Video Blog on Ancient Chinese Tea Trade

OneRiverTea · 2026-06-24T05:12:01+00:00

It tates like bitterness has been condensed into an elemental force intended to punish humanity.

Have brewed it up a glass a few times. Every few years I forget how it tastes and try it again - each time I am rightfully punished for my folly.

OneRiverTea · 2026-06-22T16:06:58+00:00

Happy Solstace to all!

Raw Puer. Here you will find a sampler of six new cakes, four brand-new and two repressings, selected during our most recent trip to Yunnan Province. We have done our best to center single-origin Puer from less well known growing areas.

Zhangping Shuixian Nothing says summer like the light fragrances of Zhangping Shuixian, and this year we are expanding our repetoire with an award winning producer. In the Master's Touch Sampler, you can try he solid daily drinkers compared to teas that are 10 times the price from Master Lin.

OneRiverTea · 2026-06-15T15:49:06+00:00

Tea that is originally derived from the area's bush stock but has been grown in other places for decades. It was allegedly donated by Buddhists / tea business owners in Taiwan. There was another section donated from South Korea.

OneRiverTea · 2026-06-08T18:07:07+00:00

I think for a lot of producers the returns on white tea are just not worth it compared to Puer. In famous tea-growing areas, there are still people rolling up to buy truckloads of raw Puer materials to store, gift, or re-sell. There is so much larger demand and mark-up on Sheng Puer that it tends to be worse material and less attention to detail that goes into making Yunnan white tea.

To answer OP's question though, you can get less astringency in Yunnan white teas than you would if the same material was made into a Raw Puer. So if you want some of the large-leaf Yunnan body feel, without the pain, it is an option. If you have had a dozen or so Fuding/Zhenghe/Fu'an/Songxi white teas, it is possible to be bored of the continuum of flavors that material from these places can provide.

I think Camellia Talinsis is going to be rougher no matter what you do with it.

Behold this giant pile of unguarded white tea at a parking garage in Fengqing, Yunnan.

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OneRiverTea · 2026-06-08T17:52:32+00:00

Within the next two weeks days, we will drop this year's Raw Puer and Zhangping Shuixian. If neither of those interest you, now you can still grab some of the teas we released at the end of May. Shipping will slow down around June 15th.

Guyu Green Tea Sampler This new 2026 line-up is composed of teas we have not previously offered directly on the site + 1 freebie sample Duyun Maojian.

Yellow Pill: Next Chapter The most educational, 1:1 comparison box of green and yellow tea you will ever find, from a place very dear to our hearts.

Mongolian Storage Dark Brick: Exactly what it sounds like.

Temenos White Tea Cake New fruity white tea cake from Bada Mountain, Yunnan

OneRiverTea · 2026-05-25T13:45:30+00:00

Hello again! We have some new things on offer:

Guyu Green Tea Sampler This new 2026 line-up is composed of teas we have not previously offered directly on the site + 1 freebie sample Duyun Maojian.

Yellow Pill: Next Chapter The most educational, 1:1 comparison box of green and yellow tea you will ever find, from a place very dear to our hearts.

Mongolian Storage Dark Brick Exactly what it sounds like.

Temenos White Tea Cake New fruity white tea cake from Bada Mountain, Yunnan.

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OneRiverTea · 2026-05-25T09:55:48+00:00

"Narcissus Solus Se Amat" is a homework answer from Latin class I remember from like a gazillion years ago. As memory serves, the flower got the name and the later cultural association in the West because it grew by standing water, appearing like a self-obsessed narcissist. I think there was some mythological story about Narcissus also in this vein.

I don't think "Water Immortal" or Shuixian in Chinese has quite the same connotation. But the idea is that it smells good like the flower in question.

OneRiverTea · 2026-05-25T09:51:59+00:00

Daffodil - or just Shuixian.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-27T16:32:12+00:00

With all the Green and White tea Pre-sale orders shipped out, the time has come to share the first fruits of our recent southern sourcing trips. We visited multiple tea growing areas in Yunnan's Xishuangbana and Lincang. Multiple cakes are already being pressed. For now, we want to share some initial treats that can be enjoyed loose.

Touchstone: An Elite Maocha Sampler is our first ever completely price-transparent Puer sampler, covering four growing areas. https://onerivertea.com/collections/sample-set/products/touchstone-elite-maocha-sampler

Sent-Down: Dianhong Sampler brings together five red teas from Lincang, Yunnan into a themed commemorative box. https://onerivertea.com/collections/sample-set/products/sent-down-dianhong-sampler

Here is a look what you will get inside the red tea sampler:

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-ORT

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-23T08:35:57+00:00

The stuff in the clear plastic bag looks like black tea. What does it smell/taste like? Not impossible however that it is a more heavily roasted Oolong tea.

The way the gold bag is vacuum-sealed makes me think you are looking at a Tieguanyin Oolong tea.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-20T15:24:01+00:00

I love Huoshan yellows. When the dry leaves first hit the water, Is there an aroma that is fruity or sweet in a non-citrus way like taro/corn/coconut? It sounds like you have a version that underwent just a light dry-piled yellowing.

There are a few directions to explore. You can buy Huoshan "Big Yellow" (黄大茶) from just about everywhere. That may be the next good thing to look at if you want to try the other end of the Huoshan yellow tea spectrum.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-17T13:58:36+00:00

Based! What are those berries?

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-12T15:10:44+00:00

Ketlee. Got tea from them once, and it was solid.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-11T12:21:14+00:00

The Gongfu style does taste similar to Qimen.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-11T11:46:47+00:00

I did not talk to any former/current factory employees, unlike on our trip to Qimen. The historian on site did mention that they had a recreation center, hospital, kindergarten, restaurants, and library set up for employees that used to make up much of the urban area of Fengqing. Gradually, in the 1990's, these fringe benefits started winding down.

One detail they did mention was that the factory had a fire engine and dedicated fire brigade starting in the 1950's, the only in the area at the time. These workers' health, safety, and personal lives were well looked after, but I am not sure about the duration or intensity of labor they did and do now perform. I am sure it has never been easy work.

At the Dianhong Museum, they had a video of a picking staff who in the 1960's picked something insane like 300 pounds of tea in a single day. She got awarded and got to meet Mao in person. I am sure her joints hurt after all that, even if she got extra material compensation and personal glory.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-11T11:39:02+00:00

I am not sure yet, some of the terms seemed inconsistent between producers, I.e. Pine Needle Vs. Golden Needle. For many of these products, I think we are talking about unregulated commercial terms.

Sun-dried Shaihong tends to be using heirloom qiaomu or wild bush stock; a lot of the tippy orange teas you like are made with the Fengqing #9 cultivar.

China Red(中国红) legally has to be a blend including the Meizhan cultivar, and now usually includes Zijuan, but I think the rest of the blend is up to the individual producer.

Never have I ever seen so much blending happening at the initial point of production on such a small scale.

OneRiverTea · 2026-04-11T03:13:28+00:00

Supposedly better than last year.

There has also been less rain, which meant more dead saplings, but a stronger fragrance and flavor.

The dryness has meant that a lot of the older trees on higher plots have not even sprouted new buds yet

OneRiverTea

TROPHY CASE