Tea Soup
Episodes
Episode 47 - Jingmai Mountain
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to another episode of Tea Soup! First episode of 2026, and we are hitting the ground running. In this episode we briefly recap 2025, and ...
Episode 46 - Zhangping Shuixian
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Another episode with both Alex and Derek of the One River Tea Cooperative. We sat down while in Anhui searching for Qimen Hongcha to talk about a summ...
Episode 45 - Spring Sourcing (Longjing, Dancong) 2025
03 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we reflect on the wild spring tea tour we just finished in 2025. We visited the Jingmai mountains in Yunnan, Anji in Zhejiang, Hangzho...
Episode 44 - Indian Teas (Darjeeling)
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is a very special episode that takes a look into a region famous for tea production for over a hundred years, Darjeeling. Alex took a recent thre...
Episode 43 - Dragon Year Review Pt. 2
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is all about the tea (and teaware) sought and found and loved in 2024, the year of the Dragon. Derek gives his hot takes on Jingdezhen, t...
Episode 42 - Dragon Year Review Pt. 1
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is our second annual year in review episode. We talk about the year of the dragon, but keep it rather personal, this part one is all abou...
Episode 41 - Sourcing Lapsang Souchong
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek from One River Tea talks about how he found the Lapsang Souchong we source from the Zhang family up in the Masu Village of Tong...
Episode 40 - A History of Lapsang Souchong
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we dig into the history of the world’s first Black Tea: Lapsang Souchong. In another solo episode, Derek not only gets back into the...
Episode 39 - Sourcing Junshan Silver Needle
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Alex joins the podcast to talk about the time spent sourcing the most famous yellow tea in all of China: Junshan Silver Needle. We ge...
Episode 38 - Making Hefeng White Tea
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek is joined by Alex, also a founding member of the One River Tea Cooperative. We talk about our adventures in making white tea, t...
Episode 37 - Sourcing Puer (Dong Guo Village)
07 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode of sourcing puer in Spring of 2024, we talk about the Dong Guo Village. A lesser known village with a large amount of Gushu tree...
Episode 36 - Sourcing Pu’er (Xiao Hu Sai)
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we leave the tombs of the Wang Family and wander through their wild gardens of tea trees on the Kua mountain. We talk about the skinn...
Episode 35 - Qingming Festival
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek talks about the Qingming Festival, he maps out some of the spring tea harvest times in China, but really focuses on late March ...
Episode 34 - A History of Modern Sichuan & Sourcing Jasmine Tea
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Tea Soup, Derek is joined by another One River Tea Worker/Owner, Alex Witherspoon. Together we recount our recent travels into Sich...
Episode 33 - Sourcing Yellow Tea
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome! Today, Derek and Alex talk about their journey to the top of Golden Chicken Mountain, one of the cheeriest tea prodcuers east of Luan (Liuan?...
Episode 32 - Sourcing Dragonwell (2024)
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk about West Lake Dragonwell, we just got back from Hangzhou a few days ago with some incredible insights into the making of lo...
Episode 31 - Sourcing Pu’er (Mengsong)
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
2024 Spring Tea has just started being picked, and the prospects are looking good! We spend the first part of this episode talking about green tea and...
Episode 30 - Sourcing Pu’er (Big Snow Mt.)
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Tea Soup, Derek talks about the 10 million train trips per day during China’s Spring Festival, the curious mythology surrounding ...
Episode 29 - Pressing Pu’er (Xigui)
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Derek talks about pressed tea. Why is compressed tea so popular these days, what unique virtues does it possess, and what does it take...
Episode 28 - Sourcing Pu’er (Bangdong)
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Still on the tea trail, Derek recounts and ranks all the most difficult to access teas, as he travels through Yunnan in the grip of a deep drought. He...
Episode 27 - Sourcing Pu’er (Xigui)
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Tea Soup, Derek continues talking about his Spring Tea Sourcing trip in April of 2023. Starting at the peak of Wudong Mountain in C...
Episode 26 - A Year of Tea (2023)
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Derek tries to tackle 2023, what teas were we into, what teas did we source, where did we go and more. It ends up mainly being about t...
Episode 25 - A History of Pu’er (pt. 2)
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to the second episode of the history of Puer Tea. In this episode, we cover the past 300 years of this teas development, from the Qing Dy...
