May 2026 Tea Subscription
Thank you for coming onboard Parchmen & Co and travel with us to savour our world in a cup!
We aim to bring tea drinkers into the world of extremely fine and exclusive teas. These teas used to be inaccessible to commoners in the past but today we are able to bring it to you via our extensive network of sources directly from tea farms owned by our friends in different countries.
In the month of May 2026, we are featuring two pre-Qingming green teas and a black tea:
- 2026 Spring Pre-Qingming Enshi Yu Lu 恩施玉露 10g
- 2026 Spring Pre-Qingming Jing Shan Zen Tea 径山禅茶 10g
- 2026 Spring Anxi Tie Guan Yin (Light Roasted) 清香型安溪铁观音 10g
More 2026 pre-Qingming spring teas are here!
This month, we enjoy the matching Chinese tea - Enshi Yu Lu, sometimes translated to Jade Dew. The story of Jade Dew is one of tea romance between China and Japan for a millennium. It started when Japanese Buddhist monks came to China to learn Buddhism during the Tang dynasty, and they took part in the daily monasterial routine of tea cultivation and making.
It was said that the first tea seeds planted in 1191 at Sefuri Mountain (1,100 m) located between Fukuoka and Saga prefectures were brought back by the patriarch of Japanese tea ceremony Myōan Eisai (明菴栄西). In 1202 (during the Chinese Song dynasty), he founded Japan’s first Zen temple in Kyoto called Kennin-ji (建仁寺), in which he was buried. The technique of steaming tea leaves to make green tea has become the default method of tea making in Japan today whereas in the country of origin, it is used exclusively in Enshi to make Jade Dew. Tea making techniques remained much the same way from the Tang to the Yuan dynasties, with development only in form and style. Coarsely-made tea cakes of the Tang dynasty became neatly pressed with auspicious patterns of dragons and phoenixes during the Song dynasty and continued till the Yuan dynasty. Serving styles also became more refined during the Song dynasty with the whisking of tea powder in a small bowl to make a thick foamy beverage instead of directly boiling the tea powder with salt in a pot during Tang dynasty. This also gave rise to the development of paraphernalia for this style of tea whisking which was then exported again to Japan to subsequently become the standard tools for the Japanese tea ceremony.
In our introduction of Yame teas, we mentioned that in 1423, another monk Eirin Shuzui (荣林周瑞) brought back more tea seeds when returning from Zen Buddhist studies in Ling Yan Monastery (灵岩寺, also called Ling Yan Shan Monastery 灵岩山寺) in Suzhou China. He travelled throughout Japan to preach Buddhism and when he reached Yame, he was struck by the resemblance of her beautiful mountains to where he trained in China. At Kurogimachi Kasahara (黒木町笠原), he built a temple and named it Reiganji Temple (霊巌寺), the same name (in traditional Chinese and in Japanese Kanji) as the monastery he once studied in Suzhou China. He planted tea around the temple which grew well thanks to the suitable conditions of high diurnal range with high day temperatures and cold night temperatures. He practised the Chinese tea making methods in the temple, which is why it is now regarded as the origin of Yame tea.
Tang dynasty Lu Yu (陆羽, author of The Classic of Tea 茶经) described tea steaming in his days and through returning Japanese monks and other cultural exchanges shaped Japanese tea processing till today. The historical Enshi Yu Lu was developed during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty by a tea merchant surnamed Lan (蓝姓茶商) in Enshi Bajiao Huanglianxi (芭蕉黄连溪), who built a stove for its production. The tea roasting stove was very similar to today's Yu Lu tea roasting stoves in both Enshi and Japan. The tea produced had a uniform, tightly rolled, straight, and green appearance, with silvery-white tips resembling jade, and was named Yu Lv (玉绿). Later, due to its fresh and refreshing taste just like morning dew, it was renamed 'Yu Lu', translating to Jade Dew in Chinese. In the modern revival of the tea, in 1938, tea merchant Yang Runzhi (杨润之), leading tea processing technician Yang Yimao (杨义茂) and others at Wufeng Mountain (五峰山), recruited workers to establish a factory, took over tea gardens, the original tea processing factory buildings, and equipment and changed the production of silver needle, melon slice, and chrysanthemum-shaped tea to Yu Lu roasting.
