Holiday notice: Last day of shipping is Dec 17, shipping will resume Jan 1 — Happy Holidays!

☰ Menu

Shopping Bag
Items (0)

Your cart is empty.

Tea Tea
Incense
Teaware
About

We are passionate tea researchers and purveyors of truly exceptional teas.

Free Shipping on orders over $49

Shopping Bag
Items (0)

Home — Tea — Tea — Ruby White 100g

« Previous — Next »

Ruby White 100g

$ 46 / ounce

4-5 sessions per ounce
4+ infusions per session

Quantity (ounces)

» Share on Facebook » Share on Twitter

Unique, elegant white tea made from a the Ruby cultivar commonly used in black teas.

Notes of cherry, fresh leaf, delicate mint.

Taiwan is not particularly known for producing white teas, so I was very surprised to find this one. Taiwan tea producers are master innovators, and this tea is a testament to that. One of the most famous black tea cultivars in Taiwan is Ruby #18. In black tea form, this tea is very assertive and rich, with strong notes of mint and vine. As a white tea, it is much more subdued, and elegant. I enjoy both, but this white tea is a gem.

I've found that I can brew this tea in many ways. If I brew it lightly, it comes out like a more traditional white, but with the earthy notes of Ruby #18. If I brew it longer, it comes out more like a black tea. Incredible.

Brewing: This tea can handle longer infusions and high heat. 200ml 195'F water with 5g of tea for 2 minutes for the first infusion. I encourage you to experiment with this one.

This tea ships as a 100g (3.5oz) sealed bag.

Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews Write a review

Notes of sandalwood, warm stone, and raisin.

Crafted after expert medium-roasting, this decade oolong is an exemplar of aged tea. It has a profile that feels classic, sturdy, and diligent, as if the field work of harvesting were transferred as scent and taste into the leaves. When I drink this tea I’m reminded of the old exposed beam tea houses in Jiu Fen, Taiwan, built into the mountainside.

A tea that is rightfully selected to be aged is one that has a textured feel in the mouth. This oolong has a three-dimensional feel to it, while many aged oolongs I’ve sampled have a flat feeling that isn’t very interesting. It is usually the texture that is preserved in the aging process, while the flavor will most assuredly change dramatically.

When drinking an aged tea you can sometimes peer backwards in time to get a glimpse of the original harvest. With this tea, I think that the glimpse is first accessed through the notes raisin and old wood. The earthy tones are like bright warm soil, not like the dark loam of ripe pu-erh. This tea brews smoothly with no astringency.

Harvested in 2008 in Nantou County, Taiwan, this Four Seasons cultivar oolong (si ji chun) was rolled and its oxidation was fixed with a medium roast. The tea was re-baked every 2-3 years depending on moisture.

The resulting tea brews with an reddish brown color, medium body, and round texture. I recommend brewing with 200 degree water for the first infusion which should be 2 minutes. Subsequent infusions can be shorter or longer in time. As always, experiment with brewing this very forgiving tea that has no astringency.

Amber Woods Lapsang Black

$ 11

A traditional Wuyi tea that is clearly made with quality tea highlighted by a very natural sweet wood profile.

Notes of chocolate, cherry, leather, and stone fruit.

Amber Woods dives backward in time to the traditional preparation method of lapsang souchong. Most would consider lapsang souchong to be unmistakably smoky, but this traditional preparation is so rounded and articulate that it might initially be mistaken for a non-smoked black tea since the hallmark smokiness of this tea Is quite subtle.

Smoking and heavily roasting is a common preparation for teas that are not from the prime picking. The prime leaves of the bush are the buds and first two leaves -- these are the parts used in making this tea.

Sometimes when I sample a lapsang souchong tea I only taste and smell the single note of smoke, which isn’t very interesting to me. But with Amber Woods the smoke is like a subtle legacy of its preparation. The initial smell of the un-steeped bronze flecked leaves is not smoky at all, but has some cherry and chocolate notes. The smell of the steeped leaves in the teapot is funky like jazz with an elusive tartness common to cliff oolongs.

Brew this tea with shorter infusion times around 30 seconds each, using water around 195 degrees. The first brewed cup has a rich mouth-feel that has a rich texture. By the third cup the natural pine and cypress notes begin to emerge, and you can taste that this is certainly a unique lapsang.

Dark Heavy-Roast Tie Guan Yin

$ 10

Traditional Taiwanese heavy charcoal roasting is matched by the sturdiness the Tie Guan Yin varietal. The result is a very pleasant and deep roast.

Notes of warm caramel, burnt sugar, molasses, and amber.

Tie Guan Yin is perhaps the most famous of oolong varieties because of its complexity and resilience. That resilience is one of the reasons it was chosen for heavy roasting, which is one of the most traditional preparation methods. This tea is as pleasant as a cup of coffee on a weekend morning.

Tei Guan Yin was one of the transplants from China that thrived in Taiwan. No single variety will grow the same and with the same characteristics in two different places. This Tie Guan Yin is from Nantou County in the central mountainous region of Taiwan. Quality heavy roast Tie Guan Yin is hard to find in China these days, as they tend to roast them much lighter.

The Taiwanese are master roasters, and the traditional longan charcoal roasting process used for this tea lasted for over two weeks. Walking into a room of roasting tea leaves is like walking into a room of flowers and earth being warmed by a hidden sun.

In the roasting process, most of the floral properties of a high mountain oolong with be given up in favor of the warming and mellow properties of roasting. This Dark Roast Tie Guan Yin was chosen for heavy 80% roasting because it had a strong vitality and qi. Therefore the final product became two-dimensional: both strong roast and strong body.

Brew this tea longer to bring out the depth. I recommend 200 degree water with at least a 1 minute infusion. There is no astringency in this tea, so feel free to experiment.

Follow @TotemTea on Instagram

Receive our newsletter

Get special deals and stay informed about new products and local events.

Email Address

Include Portland events newsletter

Contact Shipping About Totem Tea Blog

10%off

Newsletter signup coupon