Online tasting with shipped sample kit

What you get

• A curated tasting kit shipped to your address — six Chinese tea samples (8 g each), a porcelain gaiwan (100 ml), a tasting cup, and a linen cloth.

• Detailed brewing notes with steeping times, water temperatures, and origin stories for each tea.

• A 90‑minute live video session led by a senior tea expert from the Tea Services master roster.

• Guided tasting of all six teas, with pauses for questions and comparison of impressions.

• A tasting journal to capture your sensory notes during and after the session.

• Access to a private tea.community discussion thread for follow‑up and future kit recommendations.

How the tasting unfolds

A few days before the session, a compact box arrives — inside, six slim silver pouches of tea, a small porcelain gaiwan, a tasting cup, and a folded sheet of brewing notes. The gaiwan fits comfortably in one hand. Its glaze is a soft, translucent white that will later let the liquor colour speak clearly.

On the day, you log into a private video call and find Chen Hui Yi or Zhou Xiang already waiting. They greet you in a calm, warm voice and invite you to arrange your space — just a kettle, a source of boiling water, and the kit opened before you. The first pouch is marked Bái Háo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针) from Fuding, Fujian. The dry leaf is a tangle of silvery tips, faintly sweet like hay drying in late‑summer sun. Chen Hui Yi guides the first steep: 85 °C water, barely a minute. The liquor is pale champagne, with a delicate, creamy mouthfeel and a quiet note of melon. Through the screen, you see her lift the gaiwan lid and inhale — you do the same — and the shared ritual erases the distance.

The second tea is a green: Xīhú Lóng Jǐng (西湖龙井), pressed flat and vibrant. Zhou Xiang speaks as you pour, pointing out the roasted chestnut aroma that rises from the wet leaf. The infusion is a clear, spring‑yellow. On the tongue it is soft at first, then a gentle, clean astringency that leaves the mouth feeling rinsed. A small pause, a sip of plain water, and you are ready for the third.

This one is a yellow tea, Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针) from Hunan. Yellow teas are rare outside China, and the session treats it with quiet reverence. The buds are intact, needle‑like, and after three steeps they slowly unfurl, releasing a flavour that sits somewhere between a white tea’s sweetness and a green tea’s structure — smooth, with a texture almost like warm silk. The colour in the cup is a soft apricot.

Next comes an oolong: Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍) from the Wuyi mountains. The dry leaf carries the deep roasted scent of caramelised sugar and stone fruit. Zhou Xiang increases the water to just off boiling and counts the seconds aloud. The liquor pours out a dark amber. The taste is layered — mineral, honey, a fleeting smokiness — and the wet leaf smells of baked earth after rain. When you close your eyes, the flavour persists long after swallowing.

The fifth tea shifts to black: Zhèng Shān Xiǎo Zhǒng (正山小种) from Tongmu village. This is the original smoked black tea, dried over pinewood fires. Its aroma fills the room through the screen, rich and resinous, as if you were standing near the very smokehouse. The infusion is a deep mahogany, the taste round and sweet, with a whisper of pine and dried longan. Paired with a piece of dark chocolate (your own, a suggestion in the notes), the tea becomes almost liqueur‑like.

Finally, a young shēng pǔ’ěr (生普洱) from Yiwu, pressed into a coin‑size disc. The master advises a quick rinse to wake the leaves. The first proper steep yields a pale gold infusion with a lively, grassy edge. As the steeps stretch to thirty seconds, the tea softens, revealing a lingering sweetness and a cooling sensation on the breath — a signature of ancient tree material. The wet leaf is glossy, large, and flexibly whole.

Throughout the 90 minutes, the screen has been a window into a quiet, shared focus. There is no rushed script; questions about temperature, about storage, about regional differences are all welcome. At the close, the master leaves you with a note about the tasting journal — four blank pages for each tea, where you can revisit scents and flavours weeks later — and a gentle reminder that the conversation can continue on tea.community, where members share tasting notes and suggestions for future seasonal kits. For those who wish to go deeper, tea.school offers a structured curriculum that pairs theory with practical tastings like this one. The session does not try to sell or impress. It simply opens a door into Chinese tea, wherever you happen to be sitting.

Led by Chen Hui Yi and Zhou Xiang

• Chen Hui Yi — White, yellow, and green tea specialist — leads the comparative tasting and online kit sessions.

• Zhou Xiang — Green, black, and yellow tea — leads the six‑tea comparative tasting alongside Chen Hui Yi. Strong on Anhui and Fujian classics.

Practical details

• Where — Private video call — link shared with your kit confirmation. A quiet room with a kettle and a stable internet connection is all you need.

• Shipping — Kits dispatch to Europe, Russia, and the UK via tracked courier, arriving 5–7 days before your session date. Tracking details provided.

• Prepare — Boiling water (ideally temperature‑controlled), a small jug or bowl to discard rinse water, and a neutral‑tasting palate — avoid strong flavours immediately before the session.

• Dress — Casual and comfortable.

• Group size — Up to 6 participants per kit. For larger groups, additional kits can be shipped and the session scaled.

• Language — Conducted in English, with Chinese tea terminology introduced throughout.

• Cancellation — Full refund if cancelled 7 days before kit shipping; 50% refund if cancelled 48 hours before the session. Sessions can be rescheduled once without charge.