Flush
Single-origin, small lot

Tea, dated like a vintage.

Every lot on this list is sold by the flush it was picked in, not just the garden — because a first-flush Darjeeling and a monsoon-flush Darjeeling from the same bushes are close to two different teas.

Browse the list How tea is made
Tea leaves being hand-plucked at a hillside garden
Hand-plucking, two leaves and a bud
8 Origin regions
5 Tea types stocked
0–100% Oxidation range across the list
11 Lots currently listed
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Recently listed

Single garden, single flush
Pu-erh tea cake, compressed dark tea leaves Pu-erh · Yunnan Ancient Grove Raw Pu-erh Raw pu-erh isn't oxidized at all — the sun-drying step actually leaves the leaf's enzymes semi-active,… High mountain tea plantation in Taiwan, misty terraced hills Oolong · Alishan Cloudline Alishan Spring "High mountain" (高山) isn't a marketing term in Taiwan — it's a legal minimum elevation of… Rolled ball-shaped oolong tea leaves, tight green pellets Oolong · Fujian Iron Blossom Tieguanyin The tight ball shape and light, floral style is a modern preference — traditional Tieguanyin was… Wuyi mountain rock oolong tea leaves, dark twisted leaves Oolong · Fujian Stonegate Da Hong Pao A rock oolong's mineral character is a real effect of the Wuyi cliffs' weathered soil —… White tea buds drying, silver-white downy leaf buds White · Fujian Whitepeak Silver Needle The least-processed tea there is: nothing happens to this leaf except losing water. Shaded Japanese tea garden, tea bushes under dark shade cloth Green · Uji Asahi Slope Gyokuro Shading the bush for three weeks before picking is the one step that turns an ordinary…
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The flush calendar

When each origin is actually picked

"Flush" is agriculture, not marketing — the window a bush is actually harvestable in, driven by dormancy, monsoon and elevation. Every lot on this site is dated to the flush it came from.

Darjeeling India
First flush
Second flush
Monsoon flush
Autumnal flush
Assam India
First flush
Second flush
Nilgiri India
Frost tea
Frost tea
Yunnan China
Spring harvest
Anhui China
Pre-Qingming pick
Fujian China
Spring pick
Uji Japan
Ichibancha (first flush)
Alishan Taiwan
Spring pick
Winter pick
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Tea taster cupping and evaluating liquor samples
FL-03 · About

A buying house, not a plantation.

A small buying house, not a plantation — Flush selects lots after harvest rather than growing its own leaf.

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Five steps, five categories

The same leaf, five ways
01 Withering Leaf loses 30–70% of its moisture over hours, going limp enough to handle without shattering.
02 Rolling / bruising Ruptures the leaf's cell walls, releasing the enzymes and juices that oxidation depends on. Skipped entirely for white tea.
03 Oxidation Bruised leaf is spread out and left exposed to oxygen — minutes for a light oolong, hours for black tea. Skipped for green tea.
04 Fixing (kill-green) Heat deactivates the enzyme driving oxidation. For green tea this happens first, before any oxidation can start; for oolong and black it happens last, to lock in the level already reached.
05 Firing / drying Final moisture is driven down to roughly 2–5%, low enough for the leaf to store for months without spoiling.
See the full oxidation spectrum
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From the journal

Notes on tea
Journal A short note on water The tea matters less than people expect once the water is wrong. Journal Reading a pu-erh cake’s wrapper Raw and ripe pu-erh are made by almost opposite processes, and the wrapper is usually the only place that gets… Journal What “high mountain” actually buys you in a Taiwanese oolong Taiwan's gao shan designation has a real elevation minimum, and a real agronomic reason to care about it.
Tea tasting counter with cups and loose-leaf tea
FL-06 · Visit

Taste before you buy.

A small tasting counter, open five days a week, no appointment needed for a pour of anything currently in stock.