Seven Cups

Today through Sunday, enjoy 20% off of both Dragon Well green teas, including the old heirloom Shifeng Dragon Well and the modern favorite Big Buddha Dragon Well. We're also offering 20% off all gaiwan and gaiwan travel sets this weekend. This offer is available both online and at the teahouse. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

Longjing (Dragon Well) is the great champion of green tea. It’s the favorite of the Qianlong emperor, Chairman Mao, and also millions of us who’ve never been China’s head of state.

It’s a tea so good that it launched us into business back in the day. We actually had trouble buying it at first–even into the early 2000’s the very best grades were designated for the purchase by the government (a vestige of imperial tribute) and prohibited from export.

It’s unquestionably the king. But when is China’s most celebrated tea at its best?

In other words, is a cup of Longjing better in the early spring? Or is it better right now? There's a case for each.

Drinking Longjing just after harvest in March or April, you’ll find it sharp, bright, and full of effervescent greenery. You’ll also find flavors that are still hot from the wok, developed during its signature shaping. Those leaves are bright green, but they’re also radiating toasty brown Maillard aromas: roasted chestnuts and toasted soybean are the classic descriptors.

It's strange to call a tea that's only five or six months out from harvest “aged.” A batch of spring Longjing at the end of August is still the freshest Longjing tea available until next spring, after all. We like the term “rested” instead.

Whatever you call it, there’s a noticeable change in the tea as we ease into the late summer. Those hot flavors are now cooler and don’t battle for center stage with Longjing’s gentler green and floral aspects. It seems to be when the legendary tea's complexity hits a balance.

That said, you can drink Longjing anytime you want it. This, of course, is the easiest and most correct answer.

Wishing you enjoyment of the very best cups of Longjing now, later, and forever more.

Specials - Seven Cups We regularly mark down the teas in our catalog so you have the chance to try all different kinds of excellent Chinese teas.

Please help us make room! Take advantage of 20% off ALL teaware today through Sunday (8/18). https://sevencups.com/shop-category/tea-ware/

Our largest shipment of the year is now crossing the Pacific, so every item of teaware you take home with this discount will help us fit the new goods in the door when they get here next month.

New teaware is a once-a-year event around here. As we await that big shipment, now’s a great time to sn**ch up any of the last few pieces of last year’s teaware selection you’ve been eyeing. We’re excited to safely bring you more of those fiddly pieces of delicate fine porcelain and artisan yixing teapots, and we look forward to seeing many more new tea companions as well as teas this fall.

Teaware - Seven Cups Browse our selection of Yixing, porcelain, and glass teapots, cups, and tea accessories

Learn to Make Tea with a Gaiwan

A traditional gaiwan is among the most versatile and effective ways to make a good cup of tea. The only downside is that brewing with this small lidded cup can seem strange and complicated at first, so Zhuping is teaching a class on gaiwan brewing skills at our teahouse this weekend. You'll find that it's easier than it looks.

Come join us 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Saturday, August 17th. The class fee is $50. All materials are provided, including a new gaiwan that's yours to keep. This class is limited to seven students. Sign up at Eventbrite to reserve your space. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learn-to-make-tea-with-a-gaiwan-tickets-991424265667

We're pleased to offer this as the first event in our new private tasting room space, located in the secret back room of the teahouse.

Since the invention of shu Puer in the mid-1970s, the shadowy infusions from these dark tea leaves have gone from being an afterthought at the dimsum table to the object of sophisticated discussion and connoisseurship. Their evolution continues in the modern day. We’ve recently had the chance to take stock (literally) of shu puer’s evolution in the last few decades, while sorting through Zhuping and Austin’s personal collection of puer tea.

From the old style of historied former government factories to the new precise small-batch shu of recent years, all these teas are 20% off today through Sunday, August 11th: https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

Representing the old school (dark, dank, and wild!) are two teas from 2012 at the old Jinggu factory, made with slow, months-long ripening periods:

Jia Cang (Home Store Puer) 2012
Gongting (Palace Puer) 2012

In contrast, these three are made with newer small-batch techniques that lend themselves to fancier material and precise control the tea’s final character:

Zi Ye Shu (Purple Leaf Shu Puer) 2011
Shu Longzhu (Sweet Dragon Ball) 2018
Shanye Tian (Woodland) 2018

One last offer blurs the lines between them. If your (online) order is $100 or more during this sale, we’ll include an extra gift of 25g of Jingmai shu puer from 2003. It’s an old tea, but one that’s of a kind with the more delicate newer productions, its darkness softened by surprising sheng-like herbal qualities.

