In this episode, Derek from One River Tea talks about how he found the Lapsang Souchong we source from the Zhang family up in the Masu Village of Tongmuguan. We start out musing a bit on craftsmanship, of products created with intentionality and soul as we wander up to the Tongmu mountain pass between Fujian and Jiangxi. While this area is restricted to non-residents (including Chinese people from other regions), we were able to meet the right person to open the gates for us and take us up to her beautiful village. If you’re interested in the origin point of the world’s first tea, we hope this episode delivers!

As always, almost all the teas mentioned in the podcast are available on the Onerivertea.com website!

In this episode we dig into the history of the world’s first Black Tea: Lapsang Souchong. In another solo episode, Derek not only gets back into the ancient history of Chinese teas, but also talks about the six different kinds of teas and the strange space occupied by puer. We share the origin myth of Lapsang Souchong, aka Zhongshan Xiaozhong, and explain its significance in the explosion of tea drinking culture in the West at large. We just released six new Lapsang Souchong teas from the Tongmuguan region and from the Masu Village, all of which are available on the onerivertea.com website !

In this episode, Alex joins the podcast to talk about the time spent sourcing the most famous yellow tea in all of China: Junshan Silver Needle. We get deep into the history of yellow tea and the sorry state of the modern market. Derek muses on the differences between Japanese and Chinese teas and reflects on his recent time in Japan. The Junshan Silver Needle and other finds from this trip are available to try on the onerivertea.com website. Thank you for your interest in our teas!

In this episode, Derek is joined by Alex, also a founding member of the One River Tea Cooperative. We talk about our adventures in making white tea, the attempts, the mistakes, the failures, the victories, and the eventual brown shoumei tea cake we pressed and gave away earlier this year. Alex shares some interesting first-hand experiences of brewing tea in the traditional way: with a tea jar. And Derek shares the secrets on how he made the his beautiful micro batch of green shoumei. As always, all the teas talked about are available on the Onerivertea.com website, so be sure to support us with an order if you’re enjoying the podcast!

In this final episode of sourcing puer in Spring of 2024, we talk about the Dong Guo Village. A lesser known village with a large amount of Gushu trees in Yunnan’s Mengku region just South East of the Big Snow Mountain. We discuss different philosophies of making tea and fall deep into tangents on Daoism, Sun Wukong: Black Myth, deep Yunnan culture, and even a bit of food anthropology. As always, all the teas we source and discuss are available on the OneRiverTea.com website for all those interested in supporting our podcast and our little cooperative. Thanks for your interest in tea!