Our Finest Dragonwell is the earliest harvest in our entire collection and the purest expression of green tea that we offer. This exquisite tea was cultivated at a pristine, remote tea garden in Zhejiang Province's Pan'an County; each leaf was hand-gathered in small quantities beginning on March 12th from the first leaf buds of the year. Harvested prior to China's historical She Ri festival around March 20th, Our Finest Dragonwell is technically considered a sheqian or xueqian ("pre-snow") tea. Xueqian harvests like this are the rarest of all green teas, superior even to highly-revered (and more widely known) mingqian crops. Ultimately, it takes nearly five pounds of fresh tea buds to produce a single pound of finished tea; each pound contains nearly 30,000 individually hand picked leaf buds. This extreme effort pays off in taste: Our Finest Dragonwell is viscous and supremely buttery, with a gorgeously crisp, sweet, and refined finish.

Order More >>

When it comes to impressive pedigree, Heritage Beidou hits all the marks. For starters, this stellar Wuyi Oolong is cultivated near Ma Tou Yan (Horse Head Cliff) in the heart of the Wuyi Mountains' most coveted zhengyan (or "true cliff") district. What's more, this tea is crafted from the Beidou (or "North Star") cultivar, itself descended from cuttings of the four mother plants that produced the historical da hong pao ("grand scarlet robe") imperial tribute tea, originally bringing fame to the region. Finally, unlike most modern, electrically roasted Wuyi Oolongs, our Heritage Beidou is masterfully roasted in the traditional style over dense, longan fruitwood charcoal for a far more balanced and complex taste. The result is a rich, deep, and infinitely nuanced infusion, with notes of toffee, dried fruit, and whiskey casks.

Order More >>

One of two teas in this set from our Private Collection — available publicly for the first time ever — Aged Tieguanyin 1997 is a sublime crop of Anxi Oolong from the south of China's Fujian Province. Crafted in the traditional style, with mid-range oxidation and a gentle charcoal roast, this tea has been carefully aging here in San Francisco for nearly three decades. The combination of the Tieguanyin cultivar and masterful crafting, with the transformative power of time, has resulted in an impossibly aromatic flavor profile, with notes of ripe peach, walnut skin, gardenia, umeboshi, and marzipan, anchored by a wonderfully smooth texture and crisp, mineral finish.

As one of the very first teas we ever imported, aged in San Francisco since our inception in 1985, Aged Orchid offers the ultimate taste of our company's legacy. This unique time capsule of a tea was crafted in Anhui Province from a base of fermented Liu An tea leaves, then blended with minuscule zhulan or "pearl orchid" flowers, for a flavor profile that effortlessly traverses the boundary between light and dark. While our brewing recommendations note a 1g leaf per 1oz water ratio for richer structure, using less tea leaf offers more sweetness and aroma, and we encourage experimenting to find your preferred technique.