$ 10.00
For lovers of the Rooibos Captown, meet its twin, Rooibos Passion: copied from the original, but with organic ingredients and a name that helps describe the flavor.
Rooibos is a member of the legume family with needle-like leaves, native to South Africa. Rooibos Passion gives you a perfect caffeine-free pick-me-up for any time of day. The sweetness of passion fruit accents the earthy flavor of the rooibos, while wildflowers add an aromatic and flavorful perk. While this offering is excellent when sipped hot, it makes a truly refreshing and stimulating iced tea as well.
Process: organic
Origin: blend
$ 18.00
These tiny Yunwu tea tips curl into perfect little spirals, resembling floating clouds. The aroma is soft, sweet and fresh like morning dew. Steeped, the leaf buds unfurl to reveal mild vegetal notes accented with a buttery smoothness and slightly dry finish. Plucked in the early spring, these Pre-Ming harvested leaves are forgiving and easy to steep. They can handle short, rich gongfu steeps or longer, western-style infusions without becoming astringent.
Process: organic
Harvest: 2023
Origin: Jiangxi, China
$ 26.00
We are so pleased to offer Blue Willow private label matcha! After spending years traveling Japan and searching for a high quality, organic, ceremonial grade matcha, up to our standards, we finally sourced an exceptional organic Matcha, which we now use for lattes in our shop.
Introducing Forest Dew: a robust, yet smooth ceremonial grade matcha stone ground from five cultivars in Kirishima, Kyushu. This matcha can be made into usucha for a lively, grassy matcha bowl, or can be made into a latte. The flavor is strong enough to stand up to the addition of milk and/or sweeteners without getting overpowered, and has very little astringency.
We switched to this for matcha lattes in our shop and were just featured on the cover of the SF Chronicle Food and Drink newspaper for best Bay Area Matcha!
We recommend this matcha for usucha (thin tea) or lattes. You can experiment with the thickness you desire as well.
Process: Organic
Region: Kagoshima, Japan
Harvest: 2023
$ 10.00
Here's a fun one that's really gotten popular in the tea shop. This tea was an experiment by Young, the producer of the Ancient Sun, Red Dragon and Soft Branch. Here, he took large, curling ancient tree leaves, fully oxidized them and scented them with nuo mi xiang (sticky rice aroma herb). The leaves are left overnight, layered with the herb, and the herbs are removed in the morning. The process is repeated several times until the aroma of the herb has permeated the tea. The result is a tea with a sweet, sticky rice aroma, full body, zero astringency, and lots of versatility. The leaves themselves can be steeped in a gaiwan to really appreciate the way the scenting penetrates the layers of the leaf, or it can be long-steeped into a stronger tea that will not get astringent. It makes an incredible iced tea, and we're having a lot of fun getting creative with it.
Origin: Yunnan, China
Harvest: 2023
Sold Out
This unusual cultivar is named Bai Ye Wang, or "King White" because of its incredibly light, yellow leaves. Grown in the Phoenix Mountains, this true Dancong oolong brings many attributes to your cup. The dry leaves steep to a mottled aprearance with amber, yellow and green colors intertwining in each leaf. The aroma is enticing with juicy hints of stewed apricots and olive oil. The flavors progress with each sip exuding a honey, fruity sweetness, coating the mouth with a tingly silkiness. Robust and complex, this tea will steep well over 8 times, with each steep underlining different flavor notes. A limited amount is available for the year, and it won't last long!
Process: Organic
Harvest: Spring, 2023
Origin: Guangdong, China
$ 26.00
This is a new edition we were so excited to bring home from our 2023 Japan trip. Grown from the Ujimidori cultivar in Wazuka, this crafted on a woman-owned, organic family tea farm by Teruko Azuma.
Teruko has been pushing the boundaries of what Japanese teas can do, producing exquisite white teas, oolongs, black teas, and experimenting with innovative processing methods. This oolong is no different. The leaves are mid-high oxidized, heated, and then roasted in her hojicha roaster. The result is a tea with similar characteristics as Phoenix Mountain red teas: chocolately, fruity, nutty and toasty. The warm notes of roasted cedar fill the mouth, with a hint of plum-like fruit and lingering burnt sugar sweetness. We like to steep this in a gaiwan with short, repeated steeps, but it also does well with longer steeps without becoming bitter.
Process: Organic
Origin: Uji, Japan
Harvest: 2023
$ 58.00
This was an experimental tea and only 14kg was produced total. There is no guarantee it will be made again.
This is an incredible tea, high-grown in Shanlinxi and charcoal roasted in Dong Ding. This is a heavily bug-bitten tea, making it extra honeyed in flavor. The roasting was done as an experiment by the master roaster who also makes the Competition Grade Dong Ding. The leaves are mid-oxidized, rolled, oven roasted, then charcoal roasted, resulting in a tea so complex, you will have to taste it to appreciate it. Warm leaves release aromas of toasted almonds, warm stone fruit and a soft floral note. The tea itself is a perfect harmony of flavors; the longan charcoal gives the honeyed flavor a notable depth, while the oxidation level enhances the floral note of the high-mountain elevation without losing any of its freshness. The soup is the color of honey and has an apricot sweetness that lingers after each sip.
