Alishan High Mountain Oolong

Floral, buttery and light bodied, Alishan was the first oolong I encountered on my tea path. It opened up my mind to what is possible with tea, capturing my attention from my mouth and nose and into my mind. It was my ‘a-ha moment’ for tea drinking. The aroma was captivating and very friendly to me when I was new to tea drinking, and Alishan has stayed with me as a reliable companion through my career as a tea person.

Alishan tea field. Photography by Matthew

Alishan oolong is grown between 1000 and 1600 meters. Our Alishan tea is grown in the Zhangshu Hu area, which is about 1200 meters high. There are two major cultivars grown in Alishan, Jin Xuan and Qing Xin Oolong. For high mountain oolong, we exclusively buy tea made with the Qing Xin cultivar. Qing Xin can grow at higher altitudes and develops more slowly, producing a more complex broth. Do you know what cultivar you are drinking?

Tea picking at Alishan. Photography by Matthew

Alishan is now the most famous high mountain tea region abroad. The first high mountain growing region in Taiwan was Meishan. Now, lots of Meishan tea is sold as Alishan, relying on Alishan’s star status. Tea from each region can be delicious; we think it is largely up to the farmer to see how good the tea can be.

We will be broadcasting a live tea session on Instagram with Alishan on Tuesday the 26th at 11:30am Seattle time. If you have this tea, we encourage you to get it out and drink with us! The best way to learn tea is to drink with other tea people, and we want to try to bring this experience to our online tea friends and clients. Shiuwen will be brewing Alishan and talking about her experience with this awesome oolong. If you want to get tips on brewing or just soak up some tea knowledge please tune in! Our instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/floatingleavestea/

You can find the tea here.

by Noah

Photography by Douglas King

Note on Myself: I’m Noah, and I have been an apprentice at Floating Leaves Tea since 2015. Since then, my love for tea has grown deeper and deeper, and I want to share my journey with you all. Thanks for reading!

Tea Documentary Filming: Love

These past few days of filming has been very full and rich for me. From a tea brewing master I met for the first time to some tea vendors I work with for 11 years, everyone showed me how they love tea. Even though they all have a busy schedule, they have given me so much of their time.

I feel they are loving me through their love of tea, through their open heart and through their kindness. And I love them back with my gratitude. Every day I live in this beautiful space called Affinity.

With all this love and gratitude, we are going to Dong Ding Mountain to capture the beauty of the mountain and the work of the farmers. Stay tuned.
*photography by Jake Knapp.

Tea Documentary Filming: Heart

The first two day of tea documentary filming has been incredible. My body is jet-lagged, loaded with pots of tea, and my heart is filled with gratitude.

I cannot describe fully how beautiful the tea and the tea people are. People showered us with their generosity and their love of tea. Just like what a tea master told us, "the depth, the experience, and the beauty of this tea session will be hard to find words for it." 
He used his heart to brew tea, and his tea touched my heart. I was in awed with the experience. 

Here are a few photos for you to see how beautiful they are. I am looking forward to sharing the experience with you soon!

A Good Traditional Dong Ding, Brew It 30 Times?

Our Dong Ding farmer told me that I could brew his Dong Ding 30 times. To be honest, I never have patience to brew any tea past 15 times. My friend, Oolong Owl, attempted it with our Charcoal Roast Dong Ding. She did 24 infusions with this Charcoal Roast Dong Ding! You can check out her writing here on her blog Oolong Owl. She has great descriptions of her process and the notes of this tea. Enjoy!

*photography by Lee Damon.

Dong Ding Documentary Project Sponsored By Embrace The Moon

Embrace The Moon, School for Taijiquan and Qigong is the first sponsor for our Dong Ding Tea Documentary! 

The founder and owner of Embrace The Moon Kim Ivy and I have known each other for 11 years now. I am honored to call her my friend and teacher. Two years ago I went back to take Taichi again, and our friendship grew. 

She teaches hard and really cares about what she does. I have learned so much about taichi and I love it! I see a lot of similarities between tea and taichi. There is so much detail and endless levels to explore. 

Then she started to come in to Floating Leaves Tea on Wednesday afternoon for tea. We tell jokes, gossip; sometimes talk about philosophy, politics and dreams. I show her what a good tea can do beyond just tasting good. We expirement with different styles of tea energy and see how they impact our Taichi practices. That has been extremely fun!

Since the first time I mentioned this Dong Ding Tea Documentary project to Kim, she has been supporting the project with money, encouragement and ideas. It's because of people like her and many of you who have believed in me that helps to push this project forward. Thank you!

We will continue to raise funds for editing and post production. To support this project, please visit our tea documentary fundraiser page here. 

*photography by Jake Knapp of Cloud 9 Photography & Design.