Award-Winning Tea at Wallet-Friendly Prices: On Taoism from Oriental Leaf Tea
- Neldon Hamblin
- Aug 14
- 6 min read
Hey friends!
You all know that I am a self-proclaimed “fu cha fanatic” and love writing about and spreading the word about the delicious tea known as fu zhuan heicha. If you’re not familiar with fu cha, here is a link to my guide to fu cha- which, wildly, is my most popular post. I’ve also worked with some of the top fu cha producing companies in China to learn more about this delicious tea and understand what makes it truly special- both the Shaanxi traditional materials and the Anhua fu cha.
Well, one company took note of this. Recently, I was sent a lovely package of fu cha from Oriental Leaf Teas, a company based in Xi’An. As a heads-up, my next post will showcase their factory and give you, as readers, a great insight into the conditions that make this tea and what a fu cha factory in the core production area of Jingyang looks like.
Oriental Leaf (东方嘉木) was founded in 2018 as a quiet tea house in Xi’an called YuShan (屿山). They took what they had built and created Oriental Leaf as an online storefront, taking their name from the opening line of Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea (茶 经): “Tea is a precious tree from the south” (“茶者，南方之嘉木也” ). Their name takes the characters 东方嘉木 (“Dōngfāng jiāmù,” or “Oriental Special Trees”). According to them, “嘉木” refers to the finest trees, or tea plants, that grow in the lush, misty lands of southern China. “东方” represents the cultural and geographical origin of tea — the East, where tea was born and cultivated into an art.We chose this name to honor tea’s ancient roots and share the beauty of true Chinese tea with the modern world.”
Now, Oriental Leaf was also one of the recipients of an award at the World Tea Championship, which I covered this year, held at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. Their “On Taoism” series of cakes won the superior award for the best leaf profile and best cup character as a joint winner in the puerh category (as heicha is relatively niche, yet vacuous, it does not have a category at the tea awards and is treated as a subcategory of puerh, similar to shou). So, needless to say, that is one of the many teas Oriental Leaf sent me to taste. They generously sent multiple types of fu cha, which I will cover in their own posts- you can see the whole package here.
Before we get into the tasting notes, let’s get into what makes this tea an award-winner. To start, it’s made of an incredible base material of grade-one leaves from Lincang in Yunnan. If you’re into tea, you might be familiar with Lincang, an area known for having some of the most sought-after puerh (like Bingdao and XiGui) and its high-quality material with a characteristic fruit-juicy tang and a robust, full-bodied character with a thick mouthfeel. This material is very rarely made into anything other than sheng puerh or black tea- so seeing it as a heicha is both fascinating and amazing. It will be fun seeing how those characteristics from the base material transfer into the tea itself.
Without further ado, let’s get into this delicious, award-winning fu.
“On Taosim” Jingyang Lincang Fu Cha
Brewing Parameters: 7g leaf/150ml gaiwan, boiling water
Dry Leaf: The dried leaf smells incredible- like raisins and fruit leather with a complex sweetness underlying the top notes of dried fruits. The cake is also covered in jin hua- I have never seen so many golden flowers on a cake before.
Warmed Gaiwan: Here come the classic characteristics of fu cha- a nice, prominent baked goods and floury aroma with a nice underlying note of raisins- think of a fig newton in terms of fruitiness and pastry, but with a more yeast-based, floury cookie around it. It’s quite fascinating- the aroma is also quite prominent and fills the room easily- lifting the gaiwan lid created a strong, fruity aroma that wafted towards me.
Note: I don’t rinse my fu cha, personally, but if you would like, you can do a flash rinse of less than 10 seconds to wake the leaves up and wash them. I avoid doing this though as I like to drink the jinhua with each cup and the rinse can sometimes wash a lot of it away.
First steep 50s: This is a lovely deep red color on this, almost more like a hong cha than a fu cha. The tea itself has a nice, peppery note to it, followed by the classic fu flavors of baked goods and honey, but with a slightly citric tang to it.