Harvest: Summer, 2023
Origin: Nantou, Taiwan
Sold Out
This shou Puerh comes from the Ai Lao Mountains and is delicious by itself, but its real treat is the herbs mixed into the leaves. The leaves of Nuo Mi Xiang (Semnostachya Menglaensis) literally translate to "Sticky Rice Aroma", and for a reason: they give off an aroma uncannily similar to sticky rice. Combined with the Puerh leaves, the combination is deep but uplifting, sweet yet earthen, and steeps over and over again. The liquor is a clean deep red which will keep you going for 8+ gongfu steeps.
Each individually-wrapped tuocha weighs 5g., making it perfect for travel and easy steeping.
Origin: Simao, Yunnan
Harvest: 2021
$ 28.00
We are so pleased to offer our first private label matcha! After spending years traveling Japan and searching for a high quality, organic, ceremonial grade matcha, up to our standards, we finally sourced our first one from an organic, woman-run tea farm.
Introducing Uji Jade: an incredibly smooth and satisfying ceremonial grade matcha from Wazuka. This is harvested from the Samidori cultivar, a lesser-known cultivar developed in Uji for matcha production. The flavor is rich yet smooth, with a perfect balance between bright/peppy and sweet/umami. The color is vivid and pure and the energy it provides is clean and uplifting without making your brain too busy.
I've been personally drinking this every morning and it leaves me feeling invigorated, satisfied and motivated, without any jitters. It's been the perfect morning companion for me and I'm so happy to share it with you.
We recommend this matcha for usucha (thin tea). You can experiment with the thickness you desire as well. While you can use this for lattes, the flavor is so smooth it can get overshadowed when adding other ingredients. Try it straight up and go from there!
Process: pesticide-free
Region: Uji, Japan
Harvest: 2023
$ 46.00
$ 26.00
We are so pleased to offer Blue Willow private label matcha! After spending years traveling Japan and searching for a high quality, organic, ceremonial grade matcha, up to our standards, we finally sourced an exceptional organic Matcha, which we now use for lattes in our shop.
Introducing Forest Dew: a robust, yet smooth ceremonial grade matcha stone ground from five cultivars in Kirishima, Kyushu. This matcha can be made into usucha for a lively, grassy matcha bowl, or can be made into a latte. The flavor is strong enough to stand up to the addition of milk and/or sweeteners without getting overpowered, and has very little astringency.
We switched to this for matcha lattes in our shop and were just featured on the cover of the SF Chronicle Food and Drink newspaper for best Bay Area Matcha!
We recommend this matcha for usucha (thin tea) or lattes. You can experiment with the thickness you desire as well.
Process: Organic
Region: Kagoshima, Japan
Harvest: 2023
$ 42.00
$ 18.00
There is up to a 2 week ship time for the Shohaku currently due to an increased in demand. We get our matcha ground and shipped fresh each month and have had to place additional orders to keep up with orders. Thank you for being patient.
Shohaku is a great everyday matcha that is excellent prepared traditionally and still has a slight tannin characteristic so it won't get lost if you add it to a latte or smoothie. The color is vivid green with a deep seaweed-like base and bright grassy finish.
Both of our ceremonial grade matcha offerings are produced and stone-ground by Marukyu Koyamaen, a family tea business that has been growing and producing tea in Uji for over 300 years.
$ 50.00
If you love matcha, but can't decide on which to start with, why not try both? This combo includes 30g tins of both of our very first Blue Willow Ceremonial Grade Matchas, grown organically and/or without pesticides.
The first is the Forest Dew Matcha from Kirishima. Made from a blend of 5 cultivars, this matcha is organically grown and stone ground. It has a robust yet smooth flavor that has made it perfect for Matcha Lattes. In fact, it is now what we use in the shop and we were just voted best tea shop in the East Bay and one of the best places for matcha in the Bay Area by the SF Chronicle. Find out why everyone is loving it...
The second is the Uji Jade Matcha from Wazuka. This is a single Samidori cultivar ceremonial grade matcha, grown without pesticides and stone ground. It is incredibly smooth and fulfilling, with a light body and invigorating energy boost. It makes perfect usucha (thin tea) and should be enjoyed by itself without additions.
$ 22.00
Kinrin is a flavorful matcha that can be used for making Usucha (thin tea) or Koicha (thick tea). The Kinrin whisks to a velvety-smooth bowl of matcha with robust umami flavor and offers rich notes of steamed kombu and a light sweetness. To prepare this as Koicha, use three times as much tea with less water and whisk with a chasen at least 200 times!
Currently all of our ceremonial grade matcha offerings are produced and stone-ground by Marukyu Koyamaen, a family tea business that has been growing and producing tea in Uji for over 300 years.