Wuyi Yancha

Wuyi oolong is often described through its landscape. What matters here is not how it looks, but how it limits the plant. In the rocky ground of Wuyi, tea roots move through shallow, mineral soils with fast drainage. Growth is slower. The leaf develops structure before processing begins. Processing is not a fixed formula but a sequence — oxidation, shaping, and roasting — adjusted to bring that structure forward rather than mask it.

This is yancha: not defined by fragrance alone, but by how the tea holds — dry and mineral in structure, with a weight that sits low on the palate, a finish that tightens and lingers, and a progression that continues to open across infusions. 

Our teas come from two high-mountain plots in Wuyi. We do not assemble across multiple sources. What appears here reflects these two sites, worked over time.

Behind the leaves

A closer look at the people, places, and processes that bring Wuyi Oolong from mountain to cup.

Journal

Further reading for the curious tea drinker.

  • Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 3

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 3

    If charcoal and electric roasting both reach the same temperature, why doesn't the tea taste the same?

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 3

    If charcoal and electric roasting both reach the same temperature, why doesn't the tea taste the same?

  • making fire to roast oolong tea in fujian province

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 2

    In Part 1, we explored how temperature and time shape the flavour structure of roasted oolong tea. But if roast level is defined by heat, why can two teas roasted...

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 2

    In Part 1, we explored how temperature and time shape the flavour structure of roasted oolong tea. But if roast level is defined by heat, why can two teas roasted...

  • fire to roast anxi oolong in Fujian

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 1

    What actually happens inside an oolong leaf when heat is applied? Is roasting simply a matter of turning up the temperature — or is something far more precise at work? 

    Oolong Tea Roasting - Part 1

    What actually happens inside an oolong leaf when heat is applied? Is roasting simply a matter of turning up the temperature — or is something far more precise at work? 

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