Shop Teas Featured New Arrivals

Guzhang, in central Hunan Province, has a long reputation for producing high-quality tea, and early spring is when that reputation is most evident. At this point in the season, the young buds are rich in theanine, the amino acid responsible for tea's characteristic savory depth, while the harsher catechins that build astringency later in the year have barely begun to develop. The result is a black tea that is genuinely low in bitterness, not as a trade-off, but as a product of timing and place. Frequent highland fogs slow the growth of the leaves, concentrating their more delicate compounds. A delight to drink and a joy to look at.

High-altitude growing slows the tea plant's development, concentrating flavor into each small bud in ways that lower-elevation gardens rarely achieve. Hunan province, long celebrated for its green teas, produces this single-bud pluck from mountain gardens where cooler temperatures and morning mist shape the leaf's character. The result is a clean, delicate cup with a natural sweetness and the kind of quiet complexity that rewards a slow afternoon. For those who already enjoy our Lung Ching, this offers a different angle on fine Chinese green tea: less nutty and vegetal, more focused on the pure, gentle sweetness of a carefully harvested bud.

Yanling sits in southern Hunan, China, in the mountains long associated with Shen Nong, the mythological figure credited with discovering tea thousands of years ago. On our 2026 sourcing trip, we came across this tea and were struck by how much character it carries despite its gentle flavor. The bushes here are related to those used for Anji Bai Cha, a cultivar prized for unusually high amino acid content, which accounts for the softness and natural sweetness you'll find in the cup. For those who love our Hunan Baojing, Yanling covers similar ground from a different corner of the province, with its own unhurried character.

On our last day of our 2026 buying trip, we took a boat on a lake in Southern Hunan to MaiDuishi Island. It is an indigenous Yao people island, and we found this unique tea. The silver tips give a sweetness that balances the vegetal flavors that remind us of zucchini.

From Yuyiao in Zhejiang Province, China, this rare green tea owes its character to a genetic quirk: the plant is an albino cultivar that cannot produce chlorophyll, so it never turns green during the growing season. That inability to green up has a meaningful consequence for what ends up in the cup. Without the right conditions for catechin development, the plant instead builds up amino acids much more than regular green teas, and these amino acids are what give Golden Bud its full body and lack of briskness. The result is a tea that sits apart from most Chinese greens, mellow where others are brisk, with a natural richness that comes from the leaf's chemistry rather than from any added ingredient. It is a genuinely unusual cup, one that rewards anyone curious about what green tea can be beyond the familiar vegetal and grassy range.

Scotland is known for two things worth savoring slowly: its landscapes and its whiskey. This blend brings those two pleasures into one cup, pairing a sturdy pekoe black tea with the character of Speyside whiskey, the style associated with some of Scotland's most approachable, honeyed, and oak-influenced spirits.

Pekoe is a grade of black tea that refers to a medium-sized leaf, one that brews up with good body and a clean, straightforward strength. Here, that foundation works beautifully against the whiskey influence, giving the blend structure without getting in the way of the more nuanced flavors. Think of it the way a well-made cocktail balances a strong base with something more complex layered on top.

From an island tea garden in Southern Hunan, this special black tea is made. It is reminiscent of Fanciest Formosa Oolong. Like Fanciest Formosa Oolong, the tea farmers allow the plants to become infested. The plants react by creating a delicious stone fruit flavor. The Yao people have inhabited that island for time immemorial.

Olive leaves have been steeped as a tisane across the Mediterranean for generations, and these come straight from the hills of Tuscany, Italy. The dry leaves carry the fresh, grassy scent of the olive trees they come from, and the cup follows through: a mild olive flavor with a soft, faintly creamy finish.

Caffeine-free, it's a natural choice for an evening wind-down or an afternoon pause. This tisane will feel right at home if you are drawn to the savory, herbaceous side of Mediterranean cooking.

These small, compressed Ceylon tea cakes are a wonderfully convenient format for brewing a full-flavored black tea. Each cake is perfectly portioned for a medium-sized teapot, yielding a smooth cup with roasted honey notes and a clean finish. The golden-brown liquor is mellow enough to enjoy on its own and takes milk beautifully, making it an ideal everyday black tea in the classic Sri Lankan tradition.

