**NOTE: Starting this month we are going to post the educational insert for each month's subscription box here on the blog. Honestly, we should have done it a while ago. Taoyuan Terroir Study Mountain Stream Teas Teaducation Subscription Service, October, 2025 This month we do a deep dive into a unique and little know tea growing region of Taiwan. Taoyuan’s lower elevation and fertile soil make it a fascinating spot to understand how terroir can impact the choices of tea producers. What are the teas we will look at this month? Included this month are: Chinese Mesona Herbal Tea (Grass Jelly), 200m elevation, Herbal Tea, hand picked in Summer, 2025, Longtan, Taoyuan County, Platostoma palustre Tasting notes: Dark vegetal, Strong medicinal Heat...
Roasted teas have one of the most ‘love it or leave it’ flavor profiles of any style of tea. Strong, rich and undeniably ‘toasted’ flavors are the name of game for these teas in their up front presentation. This is especially true for the badly roasted teas, which can be a no-go for many. The depth and breadth of flavors that tickle the palette produced by a brew that is prepared an expert roaster can be pretty wonderful however. Why Roast a Tea? The proper reason is to introduce complexity, depth and longevity to an already beautifully produced tea. Unfortunately the usual reason is to make a terrible tea mediocre and sellable. When most people claim they don't like roasted...
Brewing Difficulty Levels Explained We have finally added a general 'brewing difficulty' guide for our teas. These categories are meant to be a guideline for Wonderful Tea People to make the right personal choice in buying tea. They do not represent a value or quality rating for any of the teas. Everyone is different in their brewing experiences and personal preferences. Careful, thoughtful brewing gives a wonderful experience for all of our teas. Just because a tea is easy to brew doesn’t mean that careful brewing cannot also create a complex and beautiful brewing experience. The many flavors of a ball rolled oolong expressed as the leaves unfold during multiple steeps are easy to enjoy for example, and only...
The word organic can be problematic. It can mean any number of things, and in the tea world, though the best teas are grown organically they don't necessarily get certified. In this article, we look at why that may be, and we try to shed some light on the organic problem.
