Session 05: On Roasting, and Listening to the Leaves | with Noah BA from Floating Leaves Tea

What does a tea want to say?

Is there something there, beyond just flavor notes, that's embedded by the teamaker, the roaster, and the place where the leaves are from?

Today's guest is Noah from Floating Leaves Tea, a shop based in both Seattle, WA and Taiwan that specializes in Taiwanese teas. More than just a tea dealer, they also share a way of approaching tea that's a little more intuitive -- asking us to listen more to the leaves, and to ourselves, to find whatever joy and lessons may be in the leaves.

In this episode, listen in as Noah guides us through a tea tasting, Floating Leaves Tea style. This was an absolute treat of a tea session to have: Noah is an incredible tea host, and he holds space here (in a Zoom call!) in a way that makes you feel like you're back at their tea table in Seattle.

Along the way, Noah also talks about his journey as a tea roaster, learning to roast and refine teas from beloved teachers in Taiwan.

This episode was recorded in Fall 2021. We taste an early version of Noah's Heartwood Hongshui, which he first released as a finished tea after another year of roasting practice, in Fall 2022.