Winter Harvest 2025 Reveal
Dearest Tea Drinkers,
HUGE news, all our winter harvest teas are finally here! Thank you so much to everyone for being so patient. In classic form, I have a few surprises up my sleeve… I’ve been busy these past few months cooking up some exciting things to share 😆.
Read on for more & I can’t wait for you to enjoy our new teas!
Sam
🍵 winter tea collection
Welcome to the season of delicious oolongs…. Well, that’s every season. But for those who haven’t yet had the opportunity to hear me drone on about winter harvest, this is my favorite season of the year and I’m so excited to drink it, and share it with you, and I want you all to try them!
I love brothy, vegetal green oolongs, deep, malty black oolongs with a robust body, and elegant milk oolongs with a hint of flowers… oh did I forget to mention we are officially adding a new tea to the line-up? 😏
🥬Unroasted green oolong
We knew this year was going to be good after 3 seasons of back-to-back premium oolong. This unroasted green oolong tastes like fresh vegetables and has the crispness of a cold morning and dew. The body has a lingering finish with delicate floral notes. I drink this winter harvest oolong every single day. I think you will love it as much as I do!
Tasting notes: Artichoke heart, zucchini, gardenia
🥛 Milk oolong
A unique style of green oolong, our milk oolong is famous from the high mountain growing region of Alishan. Directly translated from Mandarin, jinxuan (金萱) mean golden daylily. However the English name has been affectionately dubbed “milk”. Why? The jinxuan cultivar of the tea plant was developed by the Taiwanese Tea Research & Extension Station (TRES) to produce a creamy, milky aroma with a buttery smooth broth. Milk it is! Using the Liu family’s special oxidation style, this winter’s harvest of milk oolong is truly an exemplar of the style. With top notes of cream, a hint of fruitiness, and a touch of headiness like wildflowers or daisy in the broth, we know you’ll love this green oolong.
Tasting notes: Cream, green anjou pear, wildflowers
🍫 Black oolong
Our creamy, roasty, chocolaty sibling of milk oolong is here! If you’re looking to make a milk tea, this is the oolong to use. This Winter’s batch is a luscious oolong with notes of brioche, dark honey, and dried plum. With a broth that feels richer and more substantial than Spring’s lighter amber liquor, folks who love a classic black tea will be delighted to find this familiar flavor profile in a non-astringent offering! While very similar in profile, I always find the Winter harvest of the black oolong has a little more body with the natural sweetness coming through as the broth cools.
Tasting notes: Brioche, dark honey, dried plum
🍯 🍑 Bug bitten black tea
Back by popular demand, I’m thrilled to officially introduce this Bug Bitten Black Tea from Pinglin to our line-up. Words don’t do it justice—you truly have to experience its aroma to believe it. Harvested once a year in summer, this exceptional tea exudes rich honey and bright fruit notes that are nothing short of enchanting.
Crafted from a blend of three prized oolong cultivars—tieguanyin, jinxuan, and qingxin—only leaves bitten by tea jassids are selected for this unique brew. Due to the limited yield of bug-bitten leaves from a single cultivar, our skilled farmer expertly blends the three, creating a truly unique tea experience.
In order to to fully appreciate its depth of flavor and because the tieguanyin cultivar is included, you need to brew it hot at 212℉ to unlock its flavors and let the leaves unfurl. Prefer a more aromatic cup? Use fewer leaves. Craving a bold, hearty broth? Add more leaves. Incredibly, this black tea can be steeped 6+ times.
Tasting notes: Raw honey, red guava, white peach
🧧Coming soon: Formosa Chocolates x BANGtea GABA oolong dark chocolate
As we gear up to celebrate Chinese New Year, I’m delighted to announce that we’ve spent the past few months working with the talented chocolatier Kim from Formosa Chocolates to produce a delectable chocolate bar uniquely disguised as a hongbao (紅包). Thank you SO much to Kim for taking the time to experiment, we cannot wait to share these with you all!
Curious what a hongbao (紅包) is? You may have seen this emoji 🧧hiding in your phone. The red and gold envelopes, symbolizing luck and prosperity, are filled with money and given to friends and family on special occasions like Chinese New Year. If you’d like to celebrate along with us, now you can! We’ll be releasing these gems with a Year of the Snake design this month. Follow along for more updates!
Happy New Year!
Sam
