Specialty tea discovery set
The Southern Road
Five teas, from the misty valleys of Yunnan to the Taiwanese terraces.
Not sure what you like yet? Start here.
5 × 10g · free UK delivery
In stock, in a small first run. Ships from London.
The five, leaf to cup
Open this one first. Pan-fired flat, from the hills around Hangzhou, sweet chestnut and warm grass over a toasty, savoury depth from the wok. Dragon Well is picked in a short spring window, roughly late March into April, and drinks best young, within a year of the harvest.
2.5g · 250ml · 80°C · top up 3–4×
Second in the session. Anxi's jade pellets, lightly oxidised, with orchid, cream and a long floral finish. A classic, though true Anxi Tie Guan Yin is getting hard to find.
5g · 100ml · 90°C · 6+ steeps
Third, once Tie Guan Yin has tuned your nose. A single-bush Phoenix oolong: orchid, honey and almond cake, with a thickness that stays in the mouth. The ugly name keeps the thieves away. One to sit with, each steep opening a deeper aroma.
5g · 100ml · 95°C · 8+ steeps
The turn in the road. A purple-leaf cultivar made as a green tea, so its anthocyanins carry into the cup: grape and dried-cherry tones, and a brew that shifts colour with your water. Add a splash of lemon and watch it turn pink.
5g · 100ml · 85°C · 5+ steeps
Last, and the darkest. Moonlight white pressed into small squares with osmanthus, a deep woody base under a light floral top note. Forgiving if you lose track of the timer, and the squares keep: they settle and deepen with age.
5g · 150ml · 90°C · 6+ steeps
How to brew it gong-fu style
Rinse it with hot water, then tip the water out. Warms the cup and wakes the leaf.
About 5g, a third of the way up, then fill with hot water.
Start with TEAKI's time for each tea, then adjust to taste as you go.
Lift the lid and breathe in the aroma caught underneath.
Top up and re-steep, a little longer each time.
No gaiwan? The same leaf is happy in a teapot or brewed grandpa style.
Each pouch carries a QR to its own brew guide and timer.
Five teas, five places
Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Longjing grows in the hills around Hangzhou, the most famous green tea address in China. Tea bushes share the slopes with bamboo and temple paths, and the picking runs on a strict spring calendar. Every batch is pressed flat against a hot wok by hand. That pan is where the chestnut warmth comes from.
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