In parallel, Japan was in the stage of refinement of their tea ceremony protocol, with the Cha-no-yu (茶の湯) steps developed by Sen no Rikyu (千利休) towards the end of the 16th century . This ceremony was developed for green tea powder. A softer tea was needed to achieve a good flavour, and the steaming method remained important in achieving this, whereas roasting or pan-frying the tea reduces theanine. In China, the Ming dynasty (since mid 14th century) royal court outlawed tea cakes and favoured loose leaf tea. Tea steaming which caused tea leaves to stick together to make tea cakes was undesirable to the individual shaping of loose leaf tea. New methods and equipment which produce definitive shapes were needed, leading to pan-frying becoming the dominant method of tea processing. Henceforth from the Ming dynasty, Chinese and Japanese teas parted ways in tea style. While China moved forward with loose tea leaves, Japan was frozen in tea time on green tea powder and steaming of tea leaves, just like in the Tang dynasty. It was much later that Japanese loose leaf teas became popular, but still using the steaming method.
Enshi located in the southwest of Hubei is home to lush terraced mountains and communities of Tujia and Miao ethnic minorities. This is also one of the few places in the world that is rich in selenium, a micro-nutrient that is a strong anti-oxidant and boosts thyroid health. The tea is harvested from high-altitude areas where the year-round average temperature is just 16.4°C and the humidity is very high at 82%. The leaves are fine-picked - one bud one leaf. Enshi Jade Dew was previously known as Jade Green (玉绿) and changed name to Jade Dew in 1939. Japan adopted the same name to refer to their highest grade of green tea (gyokuro) made with similar methods. The beauty of this tea is that it fulfills the standard of the 3 Greens in Chinese green teas - green dry leaves, green tea liquor and green wet leaves. Enshi Jade Dew is a China Geographical Indicator registered product.
We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, at 3g to 120 ml of 70°C water, for 30 sec. The dry leaves are dark green, finely tipped and slender like needles. The brewed leaves smell like a meaty broth, seaweeds and miso soup. This means that it is laden with umaminess. The brew is sweet and syrupy, with floral and green notes that reminds one of the sea or forest after a rain. The smell is clean and fresh, translating perfectly into the brew. Small white flowers perfume the brew. The tea is smooth and sweet from hot to cold. The second brew can be done with the same brewing parameters.
The second tea is a pre-qingming green tea, cultivated at the higher elevations of the 1,000m Jing Shan mountain. Located in Yuhang District of Hangzhou, Jingshan Temple has been renowned as the “First of the Five Mountains of Jiangnan” since its founding in the Tang Dynasty. Perched atop mist‑shrouded Jingshan Mountain, it is not only a major centre of Zen Buddhism but also the birthplace of a tea culture that would eventually influence all of East Asia and the world—the origin of global matcha culture.
The most iconic tradition of Jingshan Temple is Jingshan Zen Tea (径山禅茶). Rooted in the principle of “entering Zen through tea” (以茶入禅), monks treat every step—plucking, steaming, cooling, kneading, and roasting—as a form of meditation. This method of steaming green leaves, grinding them into powder, and whisking them into tea is the prototype of what we now call matcha. During the Southern Song dynasty, Japanese monks such as Eisai and Dogen Zenji (道元禅師) traveled to Jingshan Temple to study Zen. They brought back not only Buddhist teachings but also the temple’s tea‑making techniques, tea utensils, and ceremonial system, which became the foundation of Japanese matcha and the Japanese tea ceremony.
The most vivid expression of this heritage is the Jingshan Tea Banquet, praised as “the greatest tea banquet under heaven.” Originating in the Song dynasty, it was a grand ritual used to receive eminent monks, envoys, and scholars. Through chanting, bell tones, and the formal preparation and serving of tea, monks transformed tea drinking into a spiritual performance. This ceremonial system was later transmitted to Japan almost intact, evolving into “Zen temple hospitality,” “tea etiquette (茶礼),” and ultimately the Japanese tea ceremony Cha-no-yu (茶の湯). In this sense, the world’s matcha culture can be traced directly back to the Zen tea and tea banquet traditions of Jingshan Temple.
Today, Jingshan Temple continues to preserve and revive the ancient tea banquet, allowing visitors to experience the elegance of Song‑dynasty Zen tea. Indeed, Jingshan tea is the distilled essence of a thousand years of Zen practice on Jingshan Mountain. What makes Jingshan tea distinctive is not only its bright, clean flavor, but the philosophy embedded in its preparation. Cultivated at the higher elevations of the mountain range, it is called a Jingshan Zen tea. For the same tea cultivated at the lower elevations, it is called Jingshan Tea. This tea is picked with the standard of 1 bud 1 leaf. The slender dry leaves are dark green, with fine hairs and white tips. This tea is also steamed to Kill Green (杀青), followed by air drying.