We hope you’ll enjoy this weekend’s exploration of shu puer old, new, and in between.

Classics as they are, the green teas of Anhui are so subtle that they can be overlooked by new tea drinkers. Even the most full-flavored among them, Lu’an Gua Pian, effortlessly yields infusions that are smooth–creamy–even.

When we were trying to describe the flavor of these teas at our warehouse this morning, Givani, our resident student of philosophy, offered a paradox from the Dao De Jing:

There is nothing softer than water.
Yet when it attacks, nothing that is hard and strong can resist it.

To Givani and Lao Zi’s point, there’s an obscure power in softness. And as for the softness of Anhui’s green teas, this too is a power we quickly succumb to.

Anhui, as a tea origin, can seem obscure as it lives in the shadow of prosperous Zhejiang to the east. Yet both the past and present of Chinese tea owes a great deal to this small landlocked province. Notably, the development of the basic modern method of loose-leaf tea making can be traced to Song Luo in Anhui’s south. In modern times, much of eastern China’s tea harvest relies on Anhui’s skilled tea pluckers to travel beyond the province’s borders each spring and hand-pluck many of the famous teas in Zhejiang, like Anji Baicha.

It’s also home to some of the most intricate and strange approaches to green tea production in the form of Tai Ping Houkui and Lu’an Gua Pian. Both styles from far-out landscapes, given wings by Anhui’s old trade cities of Huizhou and Anqing, sending them on to Hangzhou and Shanghai merchants and beyond.

If you’ve missed getting to know this origin and its green teas, we hope you’ll enjoy this chance to discover their thoroughly delicate and utterly powerful appeal. Enjoy 20% off the aforementioned classics as well as the historic Huangshan Maofeng (Yellow Mountain) through Sunday.

Specials - Seven Cups We regularly mark down the teas in our catalog so you have the chance to try all different kinds of excellent Chinese teas.

Last year’s most-requested tea, Zhi Xiang Ganlu (Gardenia Sweet Dew) is back with a 2024 production that’s as sweet, bright, cool and fragrant as a garden in summer bloom. From now until Sunday, you’ll get it 20% off. https://sevencups.com/shop/zhi-xiang-ganlu-gardenia-sweet-dew/

Our first taste of this tea came back in Zhuping’s suitcase last year, and it impressed us so much that she and Austin had to go visit its inventors this spring.

Austin tells the tale:

“I hadn't set foot in the Chinese countryside since 2019. What I found when I returned this year, only reminded me of why I had been attracted to this business in the beginning.

“Qianwei County in Sichuan has long produced a very rich jasmine tea, but the innovation that I found to be most compelling was their gardenia tea. When gardenia flowers meet tea leaves, their scent is unified into one singular flavor that's distinct and compelling in its complexity.

“Zhuping and I were privileged to spend time with the inventors of this process and to visit the gardenia fields that are planted amongst the heirloom tea bush cultivars in a garden that’s a short drive up from the city. This combination garden is a return to an earlier convention in which the tea and the scented material (whether it's gardenia or Jasmine) is produced in the same area. Here they are united together and to my tastes this also returns scented tea to the richness that once defined it.

“It was a joyful trip for me to return to China. The dedicated artistry of traditional tea makers is dynamic and endless.”

This is the most beautiful production of this tea that we’ve seen yet. If you missed it last year before it sold out and want to see what all the fuss is about, we hope you’ll enjoy what we feel is a gold-standard example to judge it by.

Zhi Xiang Ganlu (Gardenia Sweet Dew) - Seven Cups A thick and buttery infusion with powerful green florals, the result of multiple scentings with genuine gardenia flowers. Full and soft coating flavor.

All Yunnan black teas are 20% off this weekend through Sunday.

Yunnan Province is home to the largest producer we work with, as well as some of the smallest.

It’s the origin of the classic Golden Peacock (Jin Kongque), the outlandish Old Tree Yunnan (Laoshu Dianhong), and the boutique Golden Buds (Jinya), all redolent with flowery aromatics and the sweet depths of flavor that had made Yunnan black tea famous. Not to mention, the humble yet famous Dianhong Gongfu.

Surprisingly, Gongfu is among the most inexpensive teas in our catalog. But make no mistake: this tea is cheap, but it is not low. In fact, when we infused all our black teas side by side for cold-brew stress testing, Gongfu indisputably outperformed the rest.

