Handmade Dong Ding 2024

One of last year’s customer favorites is back, with a twist! An unreleased batch of the artisanal Dong Ding by Master Su Wenzhao, in limited edition: first come, first served.

This Taiwanese trademark tea meets even the highest expectations. Even before taking the first sip, the tea invites you to notice its complexity through a layered fragrance—ranging from roasted hazelnuts to milk and cinnamon, all the way to the intense sweetness of spring flowers and freshly baked vanilla cookies.

As befits a tea of this caliber, these notes translate into a balanced and clean liquor, with warm spices and a pleasant roast lingering through several infusions. Take your time appreciating the shifting flavors by brewing it in different vessels and at different brewing temperatures—there is so much to explore!

Written by Sven

About the farmer and sourcing

This tea is a rare example of traditional production methods, and was not at all easy to find. The farmer Su Wenzhao is one of very few, if not the only tea master left in Dong Ding village, who is still producing Dong Ding completely by hand. Drawing on a lifetime of experience, he fires each batch of tea in the wok and rolls the leaves by hand, while the vast majority of other producers has long shifted to using machines for both steps. Su Wenzhao is as protective of his family as he is of producing Dong Ding in the traditional way, so it was not easy to convince him of taking a photo. Below the YouTube video we recorded while sourcing this tea.