Knowledge Base
Coffee & Tea Guides
Brew better and explore more — buying guides, how-tos, and explainers for every coffee and tea ritual.
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Zealong: New Zealand's Homegrown Tea
Zealong is New Zealand's only significant commercial tea estate — a Taiwanese-rooted, certified-organic single origin near Gordonton in the Waikato, whose flagship oolong grew from the 130-odd cuttings that survived a brutal quarantine.
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Muzha Tieguanyin: Taipei Roasted Oolong
Muzha (Mucha) Tieguanyin is the Taiwanese, charcoal-roasted style of Iron Goddess oolong grown in Taipei. Here is its history, cultivar, flavor, and how to brew it.
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Da Yu Ling: Taiwan's Highest Oolong
Da Yu Ling is the tea at the very top of Taiwan's high-mountain hierarchy — grown above 2,200 metres on a windswept ridge where the highway crosses the island's spine. Here's what makes this Qing Xin oolong the pinnacle of the gaoshan family, why genuine leaf has grown scarce, and how to brew it for its cooling high-mountain finish.
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Balhyocha: Korean Oxidized Tea
Balhyocha is Korea's hand-made oxidized tea, often called hwangcha: a sweet, fruity, low-astringency leaf from Hadong and the Jirisan foothills. Here is what it is, why the name confuses people, and how to brew it.
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Hadong Tea: Korea's Oldest Tea Region
Hadong, on the slopes of Jirisan, is widely called the birthplace of Korean tea — a region of wild, seed-grown bushes, pluck-dated green teas, and deep temple heritage.
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Goishicha: Japan's Fermented Tea
Goishicha is a rare, genuinely fermented dark tea from Otoyo in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku island. Made through a demanding two-stage mold-then-lactic fermentation and cut into small black squares like go stones, it tastes gently sour and near-endangered artisanal craft keeps it scarce.
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Funmatsucha: Japanese Powdered Green Tea
Funmatsucha is Japan's convenient "powdered tea" — an instant green tea that goes straight into water. Here is how it is made and why it is not matcha.
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Guzhang Maojian: Hunan Green Tea
A downy “fur-tip” green tea from Guzhang County in the Wuling Mountains of western Hunan — chestnut-sweet, mellow, and often confused with two unrelated Maojian teas. Here’s how it grows, tastes, and brews.
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Meng Ding Huang Ya: Sichuan Yellow Tea
A rare Sichuan yellow tea from the misty peaks of Mount Meng, Meng Ding Huang Ya is finished with the slow men huang yellowing that trades green tea's grassy edge for a mellow, chestnut-sweet cup — and it once traveled to the imperial court as tribute.
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Gong Mei White Tea: Tribute Eyebrow
Gong Mei is the Fujian white-tea grade between White Peony and Shou Mei, traditionally made from small-leaf Cai Cha bushes. Here is what it is, how it tastes, and why the Gong Mei and Shou Mei line is so blurred.
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Shou Mei White Tea: Bold, Aging Fujian White
Shou Mei is the leafiest and boldest grade of Fujian white tea — a honeyed, hay-sweet everyday leaf that ages beautifully into mellow Lao Bai Cha.
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Fu Brick Tea: Golden-Flower Dark Tea
Fu brick tea is a compressed Chinese dark tea grown with golden flowers, a beneficial fungus called jin hua. Here is where it comes from, how it is made and aged, what it tastes like, and how to brew it.
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Liu Bao Tea: Guangxi's Aged Dark Tea
Liu Bao is Guangxi's classic post-fermented dark tea (hei cha): a mellow, earthy, basket-aged leaf famous for its betel-nut aroma. Here's how it's made, how it tastes, and how it differs from Pu-erh.
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Ninghong Black Tea: One of China's Oldest Reds
Ninghong is an orchid-sweet gongfu black tea from Xiushui in Jiangxi, often called one of China's oldest reds and a Qing-dynasty tribute tea. Here's its history, flavor, grades, and how to brew it.
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Bailin Gongfu: Fuding Black Tea
Bailin Gongfu is one of the three great gongfu black teas of Fujian, made from Fuding's bud-heavy Da Bai cultivar for abundant golden tips and a soft, sweet, floral-fruity cup.
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Tanyang Gongfu: Fujian Black Tea
Tanyang Gongfu is Fu'an's celebrated Fujian black tea — sweet, malty, and honeyed, and one of the three great Minhong congou blacks. Here's its history, cultivars, flavor, and how to brew it.
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Yingde Black Tea: Guangdong Ying Hong
Yingde black tea, or "Ying Hong," is a boldly modern red tea from Guangdong. Meet the malty, cocoa-sweet cup and the celebrated Ying Hong No. 9 cultivar behind it.
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Huang Jin Gui: Golden Osmanthus Oolong Tea
Huang Jin Gui, or Golden Osmanthus, is a light, floral Anxi oolong from Fujian made from the early-budding Huang Dan cultivar. Here is its taste, history and how to brew it.
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Shui Xian Oolong: Wuyi Water Sprite Tea
Shui Xian is the mellow, charcoal-roasted counterpart to Wuyi's spicier rock oolongs — all orchid, moss and seasoned wood. Here's what the cultivar is, why old-bush Lao Cong lots are prized, and how to brew it gongfu-style for a long rock-rhyme finish.
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Rou Gui Oolong: Wuyi Cassia Rock Tea
Rou Gui is a roasted Wuyi rock oolong named for its bold cassia-cinnamon aroma and deep mineral rock rhyme. Here's how this celebrated yancha cultivar is grown, roasted, and brewed.
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Shan Lin Xi Oolong: Taiwan's Bamboo-Forest High Mountain Tea
Shan Lin Xi oolong is one of Taiwan's three great high-mountain teas — grown in the misty, bamboo-and-fir slopes of Nantou. Here's its terroir, cultivar, flavor, how it differs from Alishan and Lishan, and how to brew it.
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Lishan Oolong: Taiwan's High-Mountain Pear Mountain Tea
Grown on the misty, orchard-clad heights of Pear Mountain, lishan oolong is Taiwan's loftiest high-mountain tea, famously floral, creamy and smooth. Here's its terroir, cultivars, sub-regions, flavor and how to brew it.
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Four Seasons Oolong (Si Ji Chun): Taiwan's Everyday Oolong
Bright, floral and grown across Taiwan's warm lowlands, four seasons oolong is the island's most approachable everyday tea. Here is the terroir, cultivar and flavor behind Si Ji Chun.
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Wakoucha: Japan's Own Black Tea, Explained
Wakoucha is Japan's mellow, low-tannin take on black tea — grown in the same misty hills as its famous green teas, but fully oxidized. Here's its terroir, history, cultivars, flavor and how to brew it.