Gongfu’s leaves come from the spring harvest of this year. The complex and profound brew is rich and intensely caffeinated, but smooth, bready and rosy sweet, like toast and blackberry jam. As Austin says, “We aren’t going to sell any tea that I wouldn’t take to a deserted island.”

It’s made by the massive and historic Dianhong Group company, who created the Yunnan black tea industry. They’re the largest tea maker we work with, and we might well be their smallest customer. Still, it’s a relationship that’s endured since our very first visit to their factory in Fengqing in 2005.

What’s more, they do us a special favor each year by separating the spring production of Gongfu and selling it to us before it's blended with crops from later in the summer. That seems like a small detail, but the unblended spring leaf gives this tea smoothness, aroma, and sparkle beyond expectation: qualities we’re proud to offer even in one of the most “common” teas in our catalog.

So raise a glass, hot or iced, and toast with the common and uncommon heroes of black tea.

Seven Cups Fine Chinese Teas Seven Cups is a Tucson-based American tea company, specialized in sourcing high-quality teas directly from tea makers across China.

Our tour of Fukienese tea-making continues this weekend with 20% off all Fujian white tea in our catalog.

Over the years, we’ve ended up working with three different white tea makers throughout Fujian, and this weekend is a tour of their distinct regions and teas: the sweet glow of Silver Needle, the unconventional fruit notes of White Tieguanyin, and the darkly herbal Shou Mei, each offering a window into how diverse the homeland of white tea can be. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

From Shaowu, your Silver Needle comes care of factory boss “Old” Chen Qingwen. Old Chen’s tea brews a little more stout than the typical Silver Needle on the market. It delivers rising bread, sweet hay and fresh cut wood and continues to darken and deepen year after year.

Fuding County is not just the origin of the modern white tea industry, but also of Fuding Da Bai, arguably the most prolific and successful tea cultivar in the whole of China. Fuding teas can be quite delicate and expensive, but Shou Mei shows the opposite aspect of this origin in both respects. This tea is a white tea that’s full of black-tea-like moments. Hefty, soft, and very agreeable.

Lastly, Tieguanyin Baicha comes from the famous wulong-producing county of Anxi. The Zhang family, who make our Tieguanyin wulong teas, sent us a gift of white tea that they’d made from their Tieguanyin bushes. Tasting the tangy, fruit-like undercurrent of Tieguanyin with the mellow and meadow characteristics of a white tea immediately had us asking for more.

White tea, by the way, is considered supremely cooling in the local Fujian herbal lore. If you're in the northern hemisphere, perhaps you need some of that in your daylight hours right now.

We hope you’ll enjoy this tour of what the white tea style, their origins, and their tea makers have to offer.

Specials - Seven Cups We regularly mark down the teas in our catalog so you have the chance to try all different kinds of excellent Chinese teas.

Today through Sunday, July 7th, enjoy a 20% discount on all Wuyi Rock Wulong. Sample and savor the last of what’s available now as we wait for 2024’s yancha to finish its roasting and arrive in the fall. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

This week’s feature is the first part of a series on Fujian Province, the cradle of wulong, white, and black teas; an utterly unique and inventive tea origin that remains in flux today.

Back in the early 2000s, when we first started importing teas from Wuyi Mountain in northwest Fujian, it was, in Austin’s words, “a sleepy little town.” Since then, increased transport and a concerted government push to model Wuyishan as the “Yellowstone National Park of China” have made the place more accessible and more popular than ever. And this is to say nothing of the blossoming of Wuyishan’s tea culture during that same span of time. As a style of tea, Wuyi’s Rock Wulong now enjoys more prestige, ingenuity and variety than ever.

Throughout our time of importing Wuyishan’s tea, we’ve enjoyed generous relationships with three Rock Wulong makers, each with their own style that we feel embodies a distinct aspect of rock wulong. That includes the balanced, sweet, and layered Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) from Wuyishan’s most famous son, Liu Guoying; the classically dark and caramelized works of the humble master Liu Dexi; and the airy floral incense of a relative outsider, Zhou Yousheng, an expert in his working of new varieties and his tempered touch in roasting.

We hope this weekend’s feature provides some special and captivating tea sessions of your own to join us in celebrating this unique origin in this unique time.

