Hearth & Home

The perfect tea for long winter nights. This is a tea like no other. The aroma fills the room with ancient yet familiar scents of shared meals and open flames. A chocolate-like flavor tempers the earthy richness typical of dark teas with traditional herbal notes. A magical concoction that welcomes you in from the cold.

“Dark tea” refers to fermented teas that are not from Yunnan (which are more commonly known as pu-erh). This fermented tea comes to us courtesy of the Red Dzao people of Vietnam. The leaves, after being “piled” for fermentation, are packed into bamboo tubes. The tubes are slowly aged over an open fire - the hearth fire of the villagers’ home. The essence of their daily life is imbued into the leaves.  As a result, each tube has its own unique flavor notes, from smokey, to chocolaty, to woodsy.

30 grams of tea are packed into each bamboo tube. Bamboo leaf is used to plug the tube. You can use a tea pick to remove leaves from the open end, or crack the tube down the middle (by applying gentle pressure down the length) and store all the leaves in an airtight container, tea tin, or bag. Gong fu brewing will get the most out of this special tea.