Episode 24 - A History of Pu’er (pt. 1)
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek takes on a new type of tea: Pu’er (often romanized as Pu’erh). We give an in depth overview of the geographical make up of ...
Episode 23 - Tasting Dancong Oolong
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Tea Soup, Derek goes deep into how to decipher, select, and appreciate dancong oolong teas. We talk about the cultivars, the prices...
Episode 22 - Drinking Dancong Oolong in Chaozhou
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Derek talks about his time living in Chaozhou. How do they drink Dancong oolong tea in the city of its origin. How do the Chaozhou peo...
Episode 21 - The Making of Dancong Oolong
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek walks through the rather long and complicated process of making Dancong Oolong teas. Derek talks a bit about Chinese terms rela...
Episode 20 - Sourcing Wudong Dancong Oolong
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Join Derek in this episode as we travel out to the heart and soul of Dancong Oolong production, that’s the Wudong Mountain. Meet our new phenomenal ...
Episode 19 - Cooperative Kerfuffles in Hefeng, Hubei
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second part of a conversation between the Oner River Tea Cooperative’s Co-founders Alex Witherspoon and Derek Poskin about our plot of l...
Episode 18 - A History of Cooperatives in Central China
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this very special episode of Tea Soup, we do something we’ve never done before, a two-person conversation between One River Tea Worker-Owners Der...
Episode 17 - Sourcing Phoenix Dancong Oolong
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Derek talks about the tea makers he has met in the Phoenix Village outside of Chaozhou, Guangdong. Recounting how he met each of these...
Episode 16 - A History of Chaozhou & Gongfu Tea
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek takes on the daunting task of giving a brief history of Tea in Chaozhou, Guangdong, as well as discussing the evolution of Chao...
Episode 15 - The Making of Dragonwell
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek not only outlines the 9 main steps of making Dragonwell green tea, from raw leaf to dry tea, he also dives into a deeper unders...
Episode 14 - Sourcing Dragonwell
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek travels out to the West Lake area of Zhejiang Province’s major city Hangzhou. Here, for the past 1000 years, longjing, or Dra...
Episode 13 - The Making of Biluochun
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we hike through the Dongting Mountain south east of Lake Tai right by the modern city of Suzhou. We are seeking the ancestral home of ...
Episode 12 - Meeting Master Yinwei
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk about what it means to have a traditional tea master in modern China. We explain the differences between, a teacher and a mas...
Episode 11 - A History of Dragonwell
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Derek discusses the origins of West Lake Dragonwell Green Tea, or Xihu Longjing. We go all the way back to the Jin Dynasty, the monk X...
Episode 10 - Sourcing Biluochun
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we talk about how we sourced our traditional Biluochun from Xishan Island in lake tai outside of Suzhou. We hit some excellent tangent...
Episode 9 - A History of Biluochun
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk about three different origin myths surrounding the creation of Biluochun, a tender curled green tea produces outside the city...
Episode 8 - Fuding White Tea Types
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we break down the different kinds and picking grades of Fuding White Tea. We also cover the very important Chinese agricultural calen...
Episode 7 - How We Talk About Tea
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do you know about tea? What is there left for you to learn? In this episode we talk about how we can share information and learn from each other....
Episode 6 - Fuding Tea Rules
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this long-anticipated episode Derek unpacks the 2022 Fuding government regulations regarding the growing, making, and selling of Fuding White Tea. ...
Episode 5 - Fuding Tea Villages Pt. 3 (Diantou + Guangyang)
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Derek, Alex, and Xiaoyan of the One River Tea Cooperative stumble upon a huge conspiracy regarding aged white tea in Fuding’s whole...
Episode 4 - Fuding Tea Villages Pt. 2 (Bailin + Taimushan)
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of tea soup, we talk about Bailin and Taimushan through the lens of a tea trip we led in 2021. Enjoy the extra stories about our tea m...
Episode 3 - Fuding Tea Villages Pt. 1 (Diantou + Panxi)
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we begin our three-part deep dive into the major production villages around Fuding responsible for growing most of Fuding White Tea. ...
Episode 2 - A History of Fuding White Tea
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we take a look back at the origin myths of White tea, as well as the historical precedent of Fuding being the birthplace of all Chine...
Episode 1 - A Brief History of Tea in China
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this Episode, Derek from One River Tea talks about tea from its prehistoric roots in China all the way to the dry loose leaf tea we know of today. ...