Where's The Dong Ding Traditional A?
As you probably know, we took over the roasting of Dong Ding Traditional A when Mrs. Su became sick in 2022. However, as with any artform, it's only possible to mimic another person's style, not actually recreate it.
As I came to realize this, I slowly began playing with different techniques to make the Dong Ding I was roasting into my own tea. If you have been drinking along with our journey, you'll have tasted how it's changed over the last few years. Thank you for sticking with us! But now we've come to a point where it doesn't feel right to use the old name for the tea, 'Traditional A'. That tea was a creation of Mrs. Su, and carried with it her presence, her wisdom and life experience. Now I finally feel like this new version has earned itself a name of it's own.
Noah's Dong Ding
We thought and thought, and the only name that really seemed to fit was Noah's Dong Ding. This is my creation synthesizing from a plethora of teachings from the older generation in Taiwan. It is piggybacks on many failed experiments. And it's highly influenced by the Charcoal Dong Ding of yesteryear, the tea that got me into this crazy process in the first place.
But Wait... There's MORE!
Master Zhan was my first roasting teacher, and my deepest inspiration in the art of tea. I will always look up to him for his profound wisdom and understanding of the universe contained in a tea leaf. However, Mrs. Su's simple yet profound teaching on roasting has been a pillar keeping me going as I explored the more philosophical, ethereal teachings of Master Zhan.
Therefore, as my experiments took me further and further away from the old Trad. A, I started to miss that bold, rustic taste that Shiuwen would affectionately refer to as 'grumpy old man' tea. So I decided to roast a version of Dong Ding that adheres more closely to Mrs. Su's original teaching, with only minor tweaks based on what I've learned works for me. The result is our new Salt of the Earth Dong Ding, a tea that I humbly dedicate to my teacher Mrs. Su.
I've also chosen different materials for these two teas. Although both are traditionally processed oolongs from the Su's family gardens, the rustic Salt of the Earth has a more forward flavor and a healthy bite to it.
By the way, here's a blurb from our old 'Traditional A' page that describes what we mean when we describe a Dong Ding as traditional. It actually fits both of these teas now: