Floating Leaves Tea

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Body Sensation Pt 1

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!

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Throat Sensation Pt 2

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".

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Throat Sensation Pt 1

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! 

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Aftertaste Pt 2

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!

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Aftertaste Pt 1

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!

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Nose and Mouth Pt 3

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!

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Nose and Mouth Pt 2

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.

Fundamental Structures of Tea : Nose and Mouth Pt 1

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!

Rise of Lo-Shan Hongshui

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!

Return of the Lalashan

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.