Valley Brook TeaBlog 171: Why Do We Package Tea in Small Bags?Our customers would know that almost all of our tea products are packaged in a smaller bag size. For oolong tea, one bag is about 7g to...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 167: Is It Normal That Oolong Tea Soup Looks “Red”?In case you haven’t noticed, most tea categories are named after colors. The most famous ones are green tea, black tea, and white tea....
Valley Brook TeaBlog 154: Wuyi Oolong: “White Foam” Means Good Quality??What’s the ultimate definition of a good Wuyi oolong? We’ll never get a perfect answer for an open-ended question like this. For example,...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 153: Wuyi Oolong’s “Toad’s Back” Experienced tea drinkers would know that infused Wuyi oolong leaves often have many “bubble-like” humps. This phenomenon is more visible...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 126: Wuyi Oolong (Yancha): The Assessment of “Maocha/毛茶” (Part III) In our recent tea blogs, we’ve been discussing how our tea makers assess the quality of Maocha (in oolong tea-making, “Maocha/毛茶” refers...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 124: Wuyi Oolong (Yancha): The Assessment of “Maocha/毛茶” (Part I) “Maocha/毛茶” is a unique stage in oolong tea production. In Wuyi oolong (Yancha) tea-making, Maocha refers to half-processed tea leaves...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 122: What’s “Fan Qing/返青” in Wuyi Oolong (Yancha)? In our last blog, we visited a term called “Fan Qing/返青”. Since it is quite a complicated subject, we’d like to dedicate this blog to...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 121: Determine the “Prime Time” of a Wuyi Oolong (Yancha) In our previous blogs, we’ve been talking about why Wuyi oolong (Yancha) aren’t available right after the tea-making. Recently, some of...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 120: What’s the Official Standard for Wuyi Oolong (Yancha)? In the industrial age, everything has a standard. When we purchase a car or a cell phone, we expect an exact same copy of what we see in...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 117: How Do We Decide When to Harvest?Since mid-April, our Wuyi oolong (Yancha) harvest has been dominating our tea blog and social media posts. In one of our previous tea...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 112: The Charm of Old Shui Xian Tea Plants In our opinion, fragrance is the first thing we notice in a cup of tea. The fragrance of tea has a unique ID. It varies with different...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 111: Old Tea is Aged Tea? Recently, a friend came to us and shared a story of how he visited a local tea store and found a 13-year-old Wuyi oolong (Yancha) still...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 106: Why Do Wuyi Oolong Have A Late Harvest? Just days ago, the official 2019 spring harvest guide was published by Wuyishan Bureau of Tea (武夷山茶叶局). In this guide, the bureau...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 98: Visible Caffeine on Tea Leaves? There are few teas have white tea leaves. In fact, among all major teas, only white tea has white leaves. White tea’s white color doesn’t...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 97: The Naming of Tea Mountain Fields (Wuyi Oolong/Yancha) The naming of premium teas often carries the name of the tea-producing region. For example, the famous Wuyi oolong tea (or Yancha/武夷岩茶)...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 96: Why Do Some Oolong Taste Like Green Tea? The most common OOLONG question is whether it is a green tea or a black tea. Actually, oolong tea is neither. Oolong is an independent...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 95: Can You Tell An Oolong’s Quality From Its Dry Leaves? Oolong tea leaves, especially Wuyi oolong (Yancha/岩茶), are the most distinguishable among all tea categories. Oolong tea leaves are...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 91: Is Yellowish Leaf in Oolong Tea Normal?Most teas are named after colors. Even oolong tea (Chinese: 乌龙, which doesn’t mean anything in English) has the color “black/dark” in...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 88: Understand “Yan Yun/岩韵”If you like Wuyi oolong (Yancha/岩茶), you must have heard Wuyi oolong’s “Yan Yun” (Chinese: 岩韵). Tea leaves are tangible, but “Yan Yun”...
Valley Brook TeaBlog 87: How to Differentiate Tea from Spring and Winter Harvests In our last tea blog, we discussed the real differences between spring and winter harvests (please click here for Blog 86). Today, let’s...