{"title":"Texture","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\" author-d-4z65zz66zl57z75zyiz66zfr2fz87zwz89znuj9p2bz85zz88z6h4z70z3wkiz87zkq2z68zryhwl6j4bz71z\"\u003eThese teas are round and viscous, with smooth delivery and weighty mouth-feel. \u003c\/span\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"white-dragonwell-tea","title":"White Dragonwell","description":"\u003cp class=\"product-notes\"\u003eNotes of chrysanthemum, gingko nut, and marshmallow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"tea-summary\"\u003eGreen tea from Zhejiang, China・April 2025・白龍井・Organic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e2026 Harvest available soon.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhite Dragonwell’s unusual name refers to this tea’s cultivar, which yields brilliant green leaves with a whitish down. It is closely related to a rare green tea called Anji Baicha (or Anji White Tea). The buds are small and boast wonderful fruit and floral notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat particularly distinguishes this tea is its source garden. At 1200m, the garden is in northern Zhejiang Province, less than an hour drive from Thousand Island Lake. It is remote, accessible via a single path that meanders through rows of loosely clustered tea plants. Limited infrastructure results in these plants being effectively dry-farmed. The region’s remoteness and elevation produce beautiful tea plants and perfect leaf buds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the seventh year we’ve sourced White Dragonwell from this tea garden. The northerly latitude and higher elevation of this garden mean the harvest is later to sprout, and sprouts more sporadically than lower elevation gardens. Because of this, our method for selecting this tea is to cup several pickings - some earlier, and some later - and select the one that best combines the textural, aromatic, and taste properties that we look for in our teas. We are not necessarily tied to arbitrary date and time stamps, relying instead on the quality and character of the tea to guide our selection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are 30,000 buds in 500g of tea. Each batch was carefully roasted in 3 stages. First, the tea was fired to stop further enzymatic breakdown; it was then pressed and shaped, and finally pan-roasted to dry. The entire production process took 40 minutes to complete.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe finished result is sublime. To cup this tea is to experience a green that will reset your expectations of what quality is for a green tea. The texture is incredible; luscious and viscous, while at the same time, delicate and bright.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"brew-summary\"\u003eBrew: 3 grams・150 ml・185° F・1 min\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"brew-detail\"\u003eFew Dragonwells have the same round texture as this harvest. Our brew guidelines, followed strictly, will produce a tea that best expresses this tea's texture and mouth feel. We suggest pre-warming the tea brewing vessel, but avoid rinsing the leaves themselves. Instead, slowly pour water onto the leaves to ensure that each leaf is properly pre-moistened.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"30g pouch","offer_id":12303457091672,"sku":"g-0010-30g","price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"60g pouch","offer_id":12303457124440,"sku":"g-0010-60g","price":98.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"120g pouch","offer_id":12303457157208,"sku":"g-0010-120g","price":196.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"240g pouch","offer_id":12303457189976,"sku":"g-0010-240g","price":392.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"White Kraft Canister | 60g","offer_id":12303457222744,"sku":"g-0010-gc-60g","price":102.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Single brew | 3g","offer_id":43175051886805,"sku":"g-0010-single-3g","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/products\/g-0010-wdw_1.jpg?v=1568795883"},{"product_id":"old-grove-honey-orchid","title":"Old Grove Honey Orchid","description":"\u003cp\u003eDan cong, or “single origin” teas, are harvested from orchards nearly a century old, with carefully cultivated trees that display a particular quality of aromatics and flavor, honed over decades. When a tree’s specific characters and expressions are identified by the tea maker, these tea trees are cloned through grafting, attaching the aromatic branches to existing tree trunks. This process ensures the finished tea has the depth and mineral rich qualities of a deeply rooted tea plant, while honing in on the most precise flavor profiles possible. Among these ancient groves of Phoenix Mountain oolongs of Wudong Shan, over 100 aromatic profiles exist today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHoney Orchid dan cong is a particularly fine example of this tea style, due to both the trees’ age, and the elevation of the 1100m source garden. The older root structures of these trees allow the plant to absorb a more complex set of nutrients, while higher elevation climate slows the rate of leaf development. Both factors contribute to this tea’s smooth texture and mouthfeel, sweetness, and complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnce picked, these leaves are first withered outdoors, then gently oxidized for ten hours to develop it’s distinct fruit and honey notes. The finished tea is given three rounds of post-production charcoal roasting to deepen and intensify its flavor. Over the coming months, you’ll notice a change in the liqueur of these brewed leaves, as the recent charcoal roast recedes, giving way to a a distinct aroma akin to apricot kernels, and the sweetness of an effervescent reisling.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"30g pouch","offer_id":12303455649880,"sku":"o-0022-30g","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"60g pouch","offer_id":12303455682648,"sku":"o-0022-60g","price":72.