Good things get around

We found three teas worth the trip. The trip isn't over.

Nothing is for sale yet. The tea is still in Yunnan, and my partner in the business is buying it in person, one garden at a time.

What we can do is let you in early. You get it as it happens: the gardens, the blind table, the three lots we kept and the nine we sent back. When the first tea lands in Singapore, you hear before anyone.

We don't send much. Only what's worth passing on.

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You are on the inside. The first note is on its way. 雲謠茶莊 · Singapore
鳴
茶
A single cup of warm amber liquor on a dark surface
Moonlight White · one lot

What came home

One province, turned three ways.

Yunnan, one old large-leaf cultivar, three different sets of hands. Bought from the garden, filled and sealed where the tea was made.

01

Dianhong

滇紅

Malty and naturally sweet, with the cocoa note that shows up in good Dianhong and almost nowhere else.

The Chinese call this red tea. The English decided it was black, and it stuck.

02

Moonlight White

月光白

Withered in the shade, never fired. Apricot, cedar, and in no hurry at all.

White tea is barely processed. Most of the work is deciding not to do any.

03

Shou Pu'er

熟普洱

Earth and dark sugar. The one people finish and then ask about.

The story says it fermented by accident on the road to Tibet. It was worked out in Kunming in 1973, on purpose.

We do not stock everything we taste.
You should be relieved.

One lot each. When a lot is gone, it is gone, and the next one will taste like the next one.

How they were chosen

Twelve samples. Three survived.

Tea is usually sold story first: the ancient trees, the secret garden, the harvest that will never happen again. We enjoy those. We just wanted to know what was in the cup before we heard about any of it, so the twelve were brewed and scored blind, in one sitting, with the labels face down. The buying is done in person, in the gardens, by my partner in the business.

Grade is what the seller calls it, and ours is Grade 1. It is not the reason we bought these three. Sometimes the higher grade wins the table and sometimes it does not, which is the entire point of not looking.

Nine did not make it. One of them was a yellow tea. It is remarkable, and almost nobody has heard of it. The second part won.

Misted ridges of tea country in Yunnan
Yunnan, spring

Made to be handed over

The best tea you drink this year might arrive from someone else.

A rumour needs two people. So does a good gift. We are building Rumours to be given as much as kept, personal or corporate, your message and our tea. It opens alongside the first drop.

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Tell us which, and you hear the moment gifting opens.