About Orientaleaf 东方嘉木
Small-batch Chinese tea, chosen with care — from people who drink it every day.
Who We Are
We are the team behind Yushan (屿山) — a small tea house we opened in 2018 in Xi'an, at the foot of the Qinling Mountains.
For years, we brewed tea every day. We hosted thousands of guests. We tasted hundreds of teas each year — arguing about which ones deserved a place on our table, and which ones didn't. That practice never stopped.
In 2023, we brought it online.
Orientaleaf — 东方嘉木 — takes its name from the opening line of The Classic of Tea 《茶经》 by Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea:
"茶者，南方之嘉木也。"
"Tea is the excellent plant of the southern regions."
We chose that name because it points directly to the plant — and to our respect for it. No promises we can't keep. Just tea.
How We Choose
This is the part that matters most to us — and the part most people never see.
Every year, we receive a large number of tea samples from producers and farms across China. We don't list teas based on what's trending, what's cheapest to source, or what has the most famous label. We taste everything ourselves, and we ask one question:
Is this tea worth drinking?
When we decided to build our Liu Bao collection, we started with dozens of samples from different producers. We learned how each one was grown, processed, and stored. We tasted them side by side. And we set a clear standard for ourselves: our Liu Bao had to have the cleanest possible profile — minimal storage smell, because that's what makes the difference between a tea you finish and a tea you forget about.
Most of the samples didn't make it. A handful did. Those are the ones we sell.
We apply the same process to every category. There are plenty of teas on the market that are cheap to source and easy to sell. If we don't genuinely want to drink it ourselves, we won't offer it to you. That's not a marketing line — it's just how we've always worked.
What We Offer
We carry all six categories of Chinese tea — each sourced from the regions where that tea has been perfected over generations.
Dark Tea (黑茶)
Our deepest focus. Fu Zhuan brick tea from Jingyang, Shaanxi — the birthplace of Fu Zhuan — across multiple product lines and raw material origins. Liu Bao from Guangxi, selected for clarity and depth. Pu-erh, dry-stored in Xi'an.
White Tea (白茶)
Fujian white tea from Fuding, and Yunnan white tea — including our own pressed white tea cake, blended and packaged by us.
Oolong Tea (乌龙茶)
Rock oolong from the Wuyi Mountains — chosen for its genuine mineral character, not its label.
Black Tea (红茶)
Selected from China's classic black tea regions, with a focus on teas that drink well daily, not just on special occasions.
Green Tea (绿茶)
Carefully chosen seasonal teas from established origins — approachable, honest, and worth coming back to.
Yellow Tea (黄茶)
A rare and often misunderstood category. We carry a small, considered selection for those curious to explore it.
Xi'an Dry Storage
All of our teas are stored in Xi'an — not as a marketing choice, but because that's where we are.
Xi'an sits at over 400 meters elevation, with dry winters and moderate humidity year-round. This environment ages tea slowly and cleanly. No warehouse smell to hide behind. The tea has to stand on its own.
We've watched what this storage does to tea over the years. We believe in it.
[→ Learn more about our Xi'an dry storage]
Recognition & Community
In 2025, our Golden Flower Fu Zhuantea cake was awarded Superior Leaf for Pu-erh Tea at the Global Tea Championship — judged blind by industry professionals at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas.
We're proud of it. But we're more proud of the customers who come back.
What impressed me most about Orientaleaf is not only the excellent tea quality, but the genuine human communication. They personally reached out to me, and we even shared a lighthearted exchange about finding good tea in Prague. That kind of real interaction is rare today. The gifts were a wonderful surprise — especially the porcelain tasting cup. I compared the same tea in two glass cups and in this porcelain one, and it truly tasted better from the porcelain. It holds heat well and clearly enhances the flavor — you can feel the thoughtful design behind it. Beautiful tea, generous extras, and authentic customer care. Highly recommended.
The teas arrived fast, neatly packaged, and came with a thoughtful letter including a nice gift (thank you!). This is my first time trying fu brick tea (I started with the black-wrapped On Taoism) , and I am honestly surprised as the taste and smell are even sweeter and more pleasant than I imagined. The after-taste is super pleasing. The Golden Flowers are very beautiful with is a strikingly bold yellow color, so much prettier in real life than on my photo. :-D I am looking very much forward to trying all the teas and deciding on some favorites. My first impression could hardly be better!
I've had a great experience with this tea company. I bought: Xiao Qing Gan – Ripe Pu-erh Tea in Green Tangerine from Tengma They also included a free sample of Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea - both are delicious. I will definitely order tea from this company again. It takes a few days to receive the tea here in the US. When I tracked the shipment, it appeared to travel all the way from China on my particular order, which was fine. Very good communication from this tea company. Thank you for a great experience!
This afternoon I enjoyed my second gongfu session with this tea, almost three hours of pure bliss. What can I say? It's simply a masterpiece, a truly gentle tea that, even in its youth, already displaying elegance, character, and unparalleled complexity. Its evolution throughout the session was spectacular, not only consistent but profoundly expressive, revealing new layers of sweetness, warmth, and floral clarity even in the final infusions. I could write pages about it... Never before have I felt so clearly that a tea could have a soul. Thank you all the people involved to have me experience such a magic.
I was skeptical about Heicha in general, I’ve had some wet piled shu and thought I didn’t like fermented tea. THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING. This is crisp yet mellow, kinda of giving me slight bark or maybe old library book note that finishes with a lingering syrupy sweetness. Slightly mouth drying, keeping me coming back for cup after cup.
The brick is like an infinitely better version of the BSX brick I bought a little while ago and the liu bao is wonderful as well
Love ordering from OrientaLeaf , great service and communication- can’t comment on tea yet as it’s stored for use sooner than later - the samples I tried b4 ordering stood out - recommended
This is one of the best here in Tocha variety, very rich aroma, I love it , so excited to see it in stock again, I would order more than one box next time
The first time I tasted Jin Jun Mei was actually from a gift i recieved during my travel to China. I didn't realise which tea it was, only that I liked the taste. This was over 2 years ago, and I had run out a year back. I'm glad I found this and that Orientaleaf had the same kind of leaves for me. Truly amazing.
At first i was a bit sceptical before i tasted it, but it delived in both taste and quality. It uses good leaf base material, doesn't have a lot of funk, tastes very clean and most importantly doesn't go overly astringent as you brew into it. I prefer the red wrapper to the black, it's just a bit deeper and full bodied. Will definitely order again if it's still available then.
Who We're For
We're not the right shop for everyone.
You'll feel at home here if you already have some experience with Chinese tea and you're ready to go deeper. If you care about provenance and storage, not just price. If you've been burned before by teas that looked good on paper but tasted like disappointment.
You might find us frustrating if you're looking for the lowest price on a well-known commercial brand. That's a legitimate way to shop — it's just not what we do.
We'd rather serve fewer customers well than many customers adequately.
Come Find Us
Our customers and tea friends gather on The Tea Table — a Discord community originally created by tea enthusiast Liquid Proust.
Some of our customers have built a small Orientaleaf corner there, where they share tasting notes and talk tea.
If you'd like to meet other serious tea drinkers, you're welcome to join.
[→ Join the OrientaLeaf corner on Discord]
Start Here
Not sure where to begin? These are the teas our customers return to most:
[→ Fu Zhuan Dark Brick Tea]
[→ Liu Bao Collection]
[→ Xi'an Dry Storage Pu-erh]