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2022 Spring Yunnan Collection

Has finally arrived

Aged 2013 Bai Mu Dan

new old stock prime Zhenghe county lao bai cha

Fresh Taiwanese Teas

get the 2022 upgrade

Pre-qingming Sichuanese teas

March-harvested Meng Ding teas kept sealed and refrigerated for maximum freshness, like at a Sichuan wholesale market

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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 ↓

Still running this lil sale — 20% off all whole

Still running this lil sale — 20% off all whole cakes. Grab some tea, get outside, and get some tea steam blowing on your face.
20BINGS = checkout code
Biggest discount available for a while 🧧
Free shipping on 60USD+ as always 🎀
#riversandlakestea

Just in case you haven’t thoroughly hemorrhaged

Just in case you haven’t thoroughly hemorrhaged the contents of the beloved family tea piggy bank into the insatiable void of the blackcybersuperthanx consumptive spree that was the last few days, we’ve decided to offer all full cakes at a bargain of 20 per cent off —
🔺20BINGS is the checkout code🔺
That includes
all sheng,
all shou, as well as
pressed whites 👀
60 bucks+ yields waved ship fees per usual 🆓
US shipping — no international importation debacles, waits, or abused boxes 🆒
If you were curious about our tea and/or wanting to grab some ageable leaves to time travel with, now’s the moment 🆗
#riversandlakestea

#riversandlakestea #乌龙茶 #gongfutea #chadao #

#riversandlakestea #乌龙茶 #gongfutea #chadao #camelliasinensis #teatime #oolong #puerh #whitetea #gaiwan #tea #茶 #gongfucha

🔺 Solo sessions are kinda the best. As much a

🔺 Solo sessions are kinda the best.
As much as I truly cherish sharing tea with others, you just can’t beat the level of clarity and connection you can get when it’s just the water, the leaves, and yourself.
Agree?
Enjoy the sales out there today friends, there’s some amazing options. (Pretty much) sitting this one out, (besides the teas that just happened to be on sale on the site) 👀
#riversandlakestea

Currently pouring up this Bai Hao Oriental Beauty

Currently pouring up this Bai Hao Oriental Beauty in immeasurable thanks to all those that put labor + love into these wondrous leaves and the richly animated culture of their enjoyment.
The earth
The elements
The craftsperson and the traditions they were brought up into
Their friends, family, and laborers helping them
execute their vision
All the curators and liaisons that extend the vision and enable accessibility to the wider world
The tea house workers, the tea table hosts, entertainers, space holders, and gong fu acrobats fortifying traditions while incubating their evolution forward
The recipient keeping their imagination aflame with chaqi, the enticing scent of discovery, and bonds of fellowship and broader community
Cheers to all y’all
#riversandlakestea #gratitude

Sooo, we are not running a Black Friday sale right

Sooo, we are not running a Black Friday sale right now (besides the teas that just happen to be discounted rn)
•and• we’re not going to demonize anyone who is — we’ll keep the anti-capitalism virtue cape tucked away for a more pertinent moment 🫡🦸‍♂️
Enjoy the sales out there y’all, stay connected to yourself during these family moments — hopefully the Tea will be with you to assist in that regard 🍃
👀 Oh, and here’s the long lost photos from the Bakanan session a couple of months ago whose files were just recovered (long story). Now the most expensive tea we’ve ever carried has some decent documentation 📸
#riversandlakestea

