101 Tea

101 Tea grows and processes its oolong at Doi Mae Salong in Chiang Rai province, the mountain village where Kuomintang soldiers of Yunnanese Chinese descent settled after fleeing China, and where tea cultivation later replaced opium poppy fields as the region's main crop. The estate's leaf goes through the traditional oolong sequence of careful hand-harvesting, sun-withering, controlled oxidation, rolling, roasting and final firing, with local hill-tribe workers doing the hand-picking.

The range spans several distinct styles rather than a single house oolong: Oolong No. 17, a lightly oxidised, softer-stem variety; Oolong No. 12, made from the Jin Xuan (milk oolong) cultivar; an Osmanthus Oolong scented with the namesake flower; and a more fully oxidised Red Oolong. All are grown and processed on the estate itself at Mae Salong Nok rather than blended from outside leaf, keeping the operation closer to a single-estate producer than a trading company. Beyond tea, 101 Tea has extended into hospitality with a guesthouse, 101 Tea Green View, letting visitors stay within sight of the same gardens that supply the oolong, a way to see the harvesting and processing described on the label rather than just read about it.