🏮 Saturday Tasting:

• 2018-11-10, 1:00 p.m.
• $9.00*

Important: Registration closes 12 hours before the event’s start time. I’ll send your ticket and tasting info to the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

 

🏮 Tuesday Tasting:

• 2018-11-13, 1:00 p.m.
• $9.00*

Important: Registration closes 12 hours before the event’s start time. I’ll send your ticket and tasting info to the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

 

🏮 Thursday Tasting:

• 2018-11-15, 1:00 p.m.
• $9.00*

Important: Registration closes 12 hours before the event’s start time. I’ll send your ticket and tasting info to the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

 

🏮 Friday Tasting:

• 2018-11-16, 1:00 p.m.
• $9.00*

Important: Registration closes 12 hours before the event’s start time. I’ll send your ticket and tasting info to the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

 

About The Teas

* Lucky Bags are here! Starting now (and continuing until they’re all gone), everyone who comes to a PDX TEA class or tasting can get Lucky Bags (福袋)! Find out more here: pdxtea.org/blog/lucky-bags

2018 Yěshēng Cuìfēng Gāoshān

野生翠峰高山 — Wild Grown Jade Peak High Mountain

I’ve got something a little unusual, and more than a little special to me: it’s a wild-grown gāoshān (high mountain wulong) that Casey’s (my partner) dad hand-carried for us from Taiwan. And, it is lovely! It’s thick & sweet, and it tastes, smells, and — perhaps most of all — feels much gentler than your average gāoshānchá. I’m really looking forward to sharing it with you.

c. 2003 Tài Zhuān (Shúchá)

泰砖熟茶 — Thailand Storage Ripe Brick

I bought these very pleasant, very affordable shúchá bricks from a tea producer based in Northern Thailand when my friends Chloé, Ana, and I met him back in 2015. With over 10 years of storage close to the southern border of Yunnan (along with another few in Portland), this tea brews up dark, sweet, clear, and potent.
 

IMPORTANT:

If the email address associated with your PayPal account is not active, you will not receive your ticket, and other information necessary for your participation in this event.

If you need to receive this information at a different address, please submit the form below.  Thank you!

🏮 Tuesday Tasting:

• 2018-10-09, 1:00 p.m.
• $10.00*

Important: You’ll receive your ticket and tasting info at the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

 

🏮 Saturday Tasting:

• 2018-10-13, 1:00 p.m.
• $10.00*

Important: You’ll receive your ticket and tasting info at the email address associated with your PayPal account. If it’s not an active address, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

* Your ticket also entitles you to a 5% discount on purchase of featured teas!
 

About The Teas

In the Japanese tea calendar, October is considered the most wabi month. This month often marks Portland’s transition to a chill and withered feeling as well.

It’s been a bit of a journey for me to learn to truly appreciate this season: my associations with it have not always been the best. But, I can say without hyperbole that teas like these two are part of why my heart now thrills at the first crisps of autumn in the air.

2018 Qímén Hóngchá

祁門紅茶 — Qimen (Keemun) Red (Black) Tea

Qimen is one of those massive names in Chinese tea: so famous that everyone wants a piece of the action. While it can be said of just about every style that the vast majority of examples are, frankly, pretty bad, it’s especially true of these super-famous ones.

This is not the best Qimen (I’m working on that for next year :), but it’s really good, and really affordable. And, it may help you understand why you can’t assume you know a style after trying just one or two instances of it.

2004 Mùzhà Tǐe Guānyīn

木柵鐵觀音 — Tie Guan Yin Wulong of Muzha, Taiwan

This Tie Guan Yin is wonderfully typical of the Muzha style, with incredibly deep, soft roast. It’s also somewhat atypical, in that its wettish storage has given it a hint of almost pu’er-like 陳味 (chén wèi — aged taste).

張先生 (Mr. Zhāng), who made and aged this tea, is a great grower/producer. He operates his small farm, production, and roasting operations with skill, care, and attention. (You may be familiar with some of his other teas through Shiuwen Tai [floatingleaves.com], who introduced me to him.)

I strongly encourage you to sample his craft!
 

IMPORTANT:

If the email address associated with your PayPal account is not active, you will not receive your ticket, and other information necessary for your participation in this event.

If you need to receive this information at a different address, please submit the form below.  Thank you!

🏮 Tuesday Tasting:

• 2018-09-11
• 1:00 p.m.
• $10.00*



Important: You’ll receive your ticket and tasting info at your PayPal email address — please be sure it’s an active address!

 

🏮 Saturday Tasting:

• 2018-09-15
• 2:30 p.m.
• $10.00*



Important: You’ll receive your ticket and tasting info at your PayPal email address — please be sure it’s an active address!

 
* Your ticket also entitles you to a 5% discount on purchase of featured teas!
 

About The Teas

September is such a beautiful month in Portland: a certain thrill of change in the morning air’s chill; perhaps a touch of melancholy in the afternoon sun’s long, lazy slant.

2018 Mògàn Huáng Yá
(莫幹黃芽 — Mt. Mogan Yellow Bud)

With its fragrance of sweet hay, its shining, golden sparkle, and its thick, warming soup, 2018’s Mògàn Huáng Yá reflects all of that, and is a perfect way to welcome these transitional months.

This yellow tea (黃茶 — huángchá) also has a very interesting herstory, as it’s production has become a sort of matrilineal heritage in the family that makes it.

2002 Xiàguān Tuóchá “Sōng Hè”
(“松鹤” — “Pine & Crane”)

When I revisited the 2002 Sōng Hè Tuó from Xiàguān to see if it was the right tea for September, I almost decided to just keep them all for myself.  It’s really a wonderful tea.

I regularly warn people to be very choosy with ripe pu’er (熟茶 — shúchá), as it often isn’t great.  But, after an additional 15+ years of storage…

Well, I’ll just let it speak to you directly at the tasting.  I think you’ll find this is a perfect tea for cool Autumn mornings, and long Autumn afternoons.