Mrs Su of Dong Ding has Passed Away
The Passing of a True Tea Master
Our beloved mentor and friend Mrs. Su of Dong Ding mountain has passed away. She died of kidney failure in November 2024. Since we love Mrs. Su so much it's taken a few months to process our feelings enough to write this announcement.
We will be having a tea and memorial session to remember for Mrs. Su online on March 2nd at 10am. We will hold this session as an Instagram Live. Please join us to drink Dong Ding and remember Mrs. Su.
If you have been drinking any of our roasted Dong Ding -- Dong Ding Traditional A, Dong Ding Special Roast, Heartwood Hongshui, Cascadian Dong Ding, or even Charcoal Dong Ding -- the tea base is from her family.
We will be having a tea and memorial session to remember for Mrs. Su online on March 2nd at 10am. We will hold this session as an Instagram Live. Please join us to drink Dong Ding and remember Mrs. Su.
If you have been drinking any of our roasted Dong Ding -- Dong Ding Traditional A, Dong Ding Special Roast, Heartwood Hongshui, Cascadian Dong Ding, or even Charcoal Dong Ding -- the tea base is from her family.
We Need Your Help
Of course this is a very sad and difficult time for Mr. Su. We want to make him something to bring him joy and memory of his wife, and you can help!
=> If you have or can take photos of yourself drinking any of the above teas in your home, please send them to us by email (tea@floatingleaves.com). You can choose to include your face, or just your tea area in your home. Whatever you feel like sharing with Mr. Su.
Mr. Su loves to see how the teas he and his wife made have changed people's lives and brought joy and health to their homes and families. He especially loves photographs. So we are planning on creating a collage of many photos of their teas in the homes of our clients, all the way on the other side of the world from Dong Ding, as a dedication to his wife's memory and all the beauty she created.
Mr. Su loves to see how the teas he and his wife made have changed people's lives and brought joy and health to their homes and families. He especially loves photographs. So we are planning on creating a collage of many photos of their teas in the homes of our clients, all the way on the other side of the world from Dong Ding, as a dedication to his wife's memory and all the beauty she created.
Shiuwen Shares Stories of Mrs. Su :
I met Mrs. Su in 2008. I went up to Dong Ding for the first time that year with a mission to buy her tea. A year before that my friend Rich came to the shop to share her tea with me, and said, "Shiuwen, you got to see them [Mr. and Mrs Su]. Their tea is so good! But be careful, Mr. Su is eccentric and difficult to work with. If he thinks you don't understand tea, he won't sell it to you."
So, on my following sourcing trip to Taiwan, I drove up to Dong Ding for the first time, excited to meet these incredible tea makers, but I couldn't shake the pressure that he might not find me good enough to buy his tea.
When I sat down with them on that first trip, Mr. Su was running the tea tasting with an iron fist, and wouldn't stop running his mouth! Many times since then I've described listening to him talking as I have been listening to a broken record, he would repeat himself over and over. Then during Mr. Su's intense tea tasting, Mrs. Su came in and out of the living room from the back of the house where they have their kitchen. I could sense her grounding presence, and as she passed by the tasting table she barely had to speak two words to sense where I was at in my tea journey with her husband. Her short visits into the tea tasting had a beautiful calming rhythm, which helped to break up the repetitive intensity of her husband.
We tasted seven Dong Dings on that trip. Over the course of two days I slowly narrowed down my choices to two teas that I thought vied for position of number one. On the second day Mrs. Su maintained the same rhythm as before, coming in and out of the kitchen to check on how I was doing. I was under such immense pressure to prove myself that I couldn't decide which of those two teas was the true front-runner, and I think she could see the frustration on my face.
Suddenly she said, "Ms. Tai, if I were you, I would buy...."
Before she could finish her husband blasted out, "Be quiet! You can't tell her what to buy."
I responded, "Don't worry. I made up my mind already."
After gathering my thoughts, I told Mr. Su which tea I wanted to buy. Then I spoke out loud, so Mrs. Su could hear me, my reasoning behind my choices. I usually wouldn't illustrate the 'why' of my tea choices, but I wanted to communicate my thoughts to her. She gave me a look that showed she understood. When I thought of it years later, I realized that that was the only time she would tell me which tea was the best on the table. In the following years when I asked her which tea she thought was better, even when we were alone, she wouldn't tell me. It never felt as if she had to keep a secret or that her husband wouldn't want her saying it, but that she believes the tea buyers must decide for themselves which tea to purchase. Somehow I never remembered to ask her why she wanted to clue me in that first time I met her.
For the first few years, I had a difficult time dealing with her husband because I myself have a strong personality. I wondered many times how she could deal with him. With time I came to understand that Mr. Su has a huge heart, he's just extremely stubborn; quite eccentric too. I got to know them and learned how Mrs. Su deeply understood her husband. She supported him in his steadfast dedication to do good in this world even when other people couldn't understand him. The love between them is deep and real, and together they changed the lives of many people.
Actually her love and generosity towards people in general is huge. Her country style cooking is incredible, and she would always prepare a big healthy meal for anyone who showed up at her door. You could taste the love in her food. She also shared her tea knowledge without limit. She was a direct teacher with no intent to make tea mystical or daunting. And when I visited her and her husband to make a tea documentary, they worked hard to make sure we could get footage of all the tea processing that I wanted.
Mrs. Su roasted our Dong Ding Traditional A starting when I first met them in 2008. Her skill in roasting was fantastic, and was always willing to answer any questions we had without holding anything back. When she started to be ill, and was too weak to carry on the tea roasting, Noah traveled to Dong Ding to spend a week with her. They roasted tea together, and she gave freely of her wisdom and feedback to Noah. In the end when Noah returned the next year with his own roasted tea from America, she gave him a big smile and said, "you pass!"
I will always remember our way of communication. I will always remember her food. I will always remember her presence. I will always remember her as a refreshing breeze and as a solid rock.
Thank you Mrs. Su! May your memory long live in the mountain of Dong Ding, the tea you made, the people you taught and in all of our hearts!
With Love,
Shiuwen, Noah, Sunny, and Konghai
The Floating Leaves Team and Family