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"120g pouch","offer_id":12303455715416,"sku":"o-0022-120g","price":144.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"240g pouch","offer_id":12303455748184,"sku":"o-0022-240g","price":288.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"White Kraft Canister | 60g","offer_id":12303455780952,"sku":"o-0022-gc-60g","price":76.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Single brew | 5g","offer_id":43175486980309,"sku":"o-0022-single-5g","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/products\/oldgrovehoney2.jpg?v=1621988827"},{"product_id":"roasters-1990s-vintage-oolong","title":"Roaster's Vintage, ca. 1990s","description":"\u003cp class=\"product-notes\"\u003eNotes of chestnut honey, grass jelly, and mate de coca.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"tea-summary\"\u003eAged oolong tea from Taiwan・1995-1997・陳年烏龍・Unsprayed\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Mr. Li’s private collection comes an aged oolong with the flavors and sweetness of classic pu-erh and the texture of heady cream stout. Over two and a half decades, Mr. Li has been carefully monitoring this cache of dark twisted leaf oolong, cupping it as the years pass and using the low heat of open charcoal pits to adjust the varying moisture content and keep the tea ‘alive’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis process requires a refined hand, and palate. Too little moisture and the tea can become excessively sour, with an off-putting tang. Conversely, kept too dry and the tea will be inert to change as it ages, and it’s these small, incremental metamorphoses that we’re after; the time-honed notes and textures that imbue a tea with character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMade from three consecutive harvests of the qing xin cultivar (1995-1997) crafted into a dark twisted leaf oolong, Mr. Li is in a unique position of both having crafted and aged this vintage oolong, responding to the changes in the tea over time, and creating a final product that drinks with a nitrogen-infused softness and profound depth of sweet, earthen flavor. Under this roaster’s careful watch, this tea has the complexity and texture of teas twice its age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"brew-summary\"\u003eBrew: 5 grams・150 ml・210° F・2 min\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"brew-detail\"\u003eWhile we recommend 150 ml as our standard cupping method, we suggest long, gradual steeps in slightly larger teapots. This is a quiet sipping tea, one that needs time to bloom, either in a chawan, or a pot.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"30g pouch","offer_id":44053174878421,"sku":"a-0022-30g","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"60g pouch","offer_id":44053174911189,"sku":"a-0022-60g","price":68.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"120g pouch","offer_id":44053174943957,"sku":"a-0022-120g","price":136.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"240g pouch","offer_id":44053174976725,"sku":"a-0022-240g","price":272.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"White Kraft Canister | 60g","offer_id":44053175009493,"sku":"a-0022-gc-60g","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Single brew | 5g","offer_id":44053175042261,"sku":"a-0022-single-5g","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/products\/a-roasters_1.jpg?v=1678252254"},{"product_id":"1970s-vintage-oolong","title":"1970s Vintage Oolong","description":"\u003cp class=\"tea-summary\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attention paid to a tea as it ages varies significantly from leaf to leaf. Darkly roasted teas are largely shelf-stable, and with minimal moisture content, require little intervention over the decades. In contrast, lightly roasted teas require regular maintenance and should be cupped periodically and re-baked to maintain its sweet, fruit-like qualities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs such, this mid-oxidized and mid-charcoal roasted 1970’s oolong has been closely monitored, and each decade it underwent a soft re-bake to balance its intended moisture contents with the elements of storage and passing time. The light roasts took place in 1988, 1998, 2008, and most recently in 2018, creating a tea more and more concentrated in flavor and sweetness with each successive round. The result is a tea that’s aged with hints of its original, freshly picked characteristics still identifiable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe iconic, loosely curled shaped of these leaves is called xia mi, small dried shrimp, the result of traditional manual rolling that produces open curls rather than tight clusters. This in turn allows the tea to develop more evenly over the years, and acquire its current dark-fruited notes and mild minerality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"30g pouch","offer_id":49595332133077,"sku":"a-0015-30g","price":62.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"60g pouch","offer_id":49595332165845,"sku":"a-0015-60g","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"120g pouch","offer_id":49595332198613,"sku":"a-0015-120g","price":240.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"240g pouch","offer_id":49595332231381,"sku":"a-0015-240g","price":480.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"White Kraft Canister | 30g","offer_id":49595332264149,"sku":"a-0015-gc-30g","price":66.