If you enjoyed last weekend’s Dan Cong wulong, we invite you back for the debut of two more:

Limited quantities of Ao Fu Hou (Beyond the Road) and Wudong Ba Xian (Wudong Eight Immortals) are now available with a 20% discount this weekend (today through Sunday). https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

These two were Zhuping’s personal favorites from the Dan Cong she tasted this season. Both come from the extensive garden of old and unusual varieties belonging to Chen Yangxi, the same origin as other favorites The East Is Red and Ginger Flower. Zhuping insisted that we buy a small quantity of each and offer them in a limited release—and so it must be!

Beyond the Road is unlike any of our other Dan Cong teas with its delicate juicy flavor like water chestnuts or jicama and its huge meadowy florals. Strangely enough, its undertones of beeswax and wildflowers are almost more reminiscent of our Mogan Yellow Tea than anything else. Meanwhile, the sheer caramelized sweetness and unusual rosy aroma of Wudong Eight Immortals will draw in classic Dan Cong enthusiasts with its dark depths of lingering flavor and a curious soft finish like toasted oats.

While we’re delighted to get these teas, the only challenge was getting their names right. We like to retain our tea’s original market names and make the original Chinese central on our packaging to deliver the most authentic expression of that tea we possibly can. We do our best to offer a good translation of each name, too. A good translation doesn’t just convey a precise meaning, but it also gets at the spirit of the words, attempts to evoke the same emotions. Every translation is an attempt at balancing these things because we know they matter.

Perhaps we’re overthinking this. What do you say? Would a Dan Cong wulong by any other name smell as sweet?

2024 Dan Cong wulong is here, including the return of some old staples as well as new favorites—that’s seven teas in total that are 20% off this weekend, fresh from production and crackling with their signature floral intensity.

You’ll find everything from the familiar dark, lingering Dan Cong flavors among Sky Feather’s full roundness and Snow Orchid’s namesake orchids; to the compelling chocolate-raspberry complexity of The East Is Red; the punchy floral spice of the beloved Ginger Flower; the can’t-get-enough starchy sweetness of Sweet Potato; the delicate caramel-y gardenias of Yellow Sprig; and the heady billowing florals of Magnolia just like an open blossom. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/wulong-tea/dan-cong-wulong-wulong-tea/

Back in February we asked you which Dan Cong teas you enjoyed in 2023’s crop and what you’d like to see more of. As we tallied your responses, we were delighted to see that your most common answer was “bring back everything and give us more.”

So there you have it. We asked, you answered, and now we must deliver.

If you’re jumping into this style for the first time, Dan Cong (literally “single-bush”) is a niche type of Wulong only made in the Chaozhou region of Guangdong Province. Heady, floral, sharp, and funky–Dan Cong is distinct and unapologetic and we can’t get enough—it’s one of Austin’s favorite styles—so we’re excited to bring back everything and more.

Care of Zhuping’s suitcase, every variety of Dan Cong we brought you last year is back in the game for 2024’s line up, as well. There’s a limited amount of each of these teas (Zhuping’s suitcase is only so big) so if some sell out, take heart that they’ll be resupplied in a month or two as our big ocean shipment makes its way here.

There’s more to come, too. There are two completely new teas in our 2024 Dan Cong line up that are yet to be revealed. Tune in next week for more.

This weekend brings our first black tea of 2024 and it’s something we’ve never had before.

Welcome 2024 spring harvest Qimen black tea hand-wrapped in bamboo leaves. This unconventional presentation is inspired by the zongzi—the traditional bamboo-wrapped sticky rice dumpling, a snack often made in celebration of Monday’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Five-packs of these Qimen Zongzi (Bamboo Keemun) are 20% off this weekend along with the radiant and spicy Qimen Caixia (Sunrise Keemun) and the stout daily-drinker Breakfast Qimen. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

Unlike a sticky rice zongzi, you don’t want to unwrap your zongzi of Qimen and Bamboo. Instead, drop the bundle in a large vessel or (our favorite) a tall glass and let it go. Steeping will take more time than you might be used to (we suggest 15 minutes) but hey, it’s a holiday. As the infusion darkens you’ll catch the distinct spicy aromas of Qimen and the curiously sweet and woodsy fragrance of bamboo.

The infusion is way more delicate than the typical black tea and even the typical Qimen. The sweetness of the bamboo comes through in ways that emphasize the innate sweetness of the tea.

Zhuping has just returned from China with a suitcase of teas that are fresh to the market from the spring season. Stay tuned for the next few weeks for the return of some old favorites and a few more teas that we’ve never had before.

