a turn when we got onto the topic of brewing guidelines. A customer had asked over email why we don't provide guidelines for each tea, and we liked the question enough to pretty much dedicate a 40 minute episode to answering it. I think it did turn a little heady, but there's some good info in there. Enjoy!