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Single brew | 5g","offer_id":49595332296917,"sku":"a-0015-single-5g","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/files\/a-0015-1970s-vintage-oolong-2_3073fbfc-1b97-47c3-a601-6a18d981d4cd.jpg?v=1726699722"},{"product_id":"japanese-matcha-tea-kirari-31","title":"Kirari 31 Matcha","description":"\u003cp\u003eTime can move slowly in Japan. Reverence for the past means innovations in heritage practices seem, at times, an exception, with craftsman eschewing tradition in pursuit of new and experimental conventions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTea making has been a primary trade in the Tsukigase region of Nara for millennia. But sencha has long been the main crop in this area, until an 11th generation tea farmer recognized this rich, red soiled earth, fed by hillside streams and protected by a copse of larger trees, as prime ground for cultivating tencha (the base green tea from which matcha is ground), challenging decades of tradition and gambling on two new cultivars of the Saemidori pollen plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKirari 31 is one of this tea maker’s first experiments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trees of these Kirari 31 tea plants are in their first years of harvest, planted a mere 6 years ago. Tsukigase is subject to extreme temperature changes from morning to evening during the spring harvest season, a boon for the natural sugars accumulating in the leaves, but a phenomenon that can leave new buds vulnerable to sun damage and callusing. To mitigate this, each tightly planted row plants is wrapped in thick tarping after the last of the new buds appear on the trees, protecting these delicate leaves from direct sunlight and maintaining their tender structure up until harvest, about 25 days later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePost-harvest, these leaves are steamed in a brick oven, a slow process that accommodates just 20kg of tea per hour. Following this kill green, veins and stems are removed, leaving just the most tender elements of the leaf to be ground into fine matcha powder. This final element is only done at the very last moment, to prevent excess oxidation and keep the flavor of the tea vibrant and fresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final product is a matcha with youthful vivacity, brewing as brightly as its name suggests (Kirari 31 is a play on words translating to “a momentary flash of light”). This delicious Japanese matcha green tea is beautifully presented in a 20g paulownia wood box, or available as a refill pack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn storage: Ground matcha has considerable surface area and poses a risk of inadvertent oxidization. Please refrigerate while not in use. Allow package to come to room temperature before preparing. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"20g Canister","offer_id":52156699181269,"sku":"m-0003-20g","price":58.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20g Refill (sans canister)","offer_id":52156699214037,"sku":"m-0003-refill-20g","price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/files\/kiari_box1.jpg?v=1779559046"},{"product_id":"seimei-japanese-matcha","title":"Seimei Matcha","description":"\u003cp\u003eTime can move slowly in Japan. Reverence for the past means innovations in heritage practices seem, at times, an exception, with craftsman eschewing tradition in pursuit of new and experimental conventions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTea making has been a primary trade in the Tsukigase region of Nara for millennia. But sencha has long been the main crop in this area, until an 11th generation tea farmer recognized this rich, red soiled earth, fed by hillside streams and protected by a copse of larger trees, as prime ground for cultivating tencha (the base green tea from which matcha is ground), challenging decades of tradition and gambling on two new cultivars of the Saemidori pollen plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeimei, along with Kirari 31, is one of this tea maker’s first experiments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trees of the Matcha Seimei tea plants are in their first years of harvest, planted a mere 5 years ago. Tsukigase is subject to extreme temperature changes from morning to evening during the spring harvest season, a boon for the natural sugars accumulating in the leaves, but a phenomenon that can leave new buds vulnerable to sun damage and callusing. To mitigate this, each tightly planted row plants is wrapped in thick tarping after the last of the new buds appear on the trees, protecting these delicate leaves from direct sunlight and maintaining their tender structure up until harvest, about 25 days later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePost-harvest, these leaves are steamed in a brick oven, a slow process that accommodates just 20kg of tea per hour. Following this kill green, veins and stems are removed, leaving just the most tender elements of the leaf to be ground into fine matcha powder. This final element is only done at the very last moment, to prevent excess oxidation and keep the flavor of the tea vibrant and fresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final product showcases a maturity of flavor and character that belies its youth. Freshly whisked, this ground matcha lingers on the palate, revealing depths in character and flavor that continue long after each sip. This delicious Japanese matcha green tea is beautifully presented in a 20g paulownia wood box, or available as a refill pack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn storage: Ground matcha has considerable surface area and poses a risk of inadvertent oxidization. Please refrigerate while not in use. Allow package to come to room temperature before preparing. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Song Tea","offers":[{"title":"20g Canister","offer_id":52157315612885,"sku":"m-0004-20g","price":68.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20g Refill (sans canister)","offer_id":52157315645653,"sku":"m-0004-refill-20g","price":62.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1728\/6899\/files\/seimei_box1.jpg?v=1779559097"}],"url":"https:\/\/songtea.mom\/collections\/textured-teas.oembed","provider":"Song Tea \u0026 Ceramics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}