Second Steep 55s: The peppercorn and baked goods flavors are still prominent here, but now there’s a deep, toasted sorghum (nutty, slightly toasty, and earthy) note to it. The mouthfeel is thicker as well with a nice fruity bite to the tea. The classic honeyed flavors of the jin hua are coming through too quite nicely to complement the toasted sorghum flavor.
Third Steep 60s: The lincang base material is really popping through here. The tea itself is very mouth watering (salivating when drinking the tea, referred to as "生津" (shēng jīn), is a desirable trait when tasting and evaluating the quality of teas like puerh- so seeing the shēng jīn here does prove that the material used is of high quality) and has a slight astringency to it (drying on the roof of the mouth and tip of the tongue). There is also a pleasant slight tang to it coupled with a new flavor note- almonds- and the classic fu cha flavor of a yeasty pastry. The sorghum and cereal note still lingers as well. This tea drinks like water, to me- it’s very “chuggable” and light, but has a nice, thick body to it. It’s incredible how aromatic this is, too- even with the gaiwan lid on, I can still smell the tea. I can see why this won for the best cup character as well, given the deep, rich, consistent reddish gold color of the liquor as well as the aromas on the nose and from the empty cup- it’s quite a stellar example of fu cha.
4th steep 70s: Still a prominent shēng jīn. The mouthfeel is thicker- the flavors are more bold with a longer steep. The astringency is a bit more noticeable but has migrated toward the middle of the tongue. Classic fu cha flavors still abound.
5th steep 80s: The tea is lighter in color, but still bold in flavor. The toasted sorghum and grain flavors are still prominent, but the honeyed sweetness of the jin hua is coming through very nicely.
I ended up getting 15 steeps out of this, including a long steep that I had…forgotten about while having a meeting, so it steeped for about 3 hours. The 3-hour-long brew actually was great- the bitterness was tamed quite nicely and the main notes were still sorghum and honey, which was impressive. The body was thinner and more watery, but still delicious, and the color was incredibly dark- you can see it in the gallery below the discount codes. In order to avoid overwhelming you with photos, I have only shared the first 5 steeps here.
Final Thoughts and Discount Codes:
This tea is incredible. I managed to get 15 steeps out of it, and I likely could have gotten more and even boiled the spent leaves after for an additional drink. At the retail price of $38.50 for a 190g cake, or $0.20 cents a gram, this tea really packs a punch. At that price point, too, it’s incredible to see something as experimental as this- seeing lincang material at 20 cents a gram and absolutely loaded with the jinhua is incredible. I love the direction the fu cha industry is heading in- more experimental, high-end fu cha is becoming common or easier to obtain, especially through companies like Oriental Leaf.
Overall, given the nice depth of flavor and the incredible body, I can certainly see why this tea won an award. It’s got an incredible mouthfeel with a lovely body as well as an intense aroma in the cup and the gaiwan, making it a treat to experience. The shēng jīn being prominent is also incredible- I have only noticed that previously on higher-end sheng puerh from different regions, so seeing it on a heicha was quite a pleasant surprise. I would definitely recommend picking this up if you’re into fu cha or want an award-winning tea at a wallet-friendly price.
If you would like to try this, or any other tea from Oriental Leaf, I was given a special discount code to share with my followers: use the code "NELDON5" on any order for a 5% discount. You can also use my affiliate link, here, to help support my blog with your order. My code does work in combination with their other sales for a total of 15% off, so feel free to use that to score some deals on some stellar teas.
As a disclaimer, I was not paid for this review or compensated in any way, shape, or form that may impact my review, though I may make a commission for any purchases made through the above affiliate link. The tea was tasted before becoming an affiliate, and as such, being an affiliate did NOT impact my final thoughts on this product, and all tasting notes and opinions are accurate and my own.
Cheers, friends, and happy steeping!
Okay, stranger friend, since you published this post, I haven't been able to stop thinking about what this fucha might taste like. Can't wait for my order to arrive.
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