Halfway up the Sky (the Four Famous Bushes)
Regular price
$18.00
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re a beginner, we definitely recommend our Go-to Tea Sampler Box. It includes 8 different types of high-quality teas, allowing you to discover your favorite tea in the most affordable way.
For finest taste, tea should be stored in a place that is cool and dry.
Rock tea is best enjoyed within a 3-year period.
Black tea is best enjoyed within a 2-year period.
Green tea and Oolong tea are best enjoyed within a 2-year period.
White tea is an exception. Its internal compounds evolve over time, enhancing its fragrance and creating a deeper, mellower taste. Therefore, it does not have a specific optimal drinking period.
All packages are shipped from China. Please kindly note that our teas are prepared at our warehouse in Fujian, which usually takes no more than 72 hours. Once ready, package will be sent to an international shipping company in Shenzhen, then shipped to the destination country. International shipping typically takes 14-20 days.
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What are the “roots” of Rooteas?
Family Tea-making Skills
Our elders have spent their lives making
tea in the Wuyi Mountains. Now, we want to share their craft with more people, so this tradition doesn't fade away with time.
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Every leaf comes from our own and our
friends' family tea farms, places blessed with the perfect mountains, streams, and soil for growing tea. This pure, natural home gives you the truest taste of nature.
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We share our teas with absolute transparency. We want to share the teas we craft, as well as the teas we drink daily. We provide full details on how we make and source them. Hope we can become your trusted tea partner.
- Name: Halfway up the Sky - Ban Tian Yao - 半天腰
- Type: Wuyi Rock Oolong Tea, the Four Famous Bushes
- Origin: Wuyi Mountain, Fujian
- Harvest Time: Spring, 2025
- Roast Level: Medium-heavy
- Producer: Xiao Family
- Tasting note: Diverse nutty notes (toasted almond, peanut, chestnut), Sweet floral fragrance, Orchid, Caramel cream, Woody notes, Fruity aftertaste, Rich minerality
Halfway up the Sky, or Ban Tian Yao, is one of the Four Famous Bushes of Wuyi Rock Tea. This tea offers remarkable depth in both aroma and taste, delivering a bold and layered sensory experience. Its fragrance is truly exceptional, rich, lingering, and ever-changing. It reveals hints of roasted nuts, orchid, and stone fruit, interwoven with the unique mountain character of Wuyi: mineral undertones and subtle woody traces.
The Legend of “Halfway up the Sky"
The name Halfway up the Sky is also interesting, it has a mysterious origin, which is said to have happened during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1403–1424).
According to legend, an abbot of the Yongle Chan Temple at Tianxin Temple once dreamed that there was a pure white hawk in front of him. This hawk carried a radiant gem in its beak in its mouth, and was being chased by a giant eagle. At that time, the hawk flew to the cliff of Sanhua Peak, on the mountain cliff, holding the gem in his beak, but halfway through he was exhausted and dropped the gem on the mountain cliff.
Believing that it might be a divine revelation, he ordered a young monk to go up the mountain and look for the trace. With the help of a rope, he finally reached the steep cliff of the mid-mountain. He did not find any jewels, but in a crack of the cliff, there was a green tea seed, which had germinated and was sprouting delicate roots.
He carefully picked it up and brought it back to the monastery. The abbot cherished it by hand. After the tea seedling grew to one foot, the monk brought it back to the same mountain, and planted it at the location where the green seed was picked. He planted it at the mountain cliff, because he thought that since the green tea seed was a gift from the hawk, it was destined to be at this place. It was an ancient place in the sky, between the earth and the heavens.
Since the pronunciation of the character “hawk” (鹞) and the pronunciation of the character “waist” (腰) are the same in Chinese, the name was later mistakenly written, and the name was spread as “Ban Tian Yao” (半天腰), which means “Halfway up the Sky”.
25g (five 5g servings) - 8 to 10 infusions each
50g (ten 5g servings) - 8 to 10 infusions each
120ml water 100℃/212℉, 10-15 seconds, for 1 infusion