Too much sunshine got you down? Are you getting the itch for something different after three-straight months of fresh spring green tea?

We have the antidote:

Every single shu puer in our catalog is on sale at 20% off this weekend. Brew yourself a long steep and take refuge in that velvety midnight infusion, the darkest of the dark. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

If you happen to be in Tucson this weekend, stop by the teahouse to enjoy some deep cuts of shu puer on the tasting table. We’re counter-programing our cloudless desert sun with a lineup of old shu from our personal collections.

If you’re unfamiliar with shu puer tea, we’re delighted to introduce you. This tea is a type of heicha or “dark tea” from China’s Yunnan Province that’s created through a special process of microbial ripening. Leaves are heaped, dampened and heated over weeks and months, letting ye**ty beasties chow down and change their character from bright herbal flavors of “raw” sheng puer leaf to mellow, woodsy, and dark shu puer leaf.

Shu puer is not for everyone. Case in point: Austin, Seven Cups’ own founder, is a grumpy sheng-and-only-sheng type of guy. Fortunately, he’s outnumbered by the rest of us—including his wife, Zhuping, who never travels without a supply of the tonic shu leaf, an old-school digestive remedy. It’s a daily staple for many of us at the company, too. Lizzie once weathered an entire Tucson summer drinking Sweet Dragon with a pinch of chrysanthemum. Andrew likes to keep a brick of Jujube in his desk drawer (break in case of emergency) for both tough days and celebrations.

Whether you’re just wading into the depths of shu puer or are deep in the abyss like the rest of us, we hope this weekend’s feature gives you some cool and comforting darkness to enjoy.

This weekend you can enjoy a 20% discount on our once-a-year micro-lot release of Mountain Forest Huangshan Maofeng, as well as its sister tea, Guzhu Zisun (Purple Bamboo Shoot), a tea from the smallest garden we work with in our entire catalog. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

So how are these teas related? Each bears an ancient name from tea history, their leaves plucked from otherwise untouched seed-grown heirloom bushes growing in the forest understory, in the original regions that made those old names famous to begin with. It’s about as far from modern mass agriculture as you can get.

The production and the makers behind these teas are old school, too. Mountain Forest Huangshan Maofeng comes from 6th-generation Huangshan tea maker Wang Huizhou. Purple Bamboo was made by great grandma Pei Hongfeng, and grows in 1.6 acres of bamboo forest behind her house.

These tea makers understand that what they have is special and their concern is preserving it. They know that a healthy forest feeds tea bushes in different ways, giving their teas complex, sometimes divergent flavors. Their tea bushes are less predictable and less productive, sure, but they're also unique and wondrous.

Forest cover means less sunlight and cooler temperatures, making for slow, potent growth. Thus, while being the first plucking of their season, both of these teas are finished really late. Their old heirloom bushes can’t be bothered to rush out spring growth for the early season tea market. No, these leaves will grow when they’re good and ready. We’re happy to announce that they finally are.

There’s now 16 fresh teas from the spring available in our online store, from the humble Mengding Maofeng to the princely Junshan Yinzhen. It's a springtime feast. Enjoy.

Seven Cups We are a traditional Chinese teahouse named by Travel & Leisure "One Of Six Best Places to Drink Tea

The spring 2024 productions of Lu’an Gua Pian (Sunflower Seed) and Tai Ping Houkui (Monkey King) green teas are here and 20% off, today through Sunday. https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

We always make a big deal about how unique these teas are. And it’s true, they’re thoroughly weird. And not just in the obvious ways.

Just from looking at the massive sprigs of Houkui, or the dark one-leaf-only pluckings of Gua Pian, something is wildly different about these teas compared to other springtime classics. You’ll find rich, full, smooth and brothy experiences in this year’s Tai Ping Houkui and toasty sesame in the Gua Pian punctuated with citrus notes.

But the stories behind them are stranger, still. Somehow, these two teas from the rural reaches of Anhui Province have an inexplicable knack for landing at the middle of geopolitical events.

Americans probably tasted their first Tai Ping Houkui in 1915, when it was the star of the massive Chinese pavilion in San Francisco’s World Fair—remarkable at a time the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect.

Gua Pian surfaced amidst the revolutionary atmosphere of the early 20th century as a tribute tea for the first president of the Republic of China in 1911, Yuan Shikai. It was also the alleged favorite of Premier Zhou Enlai—the tea he drank with Henry Kissinger as they organized the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972.

