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old world teas

recent arrivals

2023 Spring Sichuan Greens have arrived

Pre qingming mountain chi ready for blast off

2022 Spring Yunnan Collection

Has finally arrived

2015 King grade White Peony

treasure status Mu Dan Wang White Tea
from Zhenghe County

Wuyi Rock Oolong Collection

charcoal roasted fire leaf for your bones

recent words

Dimensions of White Tea, an Introduction

You might have heard of White Tea: "one year tea, three years medicine, seven years treasure.” But what allows white tea to transform so remarkably — into medicine, and then treasure as they say — after just a few years?

Autumn Puerh, here for the New Year

Our most ambitious release to date, and a truly collaborative production on multiple fronts... though this stunt wasn't pulled off without some casualties. What lessons are to be learned?

Tea as Ritual

Tea scholar, educator, and Rivers & Lakes community guest writer Miles Cramer pens an essay providing a tasteful glance at tea's journey through time as a ritual communion.

riversandlakestea

🏞 quality 茶, origin-sourced
🌏 yunnan | sichuan | fujian | taiwan
🍵 simple + transparent
🍃 the latest leaves ↓

Announcement post 💥 Rivers & Lakes will be goi

Spring has finally arrived 🌷 This year, may go

Spring has finally arrived 🌷
This year, may good tea be with you as fuel for all of your endeavors — especially those in the 🌞
#riversandlakestea #springequinox #gongfucha #tea #camelliasinensis #danzhucha #getoutstayout #waterfallwednesday #theoutbound #teatime #puerh #oolong #gongfutea

#1 is the most important #riversandlakestea #gon

#1 is the most important
#riversandlakestea
#gongfutea
#teapouring
#tea
#camelliasinensis
#gongfucha
#puerh
#oolong
#chadao
#teaceremony
#teasommelier
#gongdaobei
#gaiwan

We must interrupt this week’s promotion of recen

We must interrupt this week’s promotion of recently arrived 2023 Gan Lu and Huang Ya to shout about our favorite event of the year:
the first flushes of ancient tea garden in Yunnan have begun 🌄
This year’s tea is already looking good. Because of early warmth + lack of precipitation, 头春 tou chun first flush season (generally late March - mid April) will likely be extended on either end and not occur all at once in some areas.
While in some places the initial harvests have begun a full week earlier than usual this year, we’ll need to wait for more micro ecologies to fully flush before any real mao cha weight can be produced for an actual spring R&L production.
While consistently dry spring seasons year after year aren’t the best thing for the health of the tea trees, the tea that’s produced is extra full impact; not watered down.
Dá É of Nannuo Mountain is seen here already hard at work, and as usual we can barely wait to try her family’s most up-to-date expression of their ancient craft.
Looking forward to a few surprises and Rivers & Lakes firsts coming from Yunnan this year.
#riversandlakestea #yunnan #nannuo #puerh #puer #tea #gongfucha #gushu #teatree #ancientteatree #xishuangbanna #camelliasinensis

Even in 2023, the ancient craft of Meng Ding mount

Even in 2023, the ancient craft of Meng Ding mountain yellow tea — 蒙顶黄芽 Meng Ding Huang Ya — remains the same, nearly identical to the processing of green tea.
The steps are as follows:
采摘 cǎizhāi PICKING
萎凋 wēidiāo WITHERING
杀青 shāqīng PANFRYING
闷黄 Mènhuáng COVERING / FERMENTATION
揉捻 róuniǎn ROLLING
干燥 gānzào DRYING
The only step novel to yellow tea (that defines it) is the mèn huáng phase seen in the photos above.
Still hot off the wok, the recently pan-fried buds are wrapped and put into a temperature and humidity controlled box that engenders a kind of flash oxidative effect, rendering the leaves yellow and imparting an indescribably nutty, almost chocolatey flavor.
Proper yellowing requires consistent monitoring by a skilled craftsperson and therefore isn’t able to be produced mechanically or en masse.
Because of Meng Ding mountain’s unique geography, these super early buds flushed and were harvested on February 19th.
The best way to partake in this ancient craft is through the freshness of a harvest less than a month out: enter the code spring2023 to get this tea and this year’s Gan Lu at a brief 10% off 👌
#riversandlakestea #yellowtea #teaprocessing #fermentation #oxidation #foodscience #gastronomy #tea #camelliasinesis #huangya #mengdingmountain #sichuan #gongfutea #chadao

Detail on 2023 Gan Lu. So many of China’s best

Detail on 2023 Gan Lu. So many of China’s best and most hip have these early early buds swirling around their grandpa style glass this week
And when it comes to greens, freshness is 👑 get ‘em while they’re at their prime
#riversandlakestea #mengdingganlu #greentea #sichuan #mingqian #ganlu #gongfucha #grandpastyle #tea #camelliasinensis #preqingming

First spring teas out of Sichuan are now live 💥

First spring teas out of Sichuan are now live 💥
Embrace early spring with us 🍃
They’re already stateside so there’s no long international wait 📦
#riversandlakestea

🔺 Fresh 2023 tea is available now 🍃 Green t

🔺 Fresh 2023 tea is available now 🍃
Green tea Gan Lu and Yellow tea Huang Ya just arrived from Sichuan. The unique geography of Sichuan allows for super early late February - early March flushes.
Head on over to the site and be the first to taste (and feel) the earliest 2023 mountain goodness with us 🏞️
#riversandlakestea #ganlu #huangya #tea #camelliasinensis #greentea #2023tea #2023greentea #yellowtea #mengdingganlu #mengdingmountain #sichuantea #mingqian #preqingming #mengdingshan

Some discussion with our friend Shùnyù Huáng ab

Some discussion with our friend Shùnyù Huáng about using less leaves. Have you experimented with using less leaves to not only judge the performance/quality of your tea, but to also not over-stimulate and desensitize your palate? Quality tea will perform well under a variety of brewing conditions and we want to be able to taste for that.
#riversandlakestea #gongfucha #lessismore #teatasting #teasommelier #camelliasinensis #tea #greentea #yellowtea #chinesetea #chadao #gaiwan

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