O5 — OriginStories

This post is part of our new series Tea Hunter Chronicles, where we will be sharing origin stories about the tenders of the land who bring O5 tea to your cups. We believe these stories deserve to be shared, and the lives of the growers honoured. Share the journey with us...

One day, Brian and I were driving up a mountain in Hunan looking for this style of tea, but were super disappointed to discover that most of the mountain (which belonged to some super-rich folks) had been totally demolished to make way for new farms. There were these new tea gardens, but they just sucked because its creation meant the destruction of old trees, plowed soil and leaving it bare, exposed to erosion. 

When we got back into the rain forest, we came across this bright neon-pink sign that caught our eye. Given the oddity of the location (middle of the forest), we decided to stop by. The place happened to belong to a family of people who’d been making this style of tea (workhorse) for many generations. They gave us a chunk of heicha from the 1980'S (A chunk of which is still at the bar. If you are one of the lucky peeps reading this, head down there and ask for a taste! You won't regret it!)

Get our Workhorse here: https://www.o5tea.com/products/workhorse?_pos=1&_sid=28052d3f9&_ss=r