Launch Gathering Recap

On the 1st of March, we hosted our very first launch gathering. What began as an idea shaped by years of tea practice and music slowly took form in a small room filled with people curious about the story behind tea leaves.

The gathering centred on one tea: Lapsang Souchong (正山小种) - a traditional black tea from the Wuyi Mountains, known for its distinctive pine-smoked aroma and history looking back to the seventeenth century.

Tea Is Like Life

I opened with a simple reflection: 茶如人生: tea is like life. 

Mum always taught me that good tea rewards patience. The first infusion is never the whole story, and we notice flavours always unfold gradually over many steeps. In many ways, the same can be said for our people and traditions.

This idea sits at the centre of Leaf & Lute, founded with two guiding aims:

• to share considerately sourced teas from ethical producers

• and to present them with the cultural context that gives them meaning

The Tea: Lapsang Souchong

Guests were introduced to Lapsang Souchong, often considered the origin of black tea.

Unlike most black teas, its leaves are traditionally dried over pinewood fires. The smoke gradually penetrates the leaves, producing the tea’s distinctive aroma: smoky, warm, and slightly sweet, with notes of dried fruit.

We walked through the process behind the tea:

• mature leaves harvested in late spring

• sun-withering on bamboo mats

• hand rolling and full oxidation

• careful smoking over local pinewood fires

When brewed properly, the tea changes with each infusion, sometimes up to ten steeps, revealing new layers of flavour each time.

Music and Tea

Of course I had to play a piece on my guzheng.

I chose the piece performed to be “Gaoshan Liushui” (高山流水), a classical composition I was heavily inspired by the flavour and origins of Lapsang Souchong.

Gaoshan refers to high mountains, Liushui means flowing water.

Listen to a recording of the piece here: （COMING SOON)

Ethical Sourcing and Producers

Another part of the event focused on where the tea actually comes from.

At this stage, Leaf & Lute works with Cha Yin Shan Fang in Fujian, a family-run tea plantation with generations of experience. We also source white tea from Yang Maowang in the Fujian area. These partnerships prioritise:

• traditional hand processing

• environmentally responsible farming

• sustaining tea communities and cultural practices

The producer of the Lapsang Souchong we tasted, Cha Yin Shan Fang, is known for small-batch, hand-processed teas and a long lineage of tea making in the Wuyi region.

The long-term goal is not only to introduce these teas to a wider audience, but also to help sustain the traditions and communities that produce them.

A Beginning

Looking back, what I appreciated most was simply seeing people take the time with the tea.

Lapsang Souchong is often surprising on the first sip. The smoke can be unfamiliar, sometimes even a little confronting. But after a few infusions the tea softens, and the sweetness begins to come through. Watching people notice that change for themselves was quietly satisfying.

There were good questions, thoughtful conversations, and a lot of curiosity about where our tea will come from and how it is made. For a first gathering, that felt like exactly the right kind of start.

Thank you to everyone who came along and shared the evening with us. It meant a great deal to begin Leaf & Lute in such good company.

And for those just discovering Leaf & Lute now, welcome.