🔺 The Honey Oolong gardens of the Yungs on Shan

🔺 The Honey Oolong gardens of the Yungs on Shan Lin Xi.
It is to these gardens, resting on 1000 meter high slopes, that the famed green leafhopper Fúchénzǐ comes to instigate the processes that create the special 蜜香 Mì Xiāng honey fragrance in these tea leaves.
Even though the Yungs produce true 高山 gao shan tea higher up the mountain at elevations over 1800 meters, the leafhopper jassid has a strict preference for temperatures ranging 20—28°C (68—83°F), therefore gardens whose elevations produce a more predictable climate such as these are devoted to Honey Oolong production.
Sometimes referred to as 貴妃 Guìfēi Oolong (“imperial concubine”), Honey Oolong is an adaptation of the original bug bitten honey fragrance tea of Taiwan, Dong Feng Mei Ren (“Oriental Beauty”) or Bai Hao Oolong.
Here are some of the key differences:
▫️Bai Hao Oriental Beauty is produced in more northern, lower elevation counties like Hsinchu or Taipei and are therefore harvested close to the summer solstice, in June. Because of their garden’s higher elevation, the Yungs Honey Oolong feature a July-August harvest.
▫️Typically Honey Oolong and Gui Feis are partially ball rolled and lightly roasted via electricity rendering a more nutty, toasted experience. Bai Hao Oriental Beauties are loose and unrolled and are generally left unroasted.
Similar processes include:
▫️Plucking (typically 青心 qīng xīn cultivar plants) after the tea leaves release the honey scented terpene to attract predators of the tea jassid.
▫️agitation (浪菜 làng cài)
▫️oxidation (发酵 fāxiào) to 60-70%
▫️fixing in an advanced multi-step process (炒茶 chǎo chá)
▫️rolling (揉捻 róuniǎn) to break cell walls and release fragrances.
🍃
Both teas both yield to us an intimate window into an ecological conversation and phenomenon framed by skilled production techniques that boost the honey fragrance quality. Works of art.
Both teas just dropped, hope you get to try them 🤙
#riversandlakestea #honeyoolong #guifeioolong #taiwaneseoolong #drinktea #camelliasinensis #jacobiascaformosana #蜜香 #baihao #orientalbeauty #shanlinxi #taiwan #pinglin #oolong #gongfutea #chadao #teatime #工夫茶 #wulongtea #茶 #taiwan #organictea

How does this tiny insect cause a special honey fr

How does this tiny insect cause a special honey fragrance in teas like Bai Hao Oriental Beauty & Honey Oolong?
Jacobiasca formosana, the Taiwanese green leafhopper, and the insect responsible for all this drama, voraciously feed on the tea gardens of Taiwan during the late spring to summer season when temps are between 20—28°C (68—83°F) 🌡
Referred to as 浮塵子 Fúchénzǐ (“floating dust”), if left unchecked this insect can destroy the production of crops anywhere between 15-50% (slide 3) 🍃
Realizing they’re under siege by Fúchénzǐ, the tea plants send out an ecological distress signal in the form of pheromonal terpenes to attract natural predators to this leafhopper, such as spiders. When harvested and processed, this terpene was discovered by accident in the 1930s to engender a special 蜜香 Mì Xiāng or Honey Fragrance, palpable in the brew 🍯
The farmers must keep their tea fields clean of pesticides for the jassid to arrive, and wait for the right time to harvest the leaves once the terpene is released, and before too much damage is done
As the species name — formosana — suggests, this leafhopper is linked to its visitation to the island of Formosa (the Portuguese explorers’ namesake for Taiwan, their word for beautiful). Both nearby China (Empoasca vitis) and Japan (Empoasca onukii) have a leafhopper that sets off a similar process in their tea plants.
Besides just simply enjoying the intoxicating fragrance these teas take on as they transform under this process, we love these teas because we support the ecologically clean practices the farmers must abide by in order to successfully craft Bai Hao or Honey Oolong. It’s also a viable way to yield a profitable crop during the late spring and summer months, a time of year not associated with prized tea.
We just dropped the Bai family’s Bai Hao (of Pinglin) as well as the Yung’s Honey Oolong (of Shan Lin Xi), and couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.
Intake this magical ecological conversation by enjoying these two new additions to our collection.
On the site now👌
#riversandlakestea #honeyoolong #dongfengmeiren #orientalbeauty #baihao #浮塵子 #mixiang #oolong #formosaoolong #taiwan #camelliasinensis

🔺 Just released: two bug-bitten oolongs brand

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