{"title":"The Traditional Dong Ding Oolongs","description":"\u003cp\u003eA traditional style of Dong Ding Oolong grown on Dong Ding mountain in Lugu township, Nantou county by our friends the Su family. They have been making this rich, hearty oolong with a dedication and adherence to traditional standards for generations. We are grateful for the tea and the wisdom of Mr. and Mrs. Su, as they have been a guiding presence in our life as well as our tea practice since 2008.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTraditional Dong Ding is withered in the sun, oxidized about 30% and given a medium roast to bring out its full aroma, grippy mouthfeel and throat warming aftertaste. We like this tea, not because it is bodacious like High Mountain Oolong or supple like Oriental Beauty, but because it is solid, grounded and powerful. We call this the hero tea of Taiwan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"2017-spring-dong-ding-traditional-a","title":"Noah's Dong Ding","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is our most mature, nuanced take on traditional Dong Ding oolong. It is painstakingly processed in the old, slow methods and roasted with an eye towards ultimate depth and aging potential*. It is the same material that would go into Mrs. Su's finest Dong Ding Traditional A.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach micro-batch is different, but our litmus test before we decide to release a batch of this tea is that it is full in body, expansive in the mouth and can spread out to cause a long lingering aftertaste in the throat. The roast lends it a pleasant toastiness like that of toasted grains, but not an outright charcoal flavor as you might find in dark Tie Guanyin. It is a textural tea with bold, mouthwatering development that reaches into the belly with a warm, grounding feeling. This is a tea that we feel represents the heart and soul of Taiwan. Hearty, genuine, hospitable and unpretentious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe roast in tiny batch sizes, and your batch will be identified by the roast date written on the bag. Current batch finished on March 30th. This is a 5 roast batch with what I consider a very classic traditional Dong Ding taste. Toasty-grainy and stone fruit with a mineral quality that makes the broth run through the mouth like a refreshing stream. It's not as heavy as five roasts may imply, but it defintely has some fire to it. Overall a very yummy and classical kind of a batch!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you're going to try one tea from Floating Leaves, we hope it will be this one. Dong Ding has taught us so much over the years, and we want to share it's humble, heartfelt beauty with you. It is our unofficial flagship tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMake sure to brew with boiling hot water - and pre-warm your teaware. This tea loves the heat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*Note on aging : \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDue to its slow, staggered roasting method, this tea is an excellent candidate for aging. We find it really blooms in 3-6 months after the roasting date. If you can wait 2 years, you'll have something that far outperforms what you paid for. In 7-10 years magic can happen. That's the beauty of traditionally processed and roasted Dong Ding, unlike modern versions it gets better over time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eFacts\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarvest Location : Dong Ding, Nantou, Taiwan\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoast Date : 2026 March \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCultivar : Soft Stem [Ruan Zhi Wu Long]\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFarming : From a garden regularly tested by SGS as having 0% pesticide residues\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePodcast Episode\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"100%\" height=\"122\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/player\/vv2pp-c217b6?from=usersite\u0026amp;skin=1\u0026amp;share=1\u0026amp;fonts=Helvetica\u0026amp;auto=0\u0026amp;download=1\u0026amp;version=1\" title=\"Stories from Dong Ding Plateau\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Floating Leaves Tea","offers":[{"title":"25g","offer_id":39651319480527,"sku":"","price":10.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"75g","offer_id":39651319513295,"sku":"","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0561\/0455\/0607\/files\/light_DDA.jpg?v=1756941784"},{"product_id":"bug-bitten-dong-ding","title":"Bug Bitten Dong Ding","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I was roasting this tea, I intended to make a batch of Noah's Dong Ding. However, my roaster shorted out and the fuse blew right when I went to turn the temperature up - so I had to fix it and wait for another day to do the roast. I was pretty irritated in the moment. However, a couple days later when I went to taste the product of that accident in order to decide the best course of action, it surprised me with the fragrant, rich honey taste of bug bitten tea!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI decided to finish this tea with a quick, light roast to maintain those tasty bug bitten notes. It ended up with a warming spice note almost like nutmeg which melds with the honey-muscat grape of the bug bitten flavor very nicely. It has a fat, bold mouth filling broth. Big tea! It might be too dramatic to call it ferocious, but it's certainly a powerful tea in aroma, mouthfeel and energy. It is also the lightest roast of any traditionally processed Dong Ding oolong that we've ever sold, so it should be a fun comparison for people that are familiar with our Dong Ding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBug bitten Dong Ding oolong is sometimes called Gui Fei Mei Ren - a play on Dong Fang Mei Ren (Oriental Beauty) that means Concubine Beauty. I don't much like the name, so we've decided to just call it what it is. Nowadays enough people know what bug bitten means in an oolong tea context that we don't have to worry that customers think they're getting a defective product! \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tea has been resting for months since the original roast date, and is drinking very nicely now. A bold powerhouse of a bug bitten oolong tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eFacts\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarvest Location : Dong Ding, Nantou, Taiwan\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoast Date : 2025 Nov\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCultivar : Soft Stem [Ruan Zhi Wu Long]\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFarming : From a garden regularly tested by SGS as having 0% pesticide residues\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePodcast Episode\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"100%\" height=\"122\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/player\/vv2pp-c217b6?from=usersite\u0026amp;skin=1\u0026amp;share=1\u0026amp;fonts=Helvetica\u0026amp;auto=0\u0026amp;download=1\u0026amp;version=1\" title=\"Stories from Dong Ding Plateau\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Floating Leaves Tea","offers":[{"title":"25g","offer_id":44931778183375,"sku":null,"price":10.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"75g","offer_id":44931778216143,"sku":null,"price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0561\/0455\/0607\/files\/gui_fei.jpg?v=1774389368"}],"url":"https:\/\/floatingleaves.mom\/collections\/the-traditional-dong-ding-oolongs.oembed","provider":"Floating Leaves Tea","version":"1.0","type":"link"}