Hand-picked high-mountain oolongs from a single Nantou hillside, brewed slowly, served in silence. The deliberate opposite of chain boba.
In 1974, my grandmother Lin Su-mei planted her first oolong bushes on a fog-wrapped slope above Lugu, in the heart of Nantou County. She named her plot Half Moon for the crescent of light that fell across the terrace at dusk — the only hour cool enough to pick.
Fifty years later, the same family still tends the same rows. We don’t blend, we don’t flavor, and we don’t hurry. Each spring and winter harvest is hand-rolled, lightly oxidized, and shipped — unblended — to one small counter in San Gabriel, so you can taste a single mountain in a single cup.
“Good tea has nothing to hide.” — Lin Mei-hua, second-generation tea maker
Gongfu cha means “brewing tea with skill and time.” A small pot, a high leaf ratio, and many short steeps — each one a slightly different chapter of the same leaf.
A quick rinse with mountain-soft water opens the rolled leaves and warms the gaiwan. The first true pour is poured for aroma, not yet for drinking.
We steep in seconds, not minutes — then again, and again. Each infusion reveals a new layer: floral, then sweet, then mineral and deep.
No straws, no rush, no to-go lid by default. Tea here is a place to pause. Stay as long as the leaf keeps giving — and it gives for a long while.
“The leaf has its own clock. We simply keep its time.”
Sit at the eight-seat tea bar and watch your oolong steeped pour by pour.
Soft light, low voices, no blaring playlists. A calm room in a busy city.
Loose, single-origin, traceable to one harvest. Never powder, never syrup.
Every tea on the menu is sold by the tin, with a card on how to brew it.
Tucked just off Valley Boulevard. Walk-ins welcome; tables of four or more, please reserve ahead.
418 W. Valley Blvd, Suite 7
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Street parking on Del Mar Ave · (626) 555-0142
Twice a year we receive a small spring and winter lot from Nantou. Join the list and we’ll save you a tasting before it sells out.