Yanling County in Hunan Province, China, is the region associated with the legendary Emperor Shennong, said to be the first person to discover tea thousands of years ago. This ancient connection is not just a story found on a sign. It is woven into the landscape where this tea is grown. The cultivar behind Yanling Black is the same white bush used to produce Anji-style teas, prized across China for its naturally elevated amino acid content, which lends the tea an inherent sweetness and a gentleness that conventional black teas rarely achieve.

The small, twisted leaves with their scattered golden tips brew mellow and quietly complex tea. Those who appreciate our Keemun Mao Feng will find Yanling Black familiar in spirit but rooted in an origin story that goes further back than any other tea in our catalog.

Hunan Province has long been one of our favorite corners of China's tea world, and Hunan Baojing is a beautiful addition to that family. This tea comes from Baojing County in western Hunan, where the Huangjin tea plant thrives at around 2,500 feet. The HuangJin cultivar is famous among tea connoisseurs for its unusually high levels of amino acids, the same natural compounds that give the finest early spring teas their characteristic sweetness and body.

Harvested in the cool early months of the year, when the tea plant is channeling its stored energy into its first tender leaves, Hunan Baojing brews a light, refreshing cup with delicate notes of cucumber and melon. The body is light, the liquor is a clear pale green, and the finish is clean and naturally sweet. For those who enjoy our Green Gulou or BaoMu Green, this particular tea explores similar territory with its own distinct personality. A tea as good as gold.

Rose hips, the ruby-red seed pods of the wild rose, are harvested and dried to create one of nature's most nourishing herbal teas. Naturally caffeine-free and packed with vitamin C, this bright, tangy brew offers a tart cranberry-like flavor with a hint of sweetness. A delicious way to support wellness, any time of day, hot or iced.

Every tea traces its lineage back to a single origin story, and Hunan Yanling comes from the place where that story is said to have begun. Yanling County in Hunan Province, China, is the area associated with the legendary Emperor Shennong, who, thousands of years ago, is said to have discovered tea when leaves from a wild tree drifted into his pot of boiling water. Whether myth or history, this region is the ground that gave the world tea.

The tea itself is worthy of its ancient pedigree. The twisted black and gold leaves brew a beautiful copper liquor with a warm, biscuity aroma that fills the room. The flavor follows through with toasted grain and a subtle cocoa depth, not unlike a Keemun in character, but softer and less brisk, with a medium body that makes it wonderfully easy to drink. For lovers of Chinese black teas who appreciate the mellow, naturally sweet quality that sets them apart from their Indian counterparts, Hunan Yanling is a real find. A cup steeped in the very origins of tea.

Paul Harney had a simple idea: take two of Japan's most celebrated green teas and let them do what they each do best. The Sencha comes from Shizuoka, Japan's most prolific tea-growing region, and brings a bright, grassy clarity to the cup. The Matcha comes from Uji, the historic heartland of Japanese ceremonial green tea, and contributes a deep, savory umami that rounds out the blend. Together, they create something more than either could manage alone: the clean, vegetal brightness of Sencha lifted by the rich, full-bodied depth of Matcha. For those who find straight Matcha too intense or plain Sencha too light, this blend finds the balance in between.

Paul Harney had a simple but inspired idea: what if the sweet, floral character of Dragon Pearl Jasmine met the deep umami of ceremonial Matcha? Dragon Matcha brings together hand-rolled jasmine pearls from Fujian Province and shade-grown Matcha from Uji, two of the most celebrated green teas in the world, blended into something neither could be alone. The jasmine softens the Matcha's grassy intensity, while the Matcha gives the jasmine a savory, full-bodied depth. The result is a cup that's both fragrant and grounding, floral on the surface with a rich, lingering finish. If you already love our Dragon Pearl Jasmine or our Uji Matcha, this is a natural next step.

High in the mountains of Western Hunan, the county of Guzhang sits wrapped in near-constant mist. That altitude and humidity slow the leaves' growth, giving the tea's natural compounds time to build in concentration. Farmers here work with three cultivars, Jin Mudan, Jin Meigui, and Huangjincha, each selected because together they produce something the others alone cannot: a peach character that comes entirely from the leaf itself, with no added flavoring. The carotenoids and terpenes that form in these plants due to the misty, high-altitude environment are the same compounds that give stone fruits their fruity flavors, and the Huangjincha cultivar adds a subtle sweetness that brings everything together.

For those who enjoy our other Chinese blacks but want something softer and more fruit-forward, this tea is a welcome detour.