We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, at 3g to 120 ml of 80°C water, for 30 sec. The first impression is a soft sweetness. Because the leaves are steamed rather than pan‑fired, the aroma leans toward fresh grass, young bamboo, and morning mist, with a clarity similar to early‑spring matcha yet gentler and less forceful. On the palate, the tea is smooth and round. There is no bitterness; instead, a subtle umami emerges. As the tea cools, its character becomes more layered: a faint nuttiness, a whisper of orchid, and a cooling sensation that spreads slowly across the tongue. This tea can be brewed the second time.
The third tea this month is our 2026 spring Tie Guan Yin. Tie Guan Yin varietal originates from Xi Ping Township of Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian province of China (泉州市安溪县西坪镇), on the west of the county. Tie Guan Yin is harvested a total of 5 times in Anxi but recent years see only 4 harvests - spring, summer, early autumn, autumn and missing the winter tea. The farms we work with only harvest Tie Guan Yin twice a year - the 2 more valued harvests of spring and autumn. The farmer's adage rings loud: Spring water (i.e. a rounder tea body) and autumn aroma (春水秋香). After a long winter, the bush would have accumulated substantial nutrients to brew a thick tea. Through summer till autumn, the bush would have bathed in enough sunlight to create aromatic compounds to brew a tea of higher aroma with a longer aftertaste. The abundance of sunlight in the middle two harvests usually produce teas of lesser elegance and coarser mouthfeel, and are usually sold in the mass market to Chinese restaurants. In Tie Guan Yin making techniques, there are three styles - lightly roasted (清香型), heavily roasted (浓香型) and aged (陈香型). Ultimately, the tea drinker decides his preference.
Our spring tea is from the tea fields northeast of Anxi county, on the tea mountains about 45 min's drive from Anxi urban centre. This year, the tea fields are a different field adjacent to the fields of 2024 and 2025, on the same mountain range and separated by 20 minutes car distance on the mountain winding road. The tea farm is higher at around 600m, and the processing factory is right in the tea farm, allowing prompt processing and avoiding the uncontrolled oxidation experienced by leaves harvested a long distance away from factory. The farm does not use any chemical fertilizer but the tea shrubs benefit from the dung from cows which move through the farm. For speed to market, recent years see spring Tie Guan Yin being harvested before optimum maturity of the tea buds. Our tea avoids this commercial trend and is harvested on time. Depending on weather, at the end of April or start of May when the best Tie Guan Yin leaves are harvested, noon temperature is high at about 27°C and night temperature drops to 17°C. The diurnal range is beneficial to the development of quality Tie Guan Yin.
2025 Spring tea was made by Parchmen & Co together with our tea master in the mountains of Anxi, Fujian. The leaves are harvested on 28th April 2026 and roasted at 1 am on 29th April 2026. In 2026, we made both light roasted and dark roasted. In this tea subscription, you are enjoying the light roasted tea, which took 48 hours from harvest to finish. Our journey is captured in our Instagram story here. The tea master who led us to make the tea is Xu Liang Hu (许良虎), who is the Chinese government appointed custodian of the intangible heritage of Tie Guan Yin making techniques (非物质文化遗产铁观音制作传承人). In 22nd May 2023, Tie Guan Yin technique was recognised by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) as a globally important agricultural heritage system.
We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, using 3g of leaves to 150ml of 95°C water, for 45 sec. We can also use the gongfu tea method, by brewing 6g of leaves to 120ml of 95-100°C water, for 15 sec. Such a method will allow a changing profile for each brew. The good stamina of Tie Guan Yin allows it to be rebrewed multiple times, living up to another adage that there is residual aroma even after seven brews. For the dark roasted tea, the dry leaves are less green and darker tone. In a gongfu style of brewing, the caramelly note from the darker roast is the perfect base for the elegant magnolia and orchid notes are well harmonised in the brew. Bolder with a heavier and creamy mouthfeel, there are also notes of vanilla, chocolates and even a hint of umami and rambutan. For a moment, the tea tastes like sugar cane juice, which extends into the afterflavour - sweet and quenching, with a slight bump at the throat when one swallows the tea. With more brews, the aroma fades out but the sweetness remains.
Enjoy your teas of May 2026!
Thank you for coming onboard Parchmen & Co and travel with us to savour our world in a cup!