Batch 123 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Dong Ding Oolong Tea from summer 2025 harvest in Phoenix Village — Lugu, Taiwan. With this edition, we share not only one of Taiwan's most famous names in tea, but also our source — and the personal connection we have with it. And on the occasion of Lunar New Year, we offer a complimentary tea that is a fundamental ingredient among traditional Oolong Tea making communities in Taiwan: Reap Rice Tea. Check our sourcing blogpost for the background story on this tea.

Dong Ding Oolong Tea is a well-oxidized, medium roast Oolong Tea made from the Qing Xin cultivar grown at mid-elavation (750m). It represents one of Taiwan's most prominent local tea traditions. It offers a complex, robust brew that is sweet, tangy and mildly bitter with notes of roasted butternut squash and parsnips, and a hint of mineral and smoke. The flavor profile has a broad spectrum of flavors that gives Dong Ding Oolong Tea a truly distinctive character.

This month's batch of the tea club exemplifies part of our mission with the tea club to offer the most classic and/or renowned names in Taiwanese tea. We realized that we have yet to offer a classic local version of Dong Ding Oolong Tea. We have offered award-winning and competition grade Dong Ding Oolongs entered into the Lugu Farmers' Association. We have also offered several traditionally made versions of Lugu tea of various styles over the years. But we haven't done what we do with other classic offerings almost annually; such as Muzha Tie Guan Yin Oolong, Wenshan Baozhong, Bi Luo Chun, Li Shan High Mountain Oolong — as well as the occasional Shan Lin Xi or Alishan High Mountain Oolong Tea.

So on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, we are inspired to introduce our ongoing source of Dong Ding Oolong Tea. It is our closest connection to the local tea producing community, and representative of tradition woven into the contemporary professional tea industry.

Shown above is the complimentary Reap Rice Tea that is included in this Lunar New Year's edition of the tea club. This tea is made from the stem and mature (more fibrous) leaf material that was removed from the "mao cha" or original finished product. The stems and older leaves are sorted out in preparation for the A grade material to be roasted. The logic in this is that uniform leaf material allows for uniform roasting — resulting in more pure and balanced composition. In fact, these leaves and stems are almost never removed from unroasted Oolong teas, such as High Mountain Tea. So it's not that these leaves and stems are necessarily inferior, it's just that optimal roasting results are achieved when they are sorted out.

This stem and leaf material collected from all three seasonal batches Dong Ding Oolong made by our source in 2025 was then roasted in a tumble heater that is used in the processing of Oolong Tea. It offers a hearty, robust roasted Oolong character that we find quite soothing and satisfying! Watch the tasting video for the full scoop on both of these teas offered as Batch 123 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club!

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