Now, we’re not sure how these two rural teas became actors in 20th century diplomacy. But we’re glad they survived the 20th century, and now they aren’t just for the elites of history and the world's fair. What’s more, US-Chinese relations have gotten good enough that we get the chance to enjoy them. Maybe those cups of tea have had something to do with it?

Tai Ping Houkui Green Tea 2024 - Seven Cups Fine Teas Tai Ping Houkui's dramatic large leaves yield a brilliant, clear green tea with a soft flavor and a floral aroma with notes of toasted bamboo.

Free Cookies for Moms!

Join us at the teahouse for Mother’s Day today (Sunday, May 12th). We’re offering free cookies all day for any grandmothers, mothers, and mother-figures who’d like one. No need to have tea or buy anything. We’re just happy to celebrate you.

We hope to meet you there.

Welcome to the forested heights of Mogan Mountain, home to teas and terrain both shadowy and beautiful.

The greatest teamaker of this hilly outpost is Wang Xiangzhen, matriarch of the Zhao family. Just in time for Mother’s Day, we’re offering the 2024 harvest of Ms. Wang’s Mogan Huangya yellow tea, along with two early harvest micro-lots, Ming Qian Mogan Green and Early Spring Mogan Yellow.

All 3 are available at 20% off for their introductory weekend (Thursday thru Sunday). https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

Despite Ms. Wang’s accomplishments and the undeniable quality of her teas, Mogan Huangya remains a well-kept secret. Whether you’ve never tried it or you’re already initiated to this cult-favorite, this year’s teas from Moganshan offer some unique splendor.

Freezing rain storms struck the Zhejiang region this winter. Fortunately, the Zhao family’s seed-grown heirloom plants are well adapted to the cold and they were spared severe damage. There was less tea this year, but that bout of cool temperatures developed some abundant flavors.

Classic Mogan Huangya once again brings its dark honeycomb aromas, sweet and ethereal and wholly distinct from other yellow teas.

Early Harvest Mogan Yellow offers a pinnacle yellow tea experience with a brew that’s lighter yet also more dynamic and layered with enhanced florals and lush forest moss.

The flavors of Ming Qian Mogan Green are so dense and subtle that our tasters found them difficult to characterize. The combination of its floral aromas, the gentle cinder from its hand-processed wok firing, and its mineral sweetness even reminded some of rock wulong.

Regardless of whether we can put it into words or not, we’re excited to share what we think is an exceptional year’s tea for an exceptional producer. We hope you enjoy these teas as much as we have.

Mogan Huangya 2024 Yellow Tea - Seven Cups A rare tea with a lingering wildflower aroma, deep flavor and honeyed finish. Made by a female tea master using complex yellow tea processing techniques.

2024 Ming Qian Anji Baicha (Early Harvest Anji) and Yu Qian Anji Baicha (Spring Rain Harvest Anji) are now available and are 20% off for their first weekend (today through Sunday). https://sevencups.com/shop-category/specials/

Once again, we secured your Baicha from the family of Yu Shunhu. They produced some excellent lots of Anji Baicha this year, with aromas sweet enough to inspire comparisons to star jasmine, sugar cookies, and snap peas–an impressive showing for what's been a difficult spring in Anji County.

Even in a good year, Anji Baicha is not an easy tea to produce. Baicha’s unique pale “white jade” color depends on the right confluence of conditions, air temperature first among them. The tea bush behind Anji Baicha, the Baiye #1 cultivar is exceptionally sensitive in this regard. As the weather warms, the leaves quickly change to a common green, losing their distinct fragrance and mouthfeel in the process.

On the positive side, Anji’s tea gardens saw a long slow end to winter temperatures this year. Moderate cold stress can actually increase the sweetness of tea, so maybe that’s where we’re getting those aromas.

Unfortunately, once temperatures finally warmed up at the end of March, spring growth came too quickly. Excepting some intermittent rainy days, Anji farmers contended with persistently high temperatures from the last week of March onwards. This year’s harvest was by and large leafier-looking and less attractive. The warm days also meant a shorter harvest season, only about two and a half weeks total.

All things considered, we feel pretty lucky to have this year’s Anji Baicha and our hats are off to the Yu family for delivering the goods despite the difficulties. We hope you’ll join us in enjoying this year’s crop of one of the most distinctive teas of the spring.