Batch 117 Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club

August 20, 2025

Batch 117 Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club

Home Eco-Cha Tea Club Batch 117 Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club

Batch 117 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a hand-picked batch of Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea from Songboling, Taiwan. The above photo is from the Nantou Global Tea Expo, where organic tea farmers are serving their teas. This is the son of the family we have been sourcing from for more than 10 years, and who have become our ongoing source of Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea. The son returned home about 5 years ago to inherit his father's legacy as a pioneering organic tea farmer. Batch 7 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club was made by this family, who we were so excited to meet back in the day, due to their radical pioneering farming practices. We are now solid friends, and continue to be loyal supporters of their work.

GABA is the acronym for gamma-Aminobutyric acid, which is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter that is responsible for relaxation. In recent decades, GABA in the form of food supplements have become popular, with the claim of having stress-reducing qualities. Japanese scientists discovered a method of processing tea leaves that converts the glutamic acid in tea leaves into GABA. This is done by wilting the leaves in an anaerobic environment.

Our organic tea farmer friends make their GABA tea using Oolong Tea processing methods. The only variation from Oolong Tea making is that tea leaves that are made into GABA must be wilted in an oxygen-free atmosphere. The photo above shows the steel drums that our source of GABA tea uses for this process. Tea leaves are put in a netted sack, and placed in these sealed drums, the air inside is then mechanically extracted. The leaves are left to wilt in these sealed drums for 10 hour intervals, causing transformations in the chemical compounds in the tea leaves. They are taken out of the drums and tumbled in large bamboo cylinders for a few hours between the periods of wilting in the vacuum sealed drums. Overall, the leaves undergo about 30 hours of wilting in an anaerobic environment, with 6-8 hours of tumbling in between. They are then put through tumble heating, rolling and drying using the same basic methods of Oolong Tea processing.

We are still mourning the loss of our dear friend, the father of this family and pioneer of organic tea farming. He passed well over a year ago now. But we gratefully sustain a meaningful relationship with the family, and particularly the son, who has inherited his father's legacy.

Having known Mr. Xie's son for years already, it has been a natural transition for us beyond the loss of his father. We now sit at the tea table of Mr. Xie's heir, and continue the cooperation in our shared vocations.

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