Sunday, August 23rd at 1:00pm
2202 Ave X, Brooklyn, New York
Every other Sunday, while the shop is closed, we set aside a couple of hours to brew and share tea with new and old friends, and you're invited :)
It's a casual, friendly tea tasting, where we try 3 different teas (see below). It will be either new arrivals, old favorites, or fresh samples. We will take time to explore their origins, how they were made, and what we're tasting. It's not a class or a lecture – just tea, conversation, and a chance to slow down and enjoy the moment :)
We like to keep it small – there are only 6 seats available, so if you're planning to come, it's a good idea to reserve your spot in advance. The price is nominal, to cover the cost of the teas we are tasting.
So, if you're free on this day and want to try some good teas with good people – join us. We'll be here, kettle on :)
This time, we will be tasting pu-erh teas from Xiaguan Tea Factory
• Xiaguan Jia Ji Raw Pu-erh Tuocha, 2004 – When the Yong Chang Xiang trading house, which later became Xiaguan Tea Factory, pressed the very first bowl-shaped tuocha (沱茶) in Dali in 1902, under the mark Zheng Ji (正记 – "the genuine mark"), Jia Ji Tuocha (甲级沱茶) was the recipe that emerged. The deep-bowl shape of the tea is no accident – it promotes airflow and gives the aroma room to develop as the tea ages. "Xiaguan Jia Ji" carries a signature – a tightly compressed bowl and a taste no other tea producer has managed to replicate: the unmistakable Xiaguan smoke (烟香).
• Xiaguan Tibetan Jin Cha Raw Pu-erh Tea, 2005 – This Jin Cha is a 2005 pressing in the classic Xiaguan blending tradition, made from sun-dried Mao Cha drawn from Lincang and Xishuangbanna – the core Pu-erh tea regions. Robust, mature leaves give the tea body and structure for aging, while a measured proportion of tea buds adds brightness and lift. Over 20 years of natural storage, the surface of the cake has turned from green to deep brown, and the buds, once silvery, have transformed into golden threads. The shape was developed for trade with Tibetans. The mushroom body, with its small stem at the base, was designed to stack into towers, tie cleanly into rope bundles on the backs of pack horses, and survive months of jostling along the Ancient Tea Horse Road
• Sino-French 60th Anniversary Xiaguan GuShu Ripe Pu-erh Tuocha – This Xiaguan Tea Factory Ripe Pu-erh from GuShu material is crafted to commemorate a piece of pu-erh history: the long relationship between China and France built around tuocha tea. The leaves come from the ancient tea forest of Dapingzhang (大平掌) on Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er. In 2023, UNESCO inscribed Jingmai's ancient tea forests as a World Heritage Site – the first ever UNESCO site dedicated to a tea cultural landscape, recognizing more than a thousand years of tea-forest coexistence, in which tea grows within the natural rainforest.
If you can't make it this time but want to stay updated about our future tea tastings, then subscribe to notifications to stay in the know. We